Dan’s phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket while everyone in the sheriff’s office breakroom looked at him. The caller was listed as unknown, and he answered, “This is Sheriff Steinacker.”

“This is Clinton Briggs, and I need to speak with Addie, if she’s available.”

“You’re her boss?”

“Yeah.”

“All right, just a second. You guys watch him, will you?” Dan asked Chase, Stryker, and Bridget, motioning to Carl.

“Yeah, he moves, we take him out,” Chase said.

“Good deal.” Dan and Addie left the breakroom and walked into his office and shut the door. “Briggs wants to speak with you.”

Addie took the phone and sat at the sheriff’s desk, putting the call on speaker.

Dan took a seat on one of the chairs opposite his desk.

“Yes, sir? Did you learn anything that will prove I’m not crazy?” Addie asked.

“First, the scene where you were to meet the courier was clean.”

“I told you cleaners had to have showed up and taken care of things.”

“I haven’t finished,” Briggs said curtly. “Trace amounts of blood were found in the soil. The problem is, we can’t prove it’s the courier’s because his body vanished.”

He believed her.

“And it wasn’t your blood, which we have on file. As to the hospital, it’s as you said, no one knows anything. Which is just incomprehensible. When I dug deeper, I found a doctor who said he was told not to say anything to anyone about the matter because an attempt had been made on your life and whoever it was would try again. That it was a federal matter and no one was to say a word about it. The doctor, and the nurse who assisted, were in the operating room working on a gunshot case when you must have had all the trouble at your hospital room. They confirmed a federal agent had taken a position at your door, serving as your guard. The receptionist said she remembered the deeply-concerned sheriff coming to see his wife, and the room number she had given matched the one you said you were staying in.”

“You know I was telling the truth.”

“It appears that way. Assassins, missing bodies, well, I have no clue what’s going on.”

“We have other news.” Addie wasn’t sure if she should tell her boss everything, but if he was involved, he already knew all this anyway, and he would still plan to get rid of her. “Your boss is my mother, only she’s not really my mother.”

“I talked to her about what was going on. She did tell me she had served as your mother for some years.”

“Seven, and then she took off when I was eight. What is this all about?”

“I don’t know. I really thought you’d been faking all this business, six months ago. I knew you didn’t have amnesia and I’d discovered you had gone to Yuma Town to visit your undercover husband.”

Addie frowned at Dan.

“Then you vanished from there. I thought you just wanted to be with him, that you’d had some kind of mental breakdown on the job and needed to get away. It happens. I let on that I believed your amnesia story.”

“Okay, so the two agents assigned to be my backup, Paris and Dirk, they were there when the courier was killed. Or at least they were with him when he was dead. Dirk didn’t come with me to provide backup. I raced after the assailant, and well, he got the best of me at first, but I killed him. Now there’s an investigative reporter who took—” she paused. She couldn’t mention the video recording. They had to destroy it. She had to mention his tie in with Paris. “…who was hired to take video of the assassins killing Dan and me at his house. He was told that the assassins were federal agents who were after terrorists. Dan’s arrested him for trespassing, and learned that the woman who hired him was Paris Pellion. A friend of his took a picture of him speaking with her, and of him taking the deal.”

“Then you need to turn this reporter over to me, and we’ll see what else we can learn from him.”

Dan was shaking his head vehemently, saying no.

She knew that. Carl would shift and be a cougar in Brigg’s custody. What a disaster.

“I’m sorry to say he died shortly after that. One of the assassins was told to kill him after the job was done, we’re certain, and he’d been shot. After he was questioned, he died of his gunshot wounds. We couldn’t find the video recordings he took, if he even managed to get any.”

“And the assassins?”

She looked to Dan for his help. They’d have to turn the bodies over to the feds.

“At the morgue. All known hitmen,” Dan said. “The feds are welcome to them.”

“I’ll send a team to pick them up,” Briggs said. “They’ll be coming from one of our offices located closer to you and should be there in a couple of hours.”

Was he in on all this after all? Had he pretended to investigate her situation, already knowing full well everything that had gone on? Was he having the bodies picked up to hide what he’d been responsible for?

“I hate to do this, Addie, but until we can verify that everything you say is completely true, I’ll have to ask for your resignation. You’ll have to turn in your badge and gun.”

