Chapter 9
Daniel woke up with a start and found his angel was sitting there, holding his hand. He glanced around and realized he was in the hospital. Then he remembered being shot and howling for help. Aww, hell, he planned to bake chocolate chip cookies and win his she-wolf back over dinner.
“Hey,” he said. “You are a sight for sore eyes.” He felt they were kindred spirits.
“You found their car but didn’t take backup.” Selena was scolding him like he had scolded her for following the black Mazda without backup in the first place.
“I don’t want you to move out of my house.” He wanted to get that out of the way first.
“You wanted me to look for a home of my own.”
“You’re too precious to me. I had assumed that if you stayed with me instead of getting an apartment for a month, you would have enough time to decide I was yours as you are mine, and forget looking for a house. I wasn’t about to let you go.”
Tears streaked her cheeks. “I thought you were ready for me to stay with someone else.”
He wiped away her tears, choked up a little.
“I thought that was what you wanted, and I wasn’t going to force the issue.
Then Peter threw me a curveball: he said he would watch over you at the shop while I continued searching for information on the brothers.
I planned to be there for you during the day at least.”
“I didn’t want to stay with anyone else.”
He smiled. “Then we’re thinking along the same line.”
She bent toward him, her mouth seeking his. With his uninjured arm, he drew her against his chest in a fierce hold. “I had planned to have dinner with you tonight.”
She frowned at him. “Where? At the Silver Town Tavern? Ohmigod, that was a setup.” She smiled, amused.
“Friends help friends. They knew I had said the wrong thing to you. Meghan straightened me out and wanted me to smooth things over with you. I was going to make you some chocolate chip cookies, but figured I had to do it after dinner.”
She chuckled. “I had such a lovely time with you the first time I was at the tavern with you. I kept wishing you were there. Wait, is that why there were only two tables there for us to use, one for Peter and Meghan, and one for us?”
“That was the plan. I was supposed to be there first, and you would have to choose between sitting with me and sitting with them. I was hoping you would sit with me.”
“I had to admit I thought I would be sitting by myself unless a bachelor male came over and asked to join me. But none of them did. They just smiled and didn’t come over to the table at all.”
Daniel laughed, but that hurt his injured arm.
“What? Don’t tell me, they were told not to approach me.”
“They knew we are a couple. They wouldn’t encroach unless they knew for sure that we weren’t a couple any longer.”
“And that would have been assured if I had shown up and had dinner with you. But what if I had sat with Peter and Meghan instead?”
“Same thing. They’d still know I wasn’t giving up on you.”
She smiled. “Yeah.” Then she got serious. “But then you got shot. How are you feeling?”
“Dragged out, sore. I can’t lie about it.”
“So what happened exactly?”
“A couple of our people were running as wolves and came upon the black Mazda buried under branches. The wolves hadn’t smelled the scents of the men before, so they didn’t know it was tied to them.
They immediately howled and then left the scene, afraid the men might be nearby and armed.
When they reached their car, they shifted and dressed, then called me because I was on duty at the sheriff’s office. ”
“Then you went out without backup.”
“I should have had backup. You’re right.
I smelled the brothers’ scents around the car.
I’m sure they’ll find their scents inside the car, fingerprints, all of that.
One of the men shot my phone out of my hand, luckily missing my hand, but ruining my phone.
I howled for help, and a couple of wolves chased the men off. ”
“So I guess whoever took my clothes to Peter’s home will have to return them to your home.”
“Our home. We have to wait until I’m out of the hospital.”
“Peter might not feel your place is safe enough with you having been shot, but I’ve got a gun, and I’ll protect you.”
“The doctor said I have to be here for a couple of days.”
She glanced at the couch in the room.
“They’ll give you blankets, sheets, and a pillow or two if you want to stay overnight.” He was hoping she would stay, but he knew it wouldn’t be as comfortable as being in a real bed.
“Yes. I’ll stay here.”
He was thrilled. “Deputy Trevor will watch the room. They’ll switch deputies out for the duration of my stay here in case the brothers think I saw who shot me.”
“I can’t believe they would shoot you and not kill you.”
“I was shooting back until the wolves started chasing after them. I heard them scurrying through the brush like scared rabbits. I hope I hit one, but I never even saw the men hidden in the trees. They might have thought they were going to scare me away and not hit me. But it doesn’t matter what their intentions were.
