When he drove into her duplex driveway, he finally said, “Uh, about lunch, yeah. I’ll give you a call in just a bit.”
Then he dropped her off, and she knew, as distracted as he was, that whatever was the matter had to be really important.
Allan pulled out of her driveway, a frown on his face as he talked to someone on his cell. She wondered again just what the trouble was and if she would be going alone to the clinic.
She realized she really wanted to be part of his life, to be there for him if he needed someone to talk to about family stuff. Not in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship particularly, but just as a friend. That had been something she’d had trouble with growing up. She hadn’t had anyone to talk to about her parents. Better to just leave home and stay away. As a kid, that had meant spending hours at the library after school and immersing herself in books until it closed for the night. Often a police officer would drive her home.
She’d gotten to know nearly everyone on the police force that way. One of the officers had rescued her father from his submerged truck when he’d gotten drunk and crashed it through the bridge. The officer had only delayed the inevitable though. Her dad killed himself a year later in another accident, one with a concrete bridge column. But the officer’s dedication as a diver, and her love of the water and subsequent scuba diving certification, had made her career decision for her. She had become a contracted police diver just like Officer Hardy Monroe.
She knew Allan had chosen to be one so he could work closer to home and spend more time with his family, though he had told her that when he was needed for a mission, he would have to take a leave of absence and deal with it. She was surprised he would continue to do missions away from home, considering how close he was to his family. In the four and a half months he’d been working with her, he hadn’t gone on any. She was glad because she really enjoyed working with him. Trying to train with a new dive partner would mean learning his or her idiosyncrasies all over again.
Paul Cunningham also was continuing to do contract work out of country, though he’d set aside that business because his wife was pregnant. Debbie had felt bad when he’d broken his leg and hoped it would mend just fine. He was out of the cast now, but he was still using a cane. When he was fully recovered, would he go back to being partnered with Allan?
That made her feel a little blue.
After washing up, getting dressed, and drying her hair, she was hopeful she could have lunch with Allan and head over to the clinic. But when she checked her phone, she saw that Allan had texted his regrets: Need to deal with some family issues. Talk to you soon. Allan.
No “sorry about lunch.” No “wish I could see Franny and the baby.” Debbie knew those family issues had to be bad news or Allan would have said something more. He was always good about that. And he was always conscientious about personally seeing the victims they’d rescued to learn how they were faring.
She wished she could help in some way. She put in a call to the clinic as she headed over there, hoping when she saw Allan again, he’d feel comfortable sharing with her.
*
“We don’t know who she is?” Allan asked Paul, angered that a lupus garou had come into their territory, maybe looking for protection, and had been murdered.
His countenance stormy, Paul stared out the window of his cabin overlooking the lake, his arms folded across his chest. “No. Since she was naked and one of our kind, we presume she was trapped and killed as a wolf. Your sister and my mate were out running as wolves before dawn’s first light and came across her body in the woods near the cabin.
“Whoever did it caught her in an animal trap and shot her. The ladies saw burn marks on the bullet wounds. Though ballistics haven’t come back to confirm it yet, the rounds had to have been silver. The ladies smelled the sweet, subtle scent of pure silver. She had lots of defensive wounds from trying to get loose from the trap and bite her attacker.”
“Did she actually bite him?”
“Yes.”
“What about DNA samples from his blood? Skin?” Allan considered the ramifications further. “What if her bites transferred the lupus garou genetics into his bloodstream and he turns into a wolf? He won’t have much control over it for some time. He won’t be able to shift for another week since it’s the phase of the new moon right now.”
“The forensics lab is testing the blood and tissue samples. But you know it takes a while for the results of the lab work to come in. If he hasn’t committed any crimes, or even if he has, he might not be in the database. An autopsy is being done as we speak. If we find the bastard soon, he’ll be wearing some hefty bite marks and scratches. But if he’s been turned, that’s another story. That means we have a week to catch him before the half moon appears. What’s worse is someone anonymously reported the murder. If he was a wolf, we’d have to handle it on our own. But now the police are involved.”