Chapter 19
While Grayson was driving, Kendra got on her phone, called Grayson’s dad, and put the call on speakerphone. “Hi, it’s Kendra. We’re on our way to try to apprehend Billy in Whitefish. So we might not be taking Ivy to the mall to try to capture him there. We just wanted to give you a heads-up.”
“Oh, good. Do you need Marcus to join you to bring Billy in?” Grayson’s dad asked.
“Rowland is coordinating with law enforcement to help us deal with this,” Kendra said. “We’re on Bluetooth with him now. Besides, we need you and Marcus to be there for Ivy, just in case things go sideways, since Billy is in Whitefish now.”
“Okay. Let us know what goes down. The girls were up most of the night, and they’re still sleeping.”
Kendra sure remembered overnights like that with her girlfriends. Those were the best days. Well, as a teen girl. Being with Grayson sure topped that experience.
“We’ll let you know what’s going on when we know.”
“Okay, thanks.” Then the dad ended the call.
Grayson pulled next to a curb. “We’re here, well, just down the road from the friend’s uncle’s house, so they’re not alerted,” he told Rowland. “We’re getting out now. You don’t happen to know if they’ve got security cameras up all over the place, do you?”
“A Ring camera at the main house entrance, but nothing on the building where Billy is,” Rowland said.
Houses were spread out quite a bit from each other, but Ring or other security cameras across the street or at neighbors’ homes might be able to record their movements. Then again, they were here for a fugitive who had jumped bond, so it wasn’t like they were the bad guys.
They just didn’t want anyone to warn the friend’s uncle that they were trespassing, in case anyone saw them and wanted to tell him.
They moved onto the property, which was filled with trees and shrubs, making it easier for them to move about undetected.
Kendra just hoped that a neighbor didn’t see Grayson’s SUV parked curbside and worry it was trouble.
Though if they called the police, they would assure them everything was fine, or maybe send a unit to check it out right away.
Something that didn’t give away the mission.
She really wanted to turn into her bear and scare the kid to pieces after what he’d helped his stepdad to do to the girls they’d kidnapped and attempted to kidnap.
They skirted the property, keeping to the perimeter, and made a beeline for the place where Billy was staying. The barn had been converted into a log house with large windows on either side of the front door and windows above, making it appear to have two stories.
They saw the green car his stepdad had used. Kendra immediately thought of disabling it. They didn’t need to go on a wild goose chase again to capture these guys in case Billy tried to take off in it.
She motioned to the car, and Grayson nodded, and the two of them cut the tires on the vehicle.
The lights were on in several rooms of the two-story building.
She hoped no one else was there, but maybe Billy wasn’t good at turning off lights in rooms he wasn’t using, like she’d always been taught when she was a kid.
“I’ll take the back,” she said.
“I’ll knock on the front door. You got that, Rowland?”
“Yeah, our ETA is approximately three minutes if you want to hold on.”
“We don’t want to lose him again.”
Kendra hurried around back. There was no fence surrounding the building. It had a window on the west side of the building, a smaller window way up above, and two on the back, one on each side of a back door.
She gently tried to open the back door, twisting the doorknob.
It was unlocked. Billy must have figured he had nothing to worry about and didn’t bother to lock it.
She hoped he hadn’t left the place already.
She had her taser out and sneaked through the house as she heard a shoot-em-up game being played.
If asked why she had walked into a house without a warrant or invitation, since Billy didn’t actually live there, Kendra planned to say she thought someone was hurt, the door was unlocked, and she went in to help them.
She got a text from Grayson: Are you in place?
She texted back: I’m in the house, listening to a game Billy is playing.
Grayson texted: I’m knocking on the front door.
Grayson knocked on the door with a solid rap, and Kendra headed toward the room where the game was being played.
She recognized Billy’s scent. Her heart was beating hard, and she closed in on the room.
She could hear Billy shooting away at the enemy in the game.
She suspected he had headphones on and couldn’t hear Grayson at the front door, but she did and could still hear the shooting because of her bear shifter's enhanced hearing.
Then she heard someone approaching from behind at a quicker pace, startling her. She whipped around, taser ready, and saw it was Grayson in his bear coat. She suspected he had thought she had been hurt because Billy wasn’t answering the door, and she wasn’t texting Grayson.
But she smiled, glad to see him in his grizzly form. She got out of his way so he could enter the bedroom where Billy was sitting at a computer with his back to them. He was wearing headphones and didn’t see or hear the bear coming in for an attack.
Grayson growled, but the teen still didn’t hear him. And then Grayson swung at him, striking his massive paw at Billy’s head, knocking him from the black leather gaming chair. Billy landed on the wooden floor and was out cold.
Through the window, she saw two police cars pull up, and a man left the main house to ask them what the matter was. She was glad she and Grayson hadn’t had to deal with him.
She got on her phone to let Rowland know what was happening since Grayson couldn’t until he shifted and dressed.
