Finally, a snowplow arrived to clear the road so that Eddie’s SUV could be picked up by the tow truck and hauled to Silver Town. “We’ll go over it with a fine-tooth comb when we get to the station,” CJ said. “Let’s go to Jim’s grandfather’s cabin now.”
Dylan and the others loaded up on their snowmobiles and drove over there. When they arrived, the place looked quiet. No smoke was coming out of the chimney. No lights on in the place. Though if Jim was staying there, he’d probably try to keep a low profile.
They did what they had on previous occasions with some of them watching the windows and Dylan and CJ going to the front door. CJ knocked. “Jim, if you’re in there, we need to see you. This is Deputy Sheriff CJ Silver of Silver Town. Your friend Aaron said you didn’t kill Eddie. We believe him. He has got a compound fractured leg and—”
A man approached them from the woods, his hands up in the air. Jim Johnson. Finally.
“Get on your knees and put your hands behind your head,” Dylan said before CJ could. It was true that they believed Fennel had killed Eddie now, but they still needed to be sure Jim wasn’t going to become hostile. “Where’s your hunting rifle?”
“Inside the cabin. I didn’t do it. I didn’t do any of it,” Jim said, sounding resigned and somewhat relieved it was over.
“That’s what Aaron said before he was injured,” Dylan told him. “But we need your statement.”
“How did Aaron get injured?” Jim asked, his brows raised, appearing surprised.
“Bear trap. We’ve also been looking for the trapper who did this to him,” Dylan said.
“I guess you can’t let me help you look for the bastard,” Jim said.
“I’m afraid not.” CJ read Jim his rights, and then they took him inside.
“You’ve been keeping out of sight,” Dylan said.
“Yeah. I knew this would be the first place you’d look for me. I figured by now, no one would think I’d return here,” Jim said.
Dylan motioned to the couch for Jim to take a seat. “Fennel told us where to look for you.”
“I figured that might have been the case.” Jim proceeded to tell them what had happened. Which was the same thing that Aaron had told them. Jim hadn’t faltered from his version in the least. Often, when perps were lying, they’d forget the story they had already told and alter it or decide that another story suited their purpose better.
“I’ll be right back,” Michael said. “I’m going to see if I can find Fennel’s bag in the house.”
“What?” Jim asked.
“We found Eddie’s vehicle abandoned on a logging road. All your bags—yours, Eddie’s, and Xander’s—were in the SUV,” CJ said. “All except for Fennel’s. That’s why we came here to see if we could find it. Also, the clothes he was wearing when he shot Eddie were in Eddie’s SUV. We arrested Fennel here.”
“He’s in custody.” Jim took a relieved breath.
“Sorry, no. He told a convincing story, and I’m afraid we released him. There’s a witness to Eddie’s murder, and we’ll have him verify that you aren’t the shooter.” At least Dylan thought Luke would. What if he still believed Jim was the shooter?
“Hell, that’s great,” Jim said.
“But when Xander yelled out, ‘No, Jim, don’t,’ Luke immediately thought that the person who committed the murder was you, Jim,” Dylan said.
“Aw, hell. I didn’t know why Xander called out my name. It just didn’t make any sense to me.”
“Why didn’t you try and stop Fennel from shooting Eddie?” Dylan asked.
“Fennel had my rifle! And I didn’t really think he was going to do it. Then Fennel shot Eddie, and it was too late to do anything about it.” Jim rubbed his forehead.
“Why did you help cover up the body?”
“Like I told you, Fennel had my rifle. He didn’t give it back to me until later, and he told us since we all had done nothing to stop him from shooting Eddie and we helped to bury his body, we were all accessories to the murder. I knew my law practice was doomed. I–I just wasn’t thinking. And I sure as hell didn’t believe Fennel would set me up to take the fall.”
“Yeah, great friend, eh?” CJ said.
“Did you know there was a trapper who also might have witnessed the murder?” Dylan asked.
Jim’s eyes grew big. “A red-haired and bearded man?”
Now Dylan was the one who was surprised. “You’ve seen him?”
“Yeah, he shared coffee and breakfast tacos with us one morning. He looked like a mountain man and smelled of body odor, like he hadn’t bathed in a while. He was wearing animal skins over his clothes, a hat made of beaver, but under that, he was wearing a white parka and snow pants. He was friendly enough. We figured he was a trapper. But I hadn’t seen any sign of him when the shooting occurred.”
