Chapter Fourteen
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Connor couldn’t believe he’d let EmmaLee talk him into driving her back to Georgia. Once EmmaLee’s thesis advisor confirmed that Dr. Wilmer Crenely, the expert in dinosaurs, had arrived in Billard two days ago, Connor could hardly say no to her.
He wouldn’t have agreed to it had Ronan not flown up to New York, and then told him he’d spotted Slater Coghill in the hotel. By tonight, Ronan should have him in custody and EmmaLee would be safe for good.
Be careful, his wolf growled.
Connor didn’t need the warning. He understood the chance he was taking by driving her to her hometown. If Ronan called and said Slater had been arrested, EmmaLee might decide to stay. While she didn’t have a job lined up at the college, he bet she could secure a place there as soon as she finished her thesis.
I will take care. I’ll make sure she wants to return home with us.
As he neared Billard, Connor glanced over at her. “When do you plan to show your talon to this expert?” She’d shown him what she’d found on the ground the day of the fire, and he had to agree that it wasn’t from any ordinary bird. Even an eagle’s talon wasn’t that thick and long. It had to have come from the animal EmmaLee had seen flying away from her house.
“I imagine he’ll have a line of grad students waiting to speak with him before the lecture. I might have a better chance of getting some quality time with him if I make an appointment with him afterward.”
“Sounds good.” That would keep them there for two more days, but this was important to her, and Connor seemed incapable of not giving her what she wanted.
It was close to two in the afternoon before they pulled in front of her apartment.
“Home sweet home,” she said.
Connor was surprised at the bit of sadness. “Miss your friends?”
“Yes, but it’s more than that. Billard represents my freedom. It’s been a long uphill battle to work full time in order to pay for school, attend classes, and study. It didn’t leave a lot of time for fun.”
He’d been lucky. His folks had paid for his education. “You are an ambitious woman.”
She looked over at him and smiled. “Thank you.”
As much as he wanted to ask about how Slater had fit into her life, he kept quiet. Why bring up a sore topic?
He cut the engine and EmmaLee pushed open the car door before he had the chance to open it for her.
“Let’s hope I didn’t leave some food in the fridge and the place stinks,” she said. “We did leave in a hurry.”
“You didn’t ask anyone to check on your place?”
“I saw no need. I don’t have any plants or animals that needed care, and I forwarded my mail to your office address like you asked.”
He opened the back of the car and dragged out their suitcases. “After you.”
Shoulders straight, she dug her hand into her purse for her key as she walked to the front. As soon as she unlocked the door and opened it, she froze. “Ohmigod.”
The fear in her voice sliced through him. Connor placed his hands on her shoulders. “Let me see.” He didn’t sense anyone, but he wanted to be sure no human was there. “Wait here.”
Connor stepped inside and was immediately stunned at the level of destruction. The pillows on the sofa were slashed, chairs were tipped over, and books and other knickknacks were strewn all over the place. He whipped out his cell.
EmmaLee placed a hand on his arm. “Who are you calling?”
“The cops. We have to report the break-in.”
“I want to check one thing first.”
He faced her. Her chin, as well as her hands, was trembling, but from the determined look on her face, she really needed to do this search. He had the sense it had something to do with her research. “I’m coming with you.”
“Fine.”
EmmaLee made a beeline to her bedroom. At the mess, a whimper escaped. Instead of crying or whining over the loss though, she raced over to the bed and dropped down on her knees to pull out a box. She then dumped the contents on the floor and pawed through her things. “It’s gone.”
The hurt in her voice twisted his insides. “What’s gone?”
“That photo of the dragon I showed you.”
That didn’t seem so bad. “If you found it on the Internet, maybe you can locate it again.”
She sniffled. “Maybe.”
The violation from the break-in probably caused her to overreact to this particular loss. He glanced around. The bed was the only thing undisturbed. “Can you tell if anything else was taken?”
