Chapter 11
The doorbell rang at Kendra’s house, but before she could dress and see who it was, Grayson grabbed his boxer briefs and headed out of the bedroom. Kendra scrambled out of bed and dressed in her shorts and a top.
It was probably time for them to get up and have dinner anyway.
The front door opened, and Grayson said, “Who are you and what do you want?”
“I’m Amy, Kendra’s friend. I see what she meant about you.”
“Oh?” He arched a brow.
Kendra joined them at the door and smiled at Amy. She took hold of Grayson’s arm and led him away so Amy could come inside.
“Well, you didn’t exaggerate about Grayson. He’s a perfect specimen of a grizzly bear in human form. And he’s just as growly as Cedric is when he’s annoyed.”
Kendra closed and locked her door. “Was that you calling me earlier?”
“Uh, yes.” Amy took a seat in the living room. “Was I interrupting anything?” She smiled. “Don’t answer that.”
Grayson headed into the master bedroom, and Kendra hoped he would get dressed and join them.
“So, do you want something to drink?” Kendra asked.
“No. I was worried about you. I wanted to warn you that I saw the fight, but I didn’t realize it had already happened. Sometimes I get visions of the future, sometimes of the past. I saw Younger watching the bears fight.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, he was in the woods, terrified, unable to move. I think he believed that as long as the bears were fighting each other, they wouldn’t notice him. Is Grayson really okay?”
“Yeah, he’s okay,” Grayson said, coming into the room wearing jeans shorts, no shoes, or shirt.
Kendra smiled. Despite his numerous bandages, he was hot.
“Does anyone want anything to drink?” he asked.
“Hot tea for me, if you’re offering,” Kendra said, not used to having a male at her home who would offer to make her something to drink or eat.
“Sure, me too,” Amy said, changing her mind.
Grayson banged around the kitchen, opening cabinet drawers and looking for mugs. Then he filled the kettle with water and turned it on.
Amy smiled at Kendra, silently telling her that Grayson was good for her.
Kendra thought so too. “So have you had any other premonitions?”
“Not me. Cedric said he saw two bears fighting, but he hadn’t seen you, so he didn’t know what it was all about. We hadn’t seen Grayson as a bear, but I saw you attack the one bear, so I figured the other was Grayson.”
Grayson brought in a tray carrying the mugs of tea. “I made everyone Earl Grey, if that’s all right.”
“Perfect,” Kendra said.
“One of my favorite teas,” Amy said. “I’m glad you made it out of that ordeal alright.”
“If you had told us about it before, would we have been able to change our destiny?” Grayson asked, sitting next to Kendra on one of the couches.
“Sometimes. Sometimes not. You wanted to go after Younger in Glacier National Park. That was your mission. If I had told you that you would get into a fight with a grizzly and put Kendra at risk, what would you have done? Gone without her?”
Grayson glanced at Kendra, then ran his hand over her thigh. “Yeah. I would have left her at home. She could have gone with Rowland to look for Younger in this area, rather than be exposed to a wild bear that wanted to mate with her."
"Would you have gone along with it?" Amy asked Kendra.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to, but maybe it would have worked. I certainly would have considered it, though I wouldn’t have wanted Grayson to go on his own.”
“So see? If I had told you about it, there’s a good chance you would have made some different choices.
Or not.” Amy sighed. “So, Grayson, how are you doing? I saw the viciousness of the attack. Despite being a bear myself, I’ve never actually witnessed male bears fighting, wild or otherwise.
Playfighting sure. But not to injure each other or in a possible death match.
I…I was really terrified for you. And for Kendra, when she went to bite the wild bear.
I just knew he was going to turn on her and kill her.
So I was relieved when you attacked him again to get his attention. You’re a hero in my eyes.”
“Mine too.” Kendra squeezed Grayson’s hand.
He smiled at her and kissed her cheek. “If I hadn’t had your help with the wild bear, I would have been injured a lot worse.”
“I was glad I was there for you.”
“I’m doing fine,” Grayson said, belatedly answering Amy’s question.
“Well, I’ll let you get back to business, and I’ll give you any update I might glean in this whole matter. As a PI, I’ve been looking into it too.” Amy finished her tea.