“Did he offer you a name?” Dylan asked. “If he witnessed the murder, we can try and get his testimony and that would help your case.”
“As if anyone like that would agree to go to Denver to testify in a court of law,” Jim said.
“What if he’s the one who injured your friend Aaron?” Dylan couldn’t tell Jim that the scent on the traps was the same as the scent of the man who might very well have witnessed the murder. But if Jim and his friends knew who the man was, that might help them in locating him and charging him with crimes of his own. Of course, if he had witnessed the murder, they’d also want to know his version of the story.
Jim stared at Dylan for a moment and then frowned. “He said his name was McInerny. That he went by Rusty because of his red hair, but some people called him Mac. He offered us whiskey to add to our coffee, but we declined because we didn’t know where he’d gotten it from. But he poured quite a bit into the coffee we made for him, and he was really talkative. We hadn’t expected him to be. He asked why we were carrying rifles during bowhunting season.”
“This was before the elk was shot?” Dylan asked.
“Yeah, like the day before. Eddie said that we were just hiking, but if a cougar tried to get us, we had to be able to protect ourselves. There wasn’t any way of getting anything past Rusty. He said he knew we were illegally hunting out of season and probably didn’t even have licenses to hunt. He was a wary old cuss, but he seemed to like us. Fennel was getting really bothered by the talk of doing illegal stuff. But I suspected Rusty was hiding from the law or something himself.”
“Did he tell you he was illegally trapping?” Dylan asked.
“No, but he said that this is God’s land and that no one had the right to tell him or anyone else what they could do on it. So we took that to mean he didn’t see anything wrong in what we were doing—or whatever it was that he was doing.”
Bryan had joined Michael to look for Fennel’s bag and then Bryan said, “I got Fennel’s bag!”
“Where was it?” Dylan asked when Bryan rolled the bag into the living room.
“Stuck up in the attic. We had to find a ladder to reach it.”
CJ pulled out a pair of gloves and opened the bag. He started to move the clothes around, and then he found a plane ticket to Bolivia and Fennel’s passport. “It looks like Fennel was planning to take a trip. He had to have planned this all along. Okay, so we have Fennel’s bag, Eddie’s car, and Jim. Let’s return to Silver Town. Luke can see Jim and verify he’s not the one who shot Eddie,” CJ said. “If you didn’t know, since Fennel was wearing some of your clothes, when he tried to kill Dylan—”
“What?” Jim’s gaze shot to Dylan.
“Yeah. I’d know your gray knit hat from anywhere. The last four times I arrested you for violating hunting regulations, you were wearing it. Fennel was wearing your clothes when he smashed me in the head with his rifle butt, knocking me out cold, and I ended up floating facedown in the ski lodge’s pool. Well, then sinking to the bottom. If someone hadn’t rescued me from the pool and resuscitated me, I would have been dead,” Dylan said.
“Hell. I didn’t do it. I wouldn’t have done it. Why would I have?” Jim stroked his beard. “The reason Fennel was wearing my clothes was that we were crossing a stream, using a fallen log to reach the other side, and everyone was doing fine. But then Fennel was ahead of me, and he suddenly lost his balance. Don’t ask me how. He looked fine and then, to me, it appeared he just…fell. I can’t believe the bastard went to such lengths to pretend he was me. Why would he try to murder you?” Jim snapped his fingers. “He thought you were following us and saw him shoot Eddie.”
“I was following you. I just hadn’t met up with you in time to catch sight of everything that had happened. But I suspect that’s just what he thought,” Dylan said.
Jim ran his hands through his hair. “Hey, man, I’m sorry about the illegal hunting. You won’t catch me at it again.”
Dylan was surprised to hear him say it. Jim hadn’t ever been sorry for any of it. He would just weasel himself out of getting charges for it—almost always. “Whose bow was in the SUV?”
“Mine. I planned to hunt with Aaron, and he wouldn’t have approved of me hunting with a rifle. After what happened between my friends and me on this trip…” Jim shook his head. “What about the trapper?” Jim asked, sounding like capturing him was just as important as getting Fennel behind bars.
Dylan could see that Jim’s friend was important to him. “We’re still trying to catch the trapper and we’ll charge him with attempted manslaughter. But we also need to get his witness testimony if he saw what occurred since he knew you by name, right? You wouldn’t happen to know where Rusty was living or staying, would you?”
Jim shook his head. “We all had introduced ourselves. He just said he lived off the land, but he never said where he lived exactly.”