She dropped down onto her butt. “I don’t know, but I bet whoever did this was looking for my dragon’s talon.”
“Who knew you had it?”
She looked back over her shoulder. “Only Slater.”
“He’s in New York. Ronan spotted him yesterday.”
“Who’s to say this happened recently?”
She had a point. “Let’s sit in the car and wait for the police. You can tell them what you suspect.”
He helped her up. “I’m not discussing a stolen picture of a dragon or an artifact I found fourteen years ago. The cops would dismiss the case in a heartbeat. The best thing is to say I don’t know what the thief was looking for. Other than the backup copy of my thesis, there’s nothing here.” Her shoulders sagged. “Oh shit.”
“You think he took that?”
“Maybe.” EmmaLee rushed over to a dresser and pulled out the bottom drawer. She pawed through the contents. “Son of a bitch.”
His heart broke for her. “So he took the copy?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll have the cops dust for prints. They’ll find whoever did this.”
She looked up at him with the saddest eyes. “They’ll find mine, yours, and Slater’s fingerprints. If he didn’t do it, I bet the intruder wore gloves.”
That almost made him smile. “I may ask you to work for me.”
She straightened and punched him lightly in the arm then pressed her face against his chest. Connor wrapped his arms around her, wanting and needing to protect her from all future hurt.
She leaned back. “Guess you better make that call.”
*
Fifteen minutes later, a police car arrived. EmmaLee told Connor she didn’t want to go into the house again.
“I don’t think they want you in there anyway,” Connor said as he pushed open the car door. “It’s a crime scene. We can speak with the cops outside.”
EmmaLee slipped out. She recognized the officer as he often came into the diner. “Hey, Rod,” she said without her usual enthusiasm.
“Hi, EmmaLee.” Rod checked out Connor then looked back at her. “How are you doing?”
He’d asked her out a couple of times, but she’d turned him down, saying she was dating Slater. With a new man by her side, he’d feel slighted, but that couldn’t be helped. “Before I came back here, I was doing well.”
Connor straightened his shoulders and moved next to her. “We arrived only a minute before we called. When we went inside, we found the place trashed.”
Rod pulled out a pad of paper. “What did they take?” he asked her.
Saying the thief stole a copy of her nearly completed master’s thesis wouldn’t make her look bad, but it would send Rod on a wild goose chase. Unfortunately, she couldn’t point a finger at Slater since she had no proof.
“I didn’t notice anything missing, but I didn’t spend a lot of time inside.”
“We’ll check it out. Where are you staying?”
“Not here.”
Connor wrapped an arm around her waist. “We’ll stay at a hotel in town.”
“Try the Billard Motel. It’s the nicest one we have.”
It was a nice motel, but EmmaLee wasn’t sure she could enjoy it. She was too upset.
“We need to let him get to work,” Connor said. He then handed Rod a card. “Call if you learn anything.”
“Will do.”
She slipped back into her car. As soon as Connor was seated, he reached out and took her hand. “Don’t worry. We can replace the furniture.”
That was the least of her problems. “The place came furnished, but I don’t need others reading my thesis. What if Slater reveals to the world that shifters exist?”
He brought her hand to his lips. “I don’t think he will.”
“Why’s that?”
“I didn’t want to mention it before because it didn’t seem relevant, but Slater is a shifter.”
She jerked her hand back. “No way! How do you know? You’ve never met him.”
“Vinea told me.”
Vinea? “That little traitor. I need to have a talk with her.”
“I imagine she was only trying to protect you. If you’d known Slater was a shifter, you might never have left him.”
Technically, she hadn’t left him. After the assault, he had a price on his head and had scrammed. “You might be right.”
Connor started the engine. “Where’s this hotel?”
“Turn right and I’ll show you.”
*
EmmaLee didn’t really have the energy to sit through a two-hour lecture, but she had to go. It was a once in a lifetime event to hear the renowned archaeologist, Dr. Crenely. Plus, she needed to make an appointment to see if he could identify her talon.