“We sure appreciate it.” Grayson rubbed Kendra’s back.
If Kendra had been a big cat shifter, she would have purred.
Amy thanked them for the tea, and then Kendra escorted her to the door. “Thanks for dropping by.”
“I’m glad I got to meet Grayson, and I’m thrilled the two of you are just fine. Well, Grayson’s a little torn up, but not enough to kill him. I’ll let Cedric know. He was concerned about him also, but he’s still out looking for that escaped convict.”
“You’re not helping with it?” Kendra asked.
“If I can get a psychic read on him, sure. But he has got the FBI with him on this, local police officers also, and I’m here for you.”
“Thanks, Amy. You’re the best.”
Then they hugged, and Amy left. Kendra shut and locked the door.
“How does shrimp fried rice sound for dinner?” Kendra asked Grayson.
“Yeah, that would be great.”
She started pulling out pans and cooked up the rice, jumbo shrimp, green onions, and snow peas. She tossed in soy sauce, sesame oil, and a hint of ginger. In thirty minutes, they were sitting at the table, having a glass of white wine and dinner.
“Now this is good. Half the time, I cook frozen, prepared meals because I don’t want to make anything else. But this is great,” he said.
“Thanks! I like to make my own food most of the time. But I do the frozen meals when I don’t have time or when I’m stuck on what to make. So what are we going to do next as far as Younger is concerned?”
“We ought to do some surveillance on Billy’s mother’s home.”
“I’m ready.”
They dressed for the job, packed their backpacks, and headed out to Grayson’s SUV.
“I thought Rowland’s deputies would handle the surveillance,” Kendra said.
“And my brother. But he probably won’t be there all the time.”
He put the mother’s address in his GPS. “It helps to have a couple more people there to assure Younger doesn’t grab his stepson and take off with him.”
“Agreed.”
“Both of us are used to this kind of reconnaissance.”
She got a call and put it on speaker. “Yeah, George?” She covered the phone to speak with Grayson. “My boss.”
“I’ve got another case for you. Dan Matson was spotted going to his ex-wife’s home.” George gave her the address.
“All right.” She looked at Grayson.
“We’re on it.” He figured if they could take one fugitive into custody, that was better than just sitting at a house where deputies would already be.
She chuckled. “You heard Grayson. We’ll take the case.”
“Is he coming to work for us permanently?” George asked.
Kendra raised her brows at Grayson.
He laughed.
“I think not.” She winked at Grayson.
He hadn’t thought that far ahead. He just smiled.
Then she ended the call.
“Okay, tell me about Dan Matson,” Grayson said as he put the new address into his GPS.
“He is charged with a misdemeanor theft at a store of $1,500. So he was right at the threshold for the amount to be a felony. They were sure that he had stolen before, but couldn’t prove it. But he’d been in the store enough that they figured it wasn’t the only time he had stolen from them.”
“So aggregated amounts of theft would have put him into the felony category.”
“Right.”
“Did they trespass him from the store and parking lot?”
“They did. So if the employees recognize him, they can call the police and have him arrested for trespassing. He was also charged with resisting arrest and battery on a law enforcement officer.”
Grayson thought about it. “No weapons on him?”
“No. He has never been charged with anything before, and I think he just figured he wouldn’t ever get caught.”
“Yeah, that’s the way it usually is. Criminals never think they’re ever going to get caught. Sometimes, they commit tons of crimes before they’re captured.”
She sighed. “Here’s a picture of him.”
Grayson looked at the picture. Redhead, curly hair, green eyes, large chin, small beard.
She readjusted her seatbelt. “Since this residence is his ex-wife’s, we can’t go inside without her permission.”
“Third-party ownership. Too bad he wasn’t going to his own place. No search warrant needed.”
“Exactly.”
They finally reached the ex-wife’s house and pulled up curbside at the house next door. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, I’m ready.”
They both got out of the vehicle and went up to the door together. A red Toyota was parked in the driveway. “Is that the vehicle he drives?”
“Yeah.”
He felt they might have some success then. He was ready to get on with their earlier mission and watch the teen’s home, but he wanted to help Kendra take Matson into custody and turn him over to the police first.