“We can take you over to the clinic to see Aaron after you give us your statement,” CJ said.
Jim took a deep breath and let it out. “Good. And thanks.”
Then they packed up Jim’s things while CJ called Peter with the news that they had Jim and Fennel’s bag and were returning home. “Yeah, boss. We’ll be there in a few hours.”
Before dinner, Dylan was thinking, and he was so glad. Tonight, he would be with Roxie. Tomorrow, he would be back to searching for the trapper. He wasn’t certain if the other men would be too or if they had other business to take care of. But he was finding that guy.
They drove to the lodge to pick up their vehicles, and Dylan managed to get in a quick trip to see Roxie. She was in the middle of a wedding setup, but as soon as she saw him, she hurried to join him.
“I’m so glad you’ve found Jim and Eddie’s car.” She was hugging Dylan to pieces, and he loved it.
He kissed her with enthusiasm and didn’t want to let her go. “I’ve got to get down to the sheriff’s office. Darien’s bringing Luke there to have him identify Jim as one of the hunters at the scene of the murder but not the man who did the shooting.”
“Oh, good. But we’re on for dinner, right?”
He smiled and lifted her against him and swung her around. “And all night too. Absolutely.”
“I’m so glad.” She kissed him again and then she noticed someone was waiting to ask her about something and she smiled at Dylan. “I so love you.”
“I love you too. I’ll see to this business and then shower up and start dinner if I’m home before you.”
“Okay. I’ll see you soon.”
Then they parted ways and he gave her a backward glance, saw her watching him, and both of them smiled at each other. She was the light of his life.
He went to the house and got his truck, and when he finally arrived at the jailhouse in Silver Town, Darien was bringing Luke to the station to see Jim. If they’d thought Fennel was the murderer initially, they would have had Luke identify him as the shooter. So they’d messed up big time by letting Fennel off.
Dylan wanted to be there for Luke when he saw Jim through the one-way mirror. The other men went home. “I’ll bring Luke home after this, Darien.”
Darien looked at Luke to see how he felt about it.
“Yeah, sure,” Luke said. “That’s fine with me.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in a bit,” Darien said.
Darien left and CJ and Peter went in to speak with Jim.
“Show us where you were standing in relation to the others when Eddie was fatally shot,” Peter said to Jim.
“Yeah, sure. I was here, northwest of Eddie. Fennel was over there holding my rifle, directly west of Eddie.” Jim pointed toward the door. “Eddie was standing diagonally northeast from Xander.”
Dylan was envisioning exactly the setup, the angle of the bullet that had been discharged, and he knew that bullet had to have come from Fennel’s direction. He glanced at Luke, who was watching everything Jim said and had tears in his eyes.
Dylan patted his shoulder. “You don’t have to see or hear any more of this.” He reminded himself that Luke was just a boy, though he seemed older than his age, and he’d witnessed a horrific murder.
“It’s just as he says it was. The other guy? Xander? He called out, ‘No, Jim, don’t!’ But he was looking straight at Fennel. Not at this guy—Jim,” Luke said, pointing at Jim. He looked up at Dylan. “Both those guys set Jim up. How could they do that to him?”
“I know, right? It was an awful thing to do.” Dylan frowned, thinking of something else. “We believe a trapper by the name of Rusty McInerny also witnessed the murder. He’s a redhead with a red beard wearing mostly white. A fur hat and furs were worn over his other clothes. Did you ever see him while you were in the woods?”
“Uh…” Suddenly, Luke was perspiring a little, his gaze going to the floor. He ran his hands through his hair, and he cleared his throat. “I…uh, was running as a wolf, and I saw a man like you described, and I saw him setting a trap. I wanted to set it off but couldn’t while he was in the area. Later, when I had shifted and was dressed, I returned and triggered the trap with a stick, then yanked it out of the ground and buried it in another area so he wouldn’t find it.”
“I wouldn’t want you putting your life at risk like that, but that’s exactly what I did when I was your age with traps that a trapper had set. I wreaked real havoc with him. Good job,” Dylan said.
Luke shoved his hands in his pockets, looking dejected, not like he was pleased with Dylan’s praise of him.
“You did a good thing.” But Dylan suspected there was more to the story then.
“I–I started following him, tripping his traps before he could hurt anyone with them. I was really careful not to be seen, and I got rid of ten that way. I knew I was doing something right by the animals and anyone else who might come across the traps but…” Luke let out his breath in exasperation.
