Debbie frowned at him. “Witnesses saw you. No one said they saw him.”
“He was there. Watching. In the woods. But others had arrived on the scene. I went to see if the victim was dead. He didn’t survive. No one tried to rescue him. I knew he’d never last that long underwater unless he was a SEAL. Then I left, looking for the other one, Otis.”
“We expected you sooner,” Allan said, his voice darkly gruff.
Debbie shivered. “I’m freezing, folks.”
“Let’s talk this over at your place.” Vaughn sounded genuinely concerned about Debbie’s physical health. “Call in your…friend Paul, if you’d like. Or as many of your friends as you want, if you feel the need. But I’m on your side.”
Allan took a deep breath. So did Debbie, but she couldn’t smell Vaughn’s scent, even though the breeze should have carried it to them. She wasn’t staying out here and freezing to death though. She headed for the car.
“Let me drop Debbie off at a friend’s place and we…”
“No way. I want to know what’s going on just as much as you do.” She got into the hatchback and slammed the door. She was working the investigation every bit as much as Allan was. Even if she had to do some of it stuck at his cabin.
“My place then. Have you learned where Otis has disappeared to?” Allan asked.
“Let’s just say I’d rather discuss this in private.”
“All right. Let’s go.” Allan got in the car and headed out while Vaughn climbed into his sedan and followed them. Allan got on his phone and Debbie assumed he was calling Paul. “Update: no more evidence in the lake pertaining to the murder case, but Vaughn Greystoke just met up with us. He’s joining us at my cabin.”
Allan put the phone on speaker so Debbie could hear Paul’s response, which she really appreciated.
“I’ll meet you there. If you’re at the lake where the body was found, I’m closer to your place than you are.”
Within twenty minutes, Paul called Allan back. “Looks like no one’s been here. Checked all around the cabin and inside. See you in…?”
“Twenty minutes. I’ve been watching for a tail, but the only one following us is this guy.”
When they finally reached Allan’s cabin, Paul was standing on the porch, looking dangerous. Debbie wondered if Vaughn knew that both Paul and Allan were highly trained Navy SEALs in addition to being wolves.
She was so cold. Neither she nor Allan had removed their wet suits before they took off because of the situation with this man, so when they got home, she excused herself to get out of hers. She grabbed a change of clothes, her gun and holster, and then went to the bathroom and locked the door. Before long, she was enjoying a hot shower. Using warm water made the wet suit much easier to peel off. Then she hurried to dry and get into warm clothes. Her hair was wet, though she towel dried it some, but she wasn’t spending the time to dry it all the way when she wanted to learn what was going on.
She grabbed her gun and tucked it into her holster, then joined the men in the living room.
As soon as she did, Allan excused himself to change. She thought he would have already done so. She could see how well the men worked together as a pack and as Navy SEALs. No one discussed what they were going to do, just did what needed to be done.
“We were waiting for you both to get changed before we discuss this matter,” Paul said, and she so appreciated that they would.
She fixed them all cups of coffee, and when Allan joined them, they took seats in the living room. Paul had started a fire and the place felt toasty warm, while the cold wind howled through the pine trees surrounding the cabin.
“First off, I’m Vaughn Greystoke, from a pack in Colorado.”
“Devlyn’s pack,” Paul said. “We thought you’d be here sooner.”
“I meant to be. I followed that bastard’s paw prints through the wilderness for weeks as a wolf. No way to check in. Not only is he a danger to our kind, but he left a trail of dead wolves in his wake.”
“Hell. So Sarah managed to turn him,” Paul said.
“Before he murdered her? Yes. Last laugh on him really, because he wanted to get rid of us and now he’s one of us. Well, as in he’s a gray wolf. He’ll never be one of us.”
“Not after he murdered two people and attempted to kill a woman and her baby,” Allan said.
“We have a bit of a problem,” Vaughn said. “Not only is Otis a survivalist and damn good at escape and evasion, but the human police are involved. I’d hoped I could catch up to him in the wilderness and end it. We still have to eliminate him.”
“Agreed,” Paul said. “If you’re here now—”
“He’s returned to the area. He has to be holed up somewhere in the vicinity. Instead of being housebound like Debbie must have been all these weeks, he took off for the wilderness.”
“But he couldn’t have stayed in his wolf form all these weeks, could he?” Debbie asked.