She ground her teeth. She supposed she knew this was coming. “You’ll have to get it from whoever took them from me before or after I ended up at the hospital. All I had were the bloody clothes I was wearing.”

“All right. I’ll check with the hospital then. Men will come and take the bodies today.”

“What about Paris and Dirk?”

“I’ll question them, but so far as I know, they said that you were to meet with the courier and disappeared. He never showed up, and they returned to the office and reported you’d done your vanishing act again.”

“And of course, you knew then they were lying through their teeth.”

“I’ll speak with them.”

“And let me know what’s going on.”

“You’re off the case, out of the Bureau, Addie. We’ll handle this from here on out.”

“Thank you for your service.” She hung up on him, and tried calling Briggs’s boss. When a woman identified herself as Alicia Shields, Addie nearly dropped the phone. Out of habit, she said, “Mother?”

“Oh, Addie, dear, I’m so sorry. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to keep you and your father safe and how terribly I failed.”

Tears stung Addie’s eyes as Dan came over to hug her.

“What’s…what’s going on?” Addie asked her.

“Your mother, God rest her soul, had unearthed something big. She was working with the Bureau when she met and married your father. They were very happy for the five years they had together. Someone discovered she’d learned about dirty coverups, and she died when you were only a year old.”

“She was murdered.”

“In a car wreck, made to look like an accident. Luckily, you survived. I was assigned to be your father’s wife and your mother, to learn if he knew just what she’d gotten involved with. In the seven years we were together, I never discovered anything that he knew about. I was told my time there was terminated. You have to believe it was the hardest thing for me to leave you, even though I was trying not to fall in love with you, knowing I could never be with you after your dad and I separated. Then something he did alerted some of those in power that he’d known just what Cecilia, your mother, knew, and that got him killed.”

“I didn’t know about any of this. Is this why someone is targeting me now?”

“That’s what I suspect. I had you moved to this task force over ten years ago so I could watch over you.”

“If you’ve been watching over me, then you know all that’s happened to me.”

Alicia gave a bitter laugh. “After the fact, but barely any of the details. Briggs has told me what he’s learned.”

“And Dan?”

“I know you. You had to make your own choice. Dan probably won’t remember me, but I met him some years earlier when he was just finishing college and Army Reserve Officer Training Corp requirements, and he came to a job fair at the college. He stopped and talked to me while I manned the FBI booth. Most boring job ever, but I said if he ever wanted a job with the Bureau, look me up.”

Dan was frowning.

“He said he had an army obligation, but he’d think on it. I followed his career, and that of his friends, Stryker, Hal, and Chase, who joined him at the booth, telling him he’d look good with an agent’s badge. They were all cougars, strapping young men, already weapons trained, and they were going into the military. Then I had the idea of setting you up with a faux husband for some of your missions, to watch your back, not trusting just any agent to watch out for you. And you picked him.”

“The first dozen were human.”

“Exactly. You don’t think I could have found that many cougars who were qualified, do you? I only knew about the four men because they all came to my booth and I took their cards and handed them mine.”

Addie looked up at Dan. He nodded, as if he recalled the incident.

“And see? I was right. He’s protected you when no one else in the Bureau could.”

“Leyton Hill was listed too.”

“I met him later. Tell Mrs. Fitz I want her to watch out for you.”

“She told me you weren’t my real mother.”

“I told her to tell you, but privately, so you could decide who to share the information with. And the Muellers? They can stop searching into my background. Concentrate on Paris and Dirk. I think you know they’re involved in this.”

“And Briggs?”

“I’d be careful around him. I can’t believe he didn’t know what was going on with regards to you. I’m in charge of several task forces. I can’t be everywhere at once. He’s got half the number I have, and, well, suffice it to say, I’m not at all happy with his job performance.”

“He’s taken away my badge and gun.”

“I told him to.”

Addie frowned, still not sure she trusted Alicia. “If you know I’m telling the truth—“

“You’re a target, Addie. And I don’t want you murdered like your parents were. We’ll learn the truth and take these people down. You settle down with that sheriff and stay out of trouble.”

“What if they keep coming for me here? I’m endangering everyone’s lives that I touch.”