“Okay?” Dylan was getting a bad feeling about this, though he wasn’t sure what could be wrong with this scenario. Then he got it. “He saw you shifting.”
“Worse.” Luke looked up at Dylan, tears filling his eyes.
“You had to kill him?” Dylan was surprised. It was something they had to do sometimes, but Dylan could understand how distraught Luke could be over it.
Luke shook his head and wiped his nose with his sleeve. “He…he chased me with murder in his eyes. I knew he was going to kill me. I went to the cave I often used when I needed to get out of the bad weather. And…and he followed me in there. But it was dark inside and he couldn’t see like I could. Then he turned on a flashlight and I knew he’d shoot me as soon as he saw me. He had a rifle on him. I was as deep in the cave as I could go. I hurried to strip off my clothes and turned into my wolf. It was the only thing I could think of that would give me a fighting chance.”
“You bit him.”
“I feel terrible about it. Everyone’s been so welcoming. Everyone’s treated me like part of the wolf pack, like a friend, part of the family. I should have told you right away.”
Dylan gave him a hug. “Hey, these things happen sometimes. He had you between a rock and a hard place. You did the only thing you could do to protect yourself. Everyone will understand.”
Luke sobbed.
Dylan felt awful for him. “Hey, you’re not in trouble.”
“My parents drummed it into me that I”—Luke choked on tears—“was never supposed to bite any human as a wolf, ever. That if I did, I was supposed to kill the person. I–I couldn’t. I–I just couldn’t do it.”
“It’s okay. Really. We’ll find the trapper and take him into the pack. If he can’t adjust to being a wolf in a pack where someone looks out for him all the time, then Darien will make a decision on how to handle it.”
CJ joined them, but Dylan saw that he’d been listening in on some of the conversation.
Dylan said, “Do you have the traps that we located, including the one that injured Aaron, CJ?”
“Yeah, I sure do. Why?” CJ asked.
“Luke needs to smell them to see if the man he saw was the same one who set other traps that he had located,” Dylan said.
CJ took Luke to the evidence room and Luke smelled the scent. “Yeah, that’s the redheaded guy’s scent that I smelled on the traps. The one who came after me and I–I bit.”
“Okay, we’ll take care of it. We don’t want you to feel like you can’t talk to any of us about things like this. Or any other issues, really,” Dylan said.
“Yeah, I agree with Dylan on this. Darien’s my cousin. You won’t be in trouble for it,” CJ said.
Then Peter came out of the interrogation room. “So who killed Eddie, Luke?”
“Fennel did.” Luke swallowed hard, still appearing upset about what he’d done to Rusty. Luke appeared to be on the fence about whether Darien would think it was all right that he’d bitten a human. “Jim wasn’t holding a rifle. Fennel was and he aimed it at Eddie and shot him. Xander was holding a rifle too. I swear if Jim had intervened, Xander might have shot him. I can’t believe Xander was in on the whole thing. They must have known I was there watching. Why else would they have pretended Fennel was Jim so that I would overhear it?”
“I agree,” Peter said, glancing at Dylan as if wanting to ask why Luke was so upset.
“I’ll be happy to testify against them,” Luke said, wiping his eyes again.
“Me too,” Dylan said. “Luke also identified Rusty McInerny as the man who had set several traps that Luke triggered and hid. But Rusty caught him at it at the very last, and the only way Luke could defend himself was to bite him.”
Peter nodded. “I’m sure Rusty won’t want to be setting traps any longer. Good job, Luke. We’ll bring him into the pack. I’ll tell Jim that you identified Fennel as the shooter. Why don’t you take Luke home? I’m sure Roxie can’t wait to see you, Dylan.”
“Thanks. I’ll do that.” Dylan slapped Luke on the back. “Now we just have to get Fennel back into custody. He was planning a trip south of the border. Hopefully, he didn’t manage to slip away down there already.”
“You don’t think he’d come after me, do you?” Luke asked, sounding worried as they got into Dylan’s truck.
“He’d be foolish if he did. And of course, we need to catch Rusty and teach him all about what we are.”
“I want to do it. I’m responsible.”
“I’m sure Darien will be amenable to that. Though others in the pack will keep an eye on him too,” Dylan said.
“This is going to be like how it was for Roxie, isn’t it? Growly when she shifts when she doesn’t want to,” Luke said with regret.
“Well, everyone’s different. He might not be bothered by it at all. We just never know.”
“Have you ever turned anyone?” Luke asked, looking hopeful that since Dylan had been in the same situation as him, he might have done something similar.
