Allan rubbed her arm. “Did you want to get your car?”
She had scheduled a million things to do. None of them had taken into account they might learn that the shooter was back in the area.
She shook her head. “Where would he have his stuff stashed? His rifle, silver bullets, hunting traps? Clothes, all that stuff while he was running as a wolf?”
“Storage facilities? Motels that rent by the week or month? Furnished apartments that rent biweekly? Once he learned he was a wolf, he had to have found a place where he could store his stuff without making anyone suspicious. We never figured on him doing that. We assumed he had packed up and gone.”
“We could split up and start investigating storage units and the other places by sections of the city of Bigfork and surrounding areas.”
“We don’t split up,” Allan said. “But if he has to deal with turning into a wolf, that might narrow it down some.”
“To more wilderness settings.”
“Right.”
Allan wanted to find and catch the killer, but he knew how important it was for Debbie to have her time to do as she wished. He figured even if she hadn’t allowed for it, she was going to fall asleep at some point. He really didn’t want her to miss out on a chance to do some fun things without the worry of shifting.
She stood and took his hand and pulled him close. She might not agree to date him, but this was all they needed—the intimacy, the baby steps. He was certain she’d come around before long.
“I know what you’re thinking. You wanted me to do everything on my list today and for the rest of the week. Think of it this way—if we can eliminate the werewolf killer, we’ll be all set to—”
“Date?” He couldn’t help it. Even if she said she didn’t want to, he wanted to, and he wanted her to know it.
She smiled up at him. “We’ll be all set to accomplish the rest of the schedule we’d worked out. We could catch up on what we missed today and finish some of it each day for the rest of the week.”
He rubbed her shoulders and smiled down at her, loving her. “You know you only scheduled four hours of sleep a day.”
She shrugged. “Sleeping is overrated.”
He laughed. “Okay, we’ll skip sleep then.” But that had become one of his favorite parts of the day because he got to snuggle, cuddle, and spoon her every night.
“Let’s check out the places online first and then go from there.” She snagged his hand and headed for the guest room. Seated at the desk, they pulled up the rental cottages in the area, then began calling the owners to learn which were currently occupied and by whom.
“Okay, so five people are staying at your lakeside cottage. Can you verify that four adults and a baby are staying there? Who made the reservations and picked up the key? Thank you,” Debbie said.
Allan was listening to the call while he waited for an answer on his. “Hello, Mrs. Edmonds? I’m with the sheriff’s department, and I’m checking on renters for your three cabins. I need to know if they’re families or—”
“Rental unit one is being rented by two middle-aged women. Rental unit two, a family of six—two adults and four children from the age of three to twelve. And the last unit is rented to two fishermen,” Mrs. Edmonds responded.
“Have you met all of them?”
“Yes. I actively speak to each of the renters. Not trying to be intrusive, but we only have one driveway into the rental units and our house. We keep an eye on things.”
“So you’d know if one of the renters came and left and hasn’t returned for some time?”
“Well, that would be the fishermen. They do a lot of ice fishing and cook their own meals, so no, I don’t see them coming and going. The two women, yes, they ate at the restaurant across the road and went shopping and sightseeing. And the family? They’ve been in and out of here a number of times.”
“And you’ve actually seen the parents and the four kids?”
“Yes.”
“Can we take a look at the cabin where the fishermen are staying?”
“You can search the perimeter.”
“That would be fine. Thanks.”
Debbie thanked someone and ended her call. “A man rented a cabin in the woods, but it has a lockbox so the rental manager never really saw him and couldn’t say whether he is there or not. He never personally met him.”
“Okay, and the two fishermen could have been Otis and Lloyd staying at one of the cabins.”
After calling for a couple of hours that afternoon, then breaking for lunch, they finished up. They’d checked storage units that were in more countrified settings and the cottages or hotels that were also out in the woods.
Allan said, “Are you ready to do this?”
“I sure am.”
They grabbed their coats and headed out the door.