Avery sifted through her evidence. There wasn’t much, so it didn’t take long. Erin took her time, holding every item, trying to will a vision into existence.
Gunner had chewed Avery out over her black eye – which was barely visible now – but still, he was pissed about her running after a dangerous guy like Alfie on her own. He was even more pissed at Moose for letting her go, then Avery got pissed, claiming he wouldn’t be worried if she were male. Then Gunner got even more pissed stating he’d be more worried because he knew Avery could take care of herself better than any male in the building. That mollified her a little, though they were both still – shockingly – pissed.
Avery asked Erin to see if she could make any headway with the evidence.
“How are the triplets?” asked Avery absently.
Erin and Gunner had three cubs, all adorable and worryingly, they were starting to crawl.
She beamed as she studied a picture frame. “Perfect and exhausting.”
“Yeah, I noticed Gunner had perfected the ability to sleep standing up and with his eyes open.”
You could just be in an elevator with Gunner and suddenly, bam, he would start snoring. The first time was a little disconcerting.
Erin giggled. “I meant to say, thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”
“My pleasure.”
Avery had Wayne deliver the flowers Howie sent her to her friends – Erin got a bouquet, Lucie got a bouquet and Jessie got a bouquet. Isis got nothing because she hated flowers, though, belatedly Avery realized she might have liked the risqué underwear Howie sent her.
“Are you getting anything?”
Erin chewed her cheek. “I’m not sure; it’s kind of vague.”
She tensed, and her body seemed to ripple.
Avery’s lioness stirred uneasily. “What?”
“I saw a tiger,” her brow furrowed, “kind of.”
“Kind of?”
Erin closed her eyes. “A shifter, but caught between his shift – half man, half beast. That’s not usual, right?”
“No, it’s really hard to hold the shape between man and beast.”
Erin gasped and dropped the fur she was holding.
“You see something?” asked Avery eagerly.
She grimaced. “I saw him tearing into a bear.”
Avery flipped through the files. “One of my victims was a brown bear.”
“Uh-uh, it was a polar bear.”
“Oh.” Her thoughts raced – maybe there were more victims out there.
“They were fighting – like in a ring.”
“Maybe whomever this fur belongs to is a professional fighter. Though they don’t usually fight in their half-beast forms.”
But really that was because it took too much effort and energy to hold the in-between form.
Erin sighed and opened her eyes. “Have you guys been able to find any motive?”
“Not yet. The father kept to himself – he wasn’t part of a clan and only had a few friends, and the mother worked as a receptionist at a care home – she was pretty well liked. The children were far too young to have enemies.”
Too young for anything really she thought sadly.
“Perhaps it was just random.”
It was a possibility – perhaps the shifter in question was drunk or on drugs and went crazy, but they were having no luck with witnesses in any way.
“Cutter’s reaching out to the local tiger ambush.”
“There’s only one in the whole city?”
Avery smiled. “Tigers tend to be loners – both in the wild and between shifters. I mean, look at our Isis – does she strike you as the type who can get on with lots of other tigers?”
Erin giggled. “Fair point.”
“I better get going.”
“I’ll keep going through this stuff, who knows, something else may trigger.”
“Thanks, call if you get anything.”
For now, Avery needed to speak to Wes – she had a promise to keep.
*
Avery found Cutter and Wes in the break room discussing – or complaining - about their respective cases. Pair of old women grunted her beast. No – that was entirely unfair to older ladies. These two moaning shifters were much worse.
The two of them were drinking the sludge known of coffee that only their truly terrible coffee machine could spew out. Cutter didn’t seem to have a problem, but Wes looked like he was drinking tar. Which, according to rumor, he was.
“Hey, guys.”
Avery wisely grabbed a soda from the refrigerator. She needed the sugar – a lot of late nights and some lovely rendezvouses with Wolfman meant that tiredness was almost starting to catch up to her. Almost.
“Spoke to the local ambush prime,” rumbled Cutter. “Says it can’t be any of his tigers – but he would say that.”
Cutter never believed anything anyone told him – his naturally suspicious nature made him a good agent.
“How is he so sure?”
“They were all at a mating over in Playa Lunar that night – one of their tigers was mating another tiger from there,” he admitted grudgingly.
“So they were definitely all there?”
“Yeah, so he says – but they’re all just going to alibi each other so it's not really trustworthy.”
He also suspected everyone of being capable of anything. Well, perhaps with the exception of his mate – who he viewed as being absolutely perfect.
“Has anyone left his ambush recently?”
“No – he says it can’t be one of his tigers, but there are dozens in this city that are on their own.”
Avery humphed. That was true – just look at Isis. “Not much help then.”
Cutter’s phone rang, and he grabbed it.
“Lucie? Lucie? What’s happening? What? No, I don’t, and I don’t know how you got it, but stop calling this number!”
“Telemarketers?”
“No, that was Lucie’s ex-husband. Wanted to know if I needed him to pick anything up from the store. He’s been keeping Lucie company while she’s on bed rest.”
Wes arched an eyebrow. “Given how on edge you are, why don’t you take some time off to be with her? I’m sure Gunner would allow it.”
“Lucie says it’s better that I’m working until the last moment – says I’m not restful enough to be at home at the moment.”
Smart woman thought Avery. Cutter added stress – he never took it away.
“You don’t mind her ex being with her?”
Cutter grunted. “He’s mated and gay – that’s the only reason I allow her to stay friends with him - and he knows I’d murder him if he tried to touch her.”
Wes and Avery exchanged glances.
“I’m going to call Lucie, check she’s okay,” grumbled Cutter striding away.
Avery turned to Wes. “Hey, have you had reports about homeless people going missing recently?”
“Haven’t had any real reports – had a couple of anonymous tips but they didn’t lead anywhere. The problem is, we have no way of knowing if they simply chose to leave town – and we don’t have their real names so we can’t alert other SEA agents in other cities to look for them.” Wes growled in frustration and then gave her an interested look. “What makes you ask?”
“I… had an anonymous tip myself.”
“From who?”
Avery felt the blush starting from her toes. “It was anonymous.”
Wes gave her a blank look but didn’t push it. She couldn’t admit she was meeting with Wolfman, and the possessive part of her didn’t want to – didn’t want to share him with anyone. Wolfman was hers – all hers.
Mine. Rawr.