Kendra rang the doorbell, though a Ring doorbell alerted the owner that she had company. Probably Matson also.
“I’m going around back, just in case.” Grayson headed for a wooden gate.
“Okay. Be safe.”
“You too.”
Then the front door opened. “Hello? What do you want?” a woman asked, sounding irritated.
Grayson listened for anyone trying to come out through a back door or a window.
Then he heard a window open on the other side of the house, and he raced off to make sure that Matson wasn’t climbing out of it.
He finally reached the window and saw a leg come out.
A jeans-covered leg, the person wearing sneakers, and it was definitely a man.
A hand gripped the frame as he moved the rest of his body through the window. Then he caught sight of Grayson, but he was more out of the window than in. Grayson took a few running steps and reached Matson. Grayson grabbed his arm and pulled him the rest of the way out through the window.
“Fugitive Recovery Agent. Grayson Stone. Are you Dan Matson?” Grayson still had hold of his arm with a steel grip.
“No, no, I’m Eliza’s brother, Buddy Holton.” The guy looked like the picture Kendra had shown him.
“Why are you climbing out of her window then, instead of going through the front door? And why is that Dan Matson’s car out front? Not Buddy Holton’s? And why do you look exactly like Dan Matson? Let me see some ID, and if you’re not who I know you to be, you can go on your merry way.”
He tried to get away from Grayson, but he just held Matson’s arm tighter. Kendra soon joined them. “That’s him.”
“Can you get his wallet and check his ID?”
“Yep.” She helped Grayson zip-tie his wrists, then dug in Matson’s pocket for his wallet. She opened his wallet and pulled out his driver’s license. “Dan Matson. I knew it was him, but we just had to make sure.”
“Absolutely. Let’s get him to the police station.”
Matson’s ex-wife came out to shake her head at Dan. She folded her arms. “You didn’t tell me you were fleeing from the law. Don’t ever come back here.”
“What did he tell you was his reason for coming to see you?” Grayson asked, curious.
“To try and get back together with me. I nearly fell for it.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Matson whined.
“Right. You only came here to hide out. What did he do?” the ex-wife said.
“Stole merchandise from a department store totaling $1,500,” Kendra said as she and Grayson hauled him out to Grayson’s vehicle.
“What about his car?” the ex-wife asked, looking frustrated.
“He can have a friend come pick it up,” Kendra said.
“I need to call my lawyer,” Matson said.
“After they book you in at the jail.” Grayson could never understand why people didn’t just show up for their court dates. He might have gotten six months in jail, but maybe less. And with good behavior, even less than that. They put Matson in the back of his SUV and seat-belted him in.
“Can you move his car out of the way so I can get my own car out of the garage in case it takes a while for someone to come get it?” the ex-wife asked.
“Yeah, sure.” Kendra got the keys out of Maston’s pocket and handed them to the ex-wife.
She moved the car out into the street and parked it at the curb. “Thanks.” She handed the keys back to Kendra.
“You’re welcome.” Then Kendra joined Grayson in the front seat, and they took off for the police station.
“They don’t have any proof that I stole anything,” Matson said.
Grayson and Kendra were quiet. They had nothing to do with determining whether he was telling the truth, but he figured the store wouldn’t charge him unless they had enough video evidence and witnesses of his crimes.
“How did you find me? I haven’t had anything to do with my ex-wife in over a year.”
“Were you really planning on trying to work things out with her?” Kendra asked.
Matson didn’t respond.
“Didn’t think so.”
“What are they going to do with me?” Matson asked.
“It’s up to the judge,” Grayson said. “The original bond is usually forfeited, either cash or collateral that was put up to get you out in the first place. You’ll go to jail.
The court can revoke your bail completely, and you’ll remain in jail until the court is concluded.
It really pays to just appear in court when you’re supposed to.
You can be charged with failure to appear.
And if the judge was thinking of being lenient, he might not be now.
Of course, skipping your court date meant we would get involved. ”
“I’m going to text Rowland and tell him what we’re up to after we drop Matson off at the police station,” Kendra said.
“What if I gave you a thousand dollars each to just let me go?” Matson asked.