“Police are here,” she told Grayson, in case he didn’t hear them arrive. She touched Billy’s wrist to make sure he was all right. He was just knocked out. “We got Billy. Grayson struck him with his bear paw. Grayson’s shifting and dressing,” she told Rowland.
“The guys with me are all bears so we’re good. We’ll be there in a second.”
Meanwhile, she zip-tied Billy’s wrists behind his back.
“Can one of you unlock the front door?” Rowland asked.
“Yeah.” She called out to Grayson, “Rowland and the other officers are at the front door.”
“Oh, yeah, it was locked. Got it,” he said.
She didn’t want to leave Billy alone for a second. This time, he would be incarcerated for good, no bail, and the police would pay the bail bond money to Grayson for capturing Billy.
She felt so much relief that they had one of the two kidnappers. She assumed Billy’s stepdad knew where the teen had been hiding out too, but maybe he hadn’t to keep them safer. If Younger had been caught instead, he truly wouldn’t have known where Billy was when they interrogated him.
Grayson, Rowland, and the other officers headed into the bedroom.
“What did Darryl’s uncle say about Billy being here?” she asked, wondering if he was in on the whole situation, helping to hide the boy here so the police couldn’t take him into custody.
Then he could be charged with obstruction.
She was ready to throw the book at him and anyone else involved.
If she were a prosecutor, of course, she would have everyone who aided and abetted Billy and Younger charged with a crime.
The charges against Billy and Younger were so serious!
Billy should never have gotten bail in the first place.
Rowland called for an ambulance so the EMTs could check Billy out as he came to.
“What the hell,” Billy said when he saw Kendra, then saw all the officers in uniform and Grayson. “What are you doing here?” he asked Kendra.
“You cut your ankle monitor off, took off from the home, and went on the run. Grayson and I are bounty hunters. And you’re under arrest.” She was thrilled to be able to say that to Billy. “And you’ll be in jail. No more home arrest.” She smiled.
Not that she knew that for sure. But she really couldn’t imagine a judge releasing him again. Billy was too much of a flight risk. Especially with his stepdad still on the run.
“Did your stepdad know you were here?” Kendra asked.
“Yeah. How did you know? You didn’t catch him too, did you?” Billy asked. “It was supposed to be a secret. My friend would never have told you.”
“He has been detained for obstruction.”
Billy’s mouth dropped.
She didn’t say anything about Younger’s status.
“Billy is okay,” the EMTs said. “He doesn’t need to be seen at the hospital.”
“Good. He can go straight to jail then,” Rowland said.
Rowland would question Billy to find out where his stepdad was now. The problem was that the last time they took him into custody, his mother asked for a lawyer, and Billy didn’t say anything.
“What about Billy’s friend’s uncle?” Kendra asked.
“He claims Billy and his nephew come here all the time. He didn’t think twice about him coming here this time.”
“Are you arresting Billy’s mother for obstruction?” Kendra asked as they walked Billy out to a patrol car.
“Yeah, we have an arrest warrant for her also because she has been helping Billy and Younger remain free,” Rowland said.
“You can’t arrest my mom,” Billy said, trying to pull away from the officer who had a hold of his arm.
“Stop resisting,” the officer said.
“She has been helping to hide you and cover for you and your stepdad,” Kendra said.
Another officer helped to get Billy into the patrol car.
“I’ll let you know if we get any information from Billy on Younger,” Rowland told Kendra and Grayson.
“Thanks,” Grayson said. “I guess we’ll be heading back to Kalispell since that’s where you’re going with Billy.”
“Okay, keep in touch.” Then Rowland took off with the other officers.
Kendra got on her phone again, called Grayson’s dad, and put it on speakerphone. “Hey, it’s Kendra. We’re all safe, and Rowland is taking Billy back to Kalispell to question him and put him in jail.”
“What about the bond money?” the dad asked.
She glanced at Grayson. “He’s getting the bond money for Billy.”
“But he’ll share it with you,” Grayson’s dad said.
Grayson smiled at Kendra and nodded.
“Thanks,” Kendra said. “We’re heading back to Kalispell in hopes of catching Younger.”
“Okay, be safe.”
“If you need help with a fugitive, let me know,” Grayson said.
“Me also,” Kendra said and smiled at Grayson.
Then they ended the call, and Grayson said, “We need to make this official.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I’ve been helping you with cases, and you’ve been helping me with cases. I’m all for continuing the effort and…more.”
“More?”
He rubbed his chin and took a deep breath. “If we were regular people, I would have bought you a ring already. But because we’re shifters and don’t wear jewelry, we don’t have that quaint option.”
“But?” She was trying to be totally serious when he was having such a difficult time making his point.
“No buts. I want you to be my mate. Will you be?” He looked so hopeful that she would agree and not make him work any harder to ask her to mate him.
She chuckled, expecting that if they did this sometime soon or in the future, Grayson would have asked her out to a nice dinner or watched the sunset with her from her back deck, as it cast orange, pink, and golden light across the lake.
“Oh, absolutely. We’re not going to really be looking for anyone right now, are we? ”
He smiled. “We’re going to a restaurant to celebrate. Where would you like to go?”