“As soon as Briggs and I spread the word that you’re no longer working for the FBI, whoever’s responsible will believe you’re no longer a threat.”

Addie had a hard time believing that. She also wanted to learn who had put out the hit on her mother and father, and her now. She wasn’t going to sit back and pretend none of it had occurred.

“I’ve got a call I’ve got to take. If you need to call me, just use this number. We’ll talk later.”

Addie didn’t believe Alicia really meant it. She had told her all she was going to say on the matter and Addie was done with being involved. But Addie wasn’t.

She handed the phone to Dan and said, “Do you believe she intends to talk to me later?”

“No.”

“Do you remember meeting her earlier?”

“Yeah, I sure do, but I never paid attention to her name. Stryker, Hal, Chase, and I joked about being FBI agents later. As cougars. Once we finished our army obligations, we were returning here, though Chase ended up being a sheriff in Oklahoma for a while and lost his wife and child, and returned here finally after I convinced him to come home.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, he was out on a call, and his family was murdered. He was really broken up over it.”

“That’s horrible. I’m glad he returned here to be among family and friends.”

“Just like you.”

“I’m sorry about mentioning Carl being hired to take the video recordings.”

“You recovered nicely on that one. As long as they don’t ask to see Carl’s body.”

“You don’t think it’s a mistake to turn the hitmen’s bodies over to the feds?”

“No. And good riddance. We have all the records on them in duplicate. Of course, we’ll only give them the two we had to shoot. The two we killed as cougars are already buried.”

“Good. I didn’t even think of that.”

“They don’t know how many were here, unless they were involved. I’d love to hear them ask where the other bodies are.”

“Let’s talk with Mrs. Fitz,” Addie said. “I want to see if she knows more about my parents’ deaths, and her take on what Alicia said as far as everything else goes.”

“I take it you don’t trust Alicia.”

“Do you? I don’t trust anyone that I worked with there any longer.”

“All right. Let’s take Bridget back to the safe house and I need to have Stryker return Carl to his cell.”

“He told us everything.”

“He still needs to have someone take him in.”

“Us?” Addie asked.

“Not in a million years.” Dan walked Addie back to the breakroom and said to Carl, “Stryker will return you to your cell when he needs to. There’s no rush. If he can behave out here with you guys, he can stay out. If he shifts, he has to go into the cell. Or if one of you has to run out, he returns to the cell.”

“I told you everything I know,” Carl said, fuming.

As if that earned him the right to get out of jail free. “Right. We still have to find a family who will take you in,” Dan said.

“What do I have to do to get out of here?”

“Whatever it takes.”

“I’ll help you investigate this business. You said yourself I’m good at this.”

Dan agreed. He wouldn’t turn down anyone’s help with this, if he thought they might really be of assistance. “You can use one of our computers, if you think you can help with this case, as long as someone’s watching everything you’re doing.”

“I can stay here,” Bridget said. “Your deputies can do whatever work they need to do, and I’ll monitor Carl. I’m really good at research too. And I’m just as armed and dangerous as the rest of you.” She patted her gun.

And she could read minds. As far as Dan knew, she rarely used her talent, careful not to intrude on what others were thinking, but in a case where they didn’t trust the person, she was handy to have around, if she could read the person’s mind.

“In a couple of hours, we have some men coming over to pick up the assassin’s bodies at the morgue. Do you think you might be able to talk to them and learn who they really are?” he asked Bridget.

Bridget smiled. “Sure thing, Dan.”

He was never sure about asking her to do anything with her ability because she wasn’t his asset, though as a cougar, she was willing to help anyone out who needed the aid. Also, he knew she hadn’t told everyone about what she could do. Not everyone would feel comfortable about knowing she could read their minds. He wondered if she had already known what was up with Addie when she’d come to his house six months ago. As a cat, she had to be curious, and he wouldn’t blame her if she had tried to learn for herself the truth of the matter from reading his thoughts. If she had, she’d never let on, and no one seemed to know about it, and for that, he was grateful.

“Where will you be?” Stryker asked Dan.

“Picking up some pastries at Mrs. Fitz’s place since we’ve already run out,” Addie said.

Stryker nodded, knowing they had business other than pastries in mind.