“No. I got lucky. How are things going with you and the Silvers?” Dylan drove out into the countryside where Darien and Lelandi lived.
“Great. Though Lelandi said she wanted to talk to me about what I had to go through at the jailhouse. Her kids say she’s always like that.” Luke took a deep breath and let it out. “She’s going to want to talk to me about turning Rusty too.”
Dylan nodded. “It can be a good thing having a psychologist in the family.”
“I’m glad you’re mated to Roxie.” Luke brightened. “I knew you would be. I saw you dancing with her at the Valentine’s Day party. You looked like you didn’t need any dance lessons.”
Dylan almost laughed. “It just came naturally when we began to dance together. You’re right about us being together.”
“Do you have to talk to Lelandi?” Luke asked.
“About what?”
“About what you went through? I mean, I witnessed a murder, but you were almost murdered.”
“She talked to me about it when I was at the clinic. Lelandi’s smart and knows her profession, but she’s also tenderhearted and intuitive. She really wants us to feel okay about what we went through.” Dylan finally reached the Silvers’ country estate and parked on the circular drive out front. “It’ll get better. Just know it isn’t your mistake.” Dylan gave him a hug.
“Thanks, Dylan.” Then Luke smiled. “Um, I’m invited to the wedding, aren’t I? Yours and Roxie’s?”
“How would you like to be one of my best men?”
“Really? You mean it?”
“Yeah, and thank you for straightening all of us out about who murdered Eddie. We might not have gotten the right man if it wasn’t for you witnessing the whole affair.”
Luke straightened in his seat. “I’m so glad I didn’t become a mountain man like you had to be when you were my age. Maybe I could be a deputy sheriff when I get older.”
“I know you’re working at the movie theater for now, but I’m sure Peter, or even Nate and Nicole, who have their PI business, could give you some apprenticeship work. It would give you a step up if you decided to go into law enforcement. Especially after you were trying to stop a trapper from injuring or killing animals.”
“Will you recommend me? I don’t know if everyone’s going to be all right with me turning Rusty.”
“Hell, yeah, I’ll recommend you, but you don’t need my recommendation. Everyone’s behind you on this or anything else you set your heart on doing. We’re here for you.” Dylan thought about it and wondered if Luke was afraid to tell Darien about turning the trapper. “Do you want me to talk to Darien about you biting the trapper?”
“No…I’ll do it.”
“All right.” Then Dylan hugged Luke again and Luke finally got out of the truck, waved at him, and hurried off to the house.
Dylan waved goodbye before Luke opened the front door and disappeared inside, shutting the door behind him. He knew Luke was going to feel bad about the business with Rusty until they located the trapper, and hopefully the man would forgive him.
Dylan drove off for home, a hot shower, dinner, and lots of loving Roxie. He finally reached the house, parked in the garage, grabbed his gear, and carried it inside. “Honey, I’m home.”
The house was quiet and dark, so he assumed she hadn’t made it home yet. After he cleaned up his gear, then put it away, he grabbed a glass of water before he took a shower and dressed. He’d call her to see if she needed his help with anything after he showered, though he was going to make dinner.
They also needed to find Rusty pronto so that they could tell him what he was experiencing was normal for one of their kind. Dylan figured he would be out on more manhunts, only this time he would also be looking for a wolf.
He needed to return to Denver, pick up his stuff, and return here. Maybe this weekend. The rental was furnished, so he didn’t have to take anything with him but his clothes and other personal effects, not to mention his groceries.
Dylan went up the stairs to the master bedroom and shed his dirty clothes in the bathroom. As soon as he was in the shower, he rinsed off and then lathered up, wanting to stay in there forever. He closed his eyes as he washed his face, then heard the shower stall door open and opened his eyes to see a naked Roxie joining him. He gave her a big smile. Things couldn’t get better than being home with her like this.
“Hmm, I like seeing all these soap bubbles on you, fun to pop,” she said running her hands over his soapy skin.
He wrapped her in his arms. “I’ll just have to cover you in my soapy bubbles so I can pop yours too.”
She laughed and they began kissing, the shower spray hitting his back and the top of his head. He turned around so she could have the warm water on her back and then he kissed her again, his hands on her breasts, massaging them.
But then he was pouring out some soap and slathering it all over her, rubbing his body against hers, getting himself—and her—worked up. Forget dinner for the moment. They were making love in bed first. But they didn’t make it out of the shower in time for that.