“Ready?” Connor asked.
He’d been so kind with this whole robbery thing, never even suggesting they head back to Silver Lake. The fact Connor was willing to hear a talk on dinosaurs when he had no interest in the topic proved he was an amazing man, though she’d figured that out a while ago.
And then there was the motel. While the Billard Motel was really nice, she worried about paying for it. It didn’t matter that Connor insisted his company pick up the tab. She believed in pulling her weight.
“EmmaLee?”
She adjusted her seatbelt and looked at him. Twice, Connor had apparently asked her a question, and twice EmmaLee had been so distracted she hadn’t answered. “Yes?”
“You sure you want to go to this talk?” he asked.
“I admit, I can’t help but see those slashed pillows and everything on my shelves carelessly strewn on the floor, but I truly believe this man is my last chance at resolving the issue of whether dragons exist.”
“Do you think he’ll say that they’re around today?”
That caused her to smile. “Not at all. I doubt the man has any idea shifters even exist. No, if a dragon ever existed, it was millions of years ago. A shifter is a different story.”
“Good to know.”
When they arrived at the college auditorium, the parking lot was packed. “Wow. It seems I’m not the only one interested in this topic,” EmmaLee said.
“I’m glad,” he said.
Just as Connor cut the engine, his cell rang, and he looked at the screen. “I’m sorry. I need to take this. It’s Ronan.” He placed the phone to his ear. “Did you get him? Hold on and slow down. I’m going to put you on speaker so EmmaLee can hear.”
Her heart dropped to her stomach.
“Your informant had his facts right,” Ronan said. “Coghill was at the Excelsior Hotel.”
The Excelsior? “I’ve stayed there once,” EmmaLee blurted. “It’s right next to the Natural History Museum in New York.”
“Yes,” Ronan said. “I thought I had the perfect plan to draw him out and find out if he had any intention of harming you, but I failed.”
“You didn’t arrest him?” she asked. Her heart fluttered awaiting the answer.
“Not yet, but I will when I locate him. Remember that even if he’s in jail, he’ll be out in a few years. I wanted to learn more about him to know what we’re up against.”
“What happened?” Connor said with a sharp tone.
“I didn’t want Coghill to know I was after him, so I came up with an idea. I took the photo of EmmaLee you gave me and showed it to random people in the lobby. I mentioned, rather loudly, that I was researching dinosaurs that might have become dragons.”
“Coghill was in the lobby I take it?” Connor asked.
“Yes. In fact, he edged closer to me, so I walked over to him and gave him the same spiel. I told him that a few days ago, my new girlfriend, EmmaLee Donovan, stole my research.”
She almost hyperventilated. “Did he believe you?”
“Hard to say. I waved your picture at him, asking if he’d seen you. I said that you were staying in this hotel and that you planned to leak my research to someone from the Natural History museum.”
“That’s quite inventive,” Connor said.
“Thanks. Unfortunately, he said he’d never seen her before, but he was clearly lying. I could almost smell his fear.”
“Then what happened?” Connor asked.
“He walked out of the lobby. I swear I was only a few steps behind him when he disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” she asked.
Connor pounded a fist against the steering wheel. “You told me you could track him by his scent.”
“That’s the thing. His scent is very different than any other shifter. It was the strangest thing I’d ever experienced.”
EmmaLee didn’t really understand what had happened, but Connor seemed to.
“How is that possible? Are you saying he’s not a shifter?” Connor asked.
“He’s a shifter all right, just different somehow.”
“So now what?” Connor asked.
“I just got off the phone with Jackson to see if he could follow Coghill’s whereabouts. I suggested he locate some footage at all the local airports and bus stations. If he’s anywhere close to New York City, I’ll find him.”
As much as EmmaLee wanted to believe him, she had a feeling Slater was gone. She could only hope he hadn’t gotten wind of where she was staying and decided to head to Silver Lake.