“I thought we could get Ricky a pastry too, and drop it off and check on him,” Addie said, walking out with Dan to the Jeep.

“You know that kid crushes on every new she-wolf he sees in town.”

Addie slipped her arm through Dan’s. “I’m already taken.”

“That’s for damn sure.” He got her door.

“We don’t have to get him a sweet treat. I just thought it would be nice because he and his brother were trying to help us out.”

“Of course, we can. No problem there. I just wanted you to know as soon as you give it to him, he’s going to see more into it than you mean.”

She chuckled. “I’m way older than him.”

“He likes the older cougars.”

She laughed.

When they arrived at the bakery, Dan swore he could pack on the pounds just smelling the sweetness emanating from the place. Mrs. Fitz had all kinds of fall and Halloween candy on display in the windows, from pumpkin to Frankenstein petite fours, and cakes.

“Omigod, this place is so cute and just heavenly.” Addie hurried into the shop where a dozen people were sitting at round tables big enough for four people, giant lollipops hanging down from ribbons tied to white trees. The whole place was washed in white showing off the bright candies. “I want to buy out the whole store.”

Mrs. Fitz heard the bell jingle their arrival and came out wiping her hands on a hand towel, all smiles, until she saw them.

Dan swore it was the first time he’d ever seen her smile visibly slip. She knew they were here for business. “We came to pick up something for Ricky to cheer him up.”

“And for Kolby for helping save his brother,” Addie added.

“Right.”

“And we ate all the goodies you brought earlier, so we wanted to get more for tomorrow.” Addie smiled and leaned down to look at all the sweets under glass.

“Why don’t you come back here while I finish pulling some things out of the oven. I’ve got a couple of girls working for me who can man the front while you pick out what you’d like.” Then, all smiles, Mrs. Fitz walked them back into the kitchen.

When they were in the kitchen, Dan noticed nothing was baking, that everything was clean.

She had them sit at a small table, and she said, “What is it you want to know?”

“What was my real mother, Cecilia, involved in that got her killed? And then my father knew about and ended up the same way as my mother? I’d like to know what it is that they think I know that has put me at risk,” Addie said.

“I don’t know. Really, I don’t, or I would have told you before this. I want this resolved as much as you do. I love it here and everyone in the town. I’d protect anyone, if I knew any more than that.”

Dan said, “You knew who I was seeing—that I was undercover as her husband.”

“I knew Addie, yes. I knew the situation with her parents. No more than that. Alicia was my friend and she often told me how hard it was to maintain her objectivity where you were concerned. She and your father were no match, but you were a darling. I have to admit I wanted to take you home with me instead. Alicia couldn’t believe it when you applied to the academy and joined the Bureau.”

“So, she didn’t have anything to do with me getting where I did in the organization?”

“Are you kidding? You were top of your class because you were that good. Of course, as cougars, we pride ourselves in doing better. Our enhanced cat abilities really help give us the edge. Other than that, you did it all on your own.”

Addie looked visibly relieved to know that someone hadn’t helped her get through the training or score so well based on family ties.

“Is there anything you can tell us, even if you don’t think it’s relevant to the case?” Addie asked.

“I said that Alicia and your father’s agreement was terminated and that’s why she left, but the truth is—and I hadn’t wanted to mention it—but your father was seeing another woman. It’s understandable since Alicia and he only had a Bureau marriage. That meant the end of the contract between them though and Alicia was recalled.”

Addie frowned. “He never married anyone after Alicia left.”

“No, but he was seeing a number of other women. The truth of the matter is, they were Bureau plants, all of them investigating him to learn if he was involved with whatever your mother had gotten herself into. They had no intention of marrying him. A couple of male agents befriended him for the same purpose—to learn if he knew anything.”

“Does Alicia know what it was my mother was involved in?” Addie asked.

“Alicia was your mother’s handler. Even though she and I were best of friends, we didn’t discuss the particulars of the job. We worked for different agencies, and we wanted to continue working for them. All I know is that she was your mother’s handler before your mother died. And she was your dad’s wife for Bureau purposes. Beyond that, you would have to ask Alicia, but I highly doubt she will tell you anything that’s classified.”

“What about the Muellers digging into this?” Addie asked, sounding concerned.

“They will understand the risks.”