They shot a law enforcement officer, and that is enough to put them in jail. ”
“Was the car impounded?”
“It was, and they’re going over it with a fine-tooth comb for evidence.
They found another skeleton—this one under a blanket in the trunk of the car.
They want you and Ellie to examine it. They also checked the VIN, and it turns out it was stolen in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
I had assumed so since one was stolen there, but the VIN proves it. ”
The nurse came in to check Daniel’s vital signs and made up the bed for Selena. “If you need anything, just let me know.”
“Thanks,” Selena said.
“And, Daniel, just push the nurse’s call button if you need something.” Then the nurse left.
“I guess we really are a couple now,” Selena said to Daniel.
“Yeah, only a couple would stay overnight together in a hospital room. And hell, I’m glad.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Then Peter and Meghan knocked at the door. “Just us,” Peter said. “I put out the word that you need your rest. However, you know Lelandi and Darien. They’ll come by and check on you.”
Meghan smiled to see the couch made up into a bed and Selena sitting by Daniel’s bed, holding his hand. “We’re glad it wasn’t worse than it was.”
“You and me both,” Daniel said.
Then the Silvers arrived. “We’ve got every available man out looking for these Cretans,” Darien said.
“How do you feel?” Lelandi asked.
“Glad to be here,” Daniel said. And even gladder to be with Selena and to have resolved the issue between them.
“One of the deputies will be at the shop. Will you be in at all?” Peter asked Selena.
“There’s no need for you to sit in the hospital all day tomorrow,” Daniel said. “It’s important that you continue to sell for your own peace of mind. And you’ll be watched, so you’ll be safe there.”
“I’ve got to check on the skeleton too.”
“I’ll call Ellie and have her meet us in the morgue,” Peter said. “At least we’re already at the hospital.”
“Let me know what you find out,” Daniel said.
“I sure will when I come back to sleep here,” Selena said.
Selena wanted to be with Daniel. How would it look if she left him alone in the hospital while she was at her shop tomorrow?
On the other hand, she didn’t have anyone to open her shop and manage it, and she hated to leave it closed for a couple of days until Daniel could be back home.
And then she would feel guilty that he was home alone.
Sitting around the hospital, while she worried about her shop, wasn’t ideal either. But she certainly hoped she could help identify the new skeleton.
“I’ll go in the morning and open the shop, then come back here for lunch and dinner.” By dinnertime, her shop would be closed anyway, and she would spend the night at the hospital again. Plus, she needed to drop by his house, shower, and change, and then go to the shop.
“We have your bags, and you can shower and change at our house,” Meghan said.
“I’ll be going with you both.” Peter saluted Daniel. “Stay out of trouble.”
“I’ll try.”
Then Selena kissed Daniel, and he kissed her back deeply, telling her he wanted to be with her long-term.
She was delighted that things had been clarified between them. Then she left with Peter for the morgue.
Once they were down there, she began identifying the remains. It was a woman, and she was about the age of the first female skeleton Selena had seen in the cemetery.
Then Ellie and Dr. Featherston joined them. Selena and Peter waited to see if she could commune with a ghost. It seemed like forever before she answered. “I don’t feel anything from her spirit either. She must have passed on. Sorry, I can’t help you this time either.”
“I had hoped you could solve the mystery of who they were and who killed them. But how was another matter. She was shot in the head just like the other woman. I’ll have to check for fingerprints on her bones, and I’ll do a facial reconstruction for both women.
We’ll need to share photos of the reconstructed faces to see if anyone knows them.
If they were from Fort Wayne, Indiana, we might be able to find two women who went missing there, since the brothers are from there. ”
“I’ll get on that right away,” Peter said. “Are we done for now? I’ll take you to the house, and you can shower and change clothes. I’ve got your bags in the car.”
“Perfect and thanks, Ellie,” Selena said.
“I wish I could have been more help.”
“I love your special gift,” Selena said.
Then they all left, and Peter took Selena to his home while Selena lay down in the back seat of the car. Then they drove into the garage.
“The guest bathroom is on the second floor to the right,” Peter said, carrying her bags into the house.
Selena grabbed one while Peter took some more business calls in another room.
“Do you want decaf coffee and a cinnamon roll before you return to the hospital?” Meghan asked.