“In other words, if they learn what my mother knew, they could be targeted too.”

“Yes.”

“Thanks, Flo, for sharing with us.” Addie turned to Dan. “Are you ready to pick up some treats and see Ricky?”

“Yeah, sure.” Dan suspected Addie believed Mrs. Fitz truly didn’t know any more than she said she did, but Addie was worried about the Muellers. Sure enough, as soon as they bought two boxes of pastries from Mrs. Fitz and were headed over to the clinic, Addie said, “I want you to tell Rick and Yvonne that they don’t need to dig into this any further.”

“Are you sure? You know they’re capable of dealing with any fallout, particularly since the whole town is on high alert.”

“Yes, I’m sure. They’re retired. They’ve left that cloak and dagger business behind. These are their golden years, and they shouldn’t have to spend it fearing for their lives.”

“Not only are they glad to help, they feel they have a greater purpose in life by taking part in this venture. Not to mention they wouldn’t want to feel left out because they’re older cats. If you insist, I’ll tell them to call their search off.”

She frowned at Dan. “You’re making me sound like I’m putting them out to pasture.”

He shook his head. “I just know them, and I know what it would be like for me if I were retired and the new sheriff asked if I could help. Just like Calvin, the retired highway patrolman, got involved. I don’t think I’ve seen him more eager and willing to take part in anything as much recently as when he thought he could help take down the bad guys.”

“All right, but just warn them, okay? Tell them I said not to keep looking if it’s too dangerous.”

“Will do.” Dan knew they’d continue to look into it. Not only had they felt more alive than they had since the last time they had helped on a case, but working as a team with each other, always brought them closer together again. Dan got on his phone after he parked at the clinic. “Hey, Yvonne, Addie’s worried about you digging into this case and wants you to call it off.” He put the phone on speaker so Addie could hear what she had to say.

“Tell her we’re fine. Oh, you have this on speaker. Addie, we’re fine. And we’ve got some news.” Yvonne paused. “She’s listening in, right?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Okay, Addie’s mother learned the assistant director was corrupt, involved in money laundering, off-shore accounts, racketeering, and murder. She was gathering evidence while working her real job. She told Briggs, who was working with her and he said he’d tell his boss. Then she was quickly dispatched.”

“And nothing was done about her allegations,” Addie said.

“No. It was swept under the carpet, but a couple of people had overheard what was said and they kept quiet.”

“And Addie’s dad?” Dan asked.

“He didn’t seem to know anything about it, but then he was with an agent, female, posing as his girlfriend, and they were out drinking, and he spilled the beans to her. And he was murdered.”

“What has this got to do with Addie?” Dan asked.

“Within the past six months, someone got word she had the critical information that would put several people in jail. The assistant director has retired and is in his seventies now, but some of the fledgling agents who were involved in the cover-up still work for the Bureau. They’d all go down if she shared the information.”

“I don’t know where any of this information could be. I didn’t know any of this, not until people started trying to kill me.”

“This all happened, starting six months ago,” Dan said. “What happened differently for you?”

“I was supposed to get information from a courier about bank robbers who had hit several banks in the area.”

“The job could have been a means to send a hit on her,” Yvonne said, “and have nothing to do with any real mission.”

“True. Did anything happen to you that makes you suspect something triggered this?”

“My apartment was broken into. Several other places had been broken into also. I didn’t feel I’d been targeted.”

“Possibly, they were random, or the others were done to make it appear as though the same people broke into all the places. Was anything missing?”

“A set of keys. They were just a bunch of old keys I had that I kept meaning to go through and get rid of. You know, like suitcase keys to luggage I no longer owned. A safety deposit key that I found that I’d lost, and had to pay for. They had to change out the lock on the box, so the key would no longer work on it. Stuff that I should have tossed a long time ago.”

“Why did you notice it was missing?” Yvonne asked.

“It was sitting in a desk drawer and was on a dragon key ring, something my dad had given me when I had a fascination for everything dragon. It was heavy, so I just used it for all the random keys I’d gathered up and meant to toss.”

“Nothing that could be important to the investigation?”

“No. Except for being irritated at losing the dragon key chain, I figured the thieves would have a fun time figuring out what anything belonged to, and they would be worthless to anyone.”