“Don’t touch anything—”
“I can smell where they’ve been and what they’ve touched. I’ll be careful, Detective,” Sierra said and took off for her bedroom.
“Detective,” Tori said, sounding amused. “Better watch out or she’ll be staying at someone else’s place tonight, and you’d better hope it isn’t with another bachelor male like Ethan.”
Adam chuckled. He didn’t think Sierra was that annoyed with him. At least he hoped not.
They left the house afterward and Sierra said to Adam, “So can you think of anyone named Fish that was involved in anything of this sort before?”
“Yeah, a guy by the name of Jerry Fisher. He’s done a lot of robberies. I was surprised he could have done something like kidnapping a girl, but if he works for Dover, no telling what he would do next.”
“You think the guy in jail is the one who arranged the kidnapping to set you up then?” Tori asked.
“Yeah, I do,” Sierra said.
“We’ll nail his cohorts and send them to jail so they can join him,” Tori promised.
“Good. I’m all for doing what I can to put the rest of them behind bars,” Sierra said.
“You’ve done it once. I have faith in you doing it again, but I would rather you weren’t the actual eyewitness to the event this time,” Adam said.
“Well, they’re putting me in the crosshairs,” Sierra said. “If I could, I would just turn into my wolf and take care of them.”
“I can’t believe you took the chance to turn into your wolf at your hotel room and show yourself. You have guts,” Tori said in a good way.
“I had to protect myself in some way. I just didn’t think he would have a gun.”
“That could have been a problem,” Tori said.
“I figure they tried to set me up over the kidnapping and then kill the dog at the same time for Dover,” Sierra said.
“I agree.” Adam didn’t know what to think, but he sure didn’t like Sierra staying at the house alone if Dover was going to have his cohorts or henchmen continue to harass her at her place.
“What are we on schedule to do next?” Tori asked.
“We need to get started on the kidnapping paperwork. Take the sketches Sierra drew and get them out. I’m going to take Sierra to see the man about the stolen boat he purchased so she can do a sketch of the man who sold it to him.”
“Do you know of anybody who has been convicted of selling boats or parts of boats that’s currently out of jail in the area? Maybe we could take some mug shots and see if he recognizes any. Maybe he can give me the description, I’ll draw it, and then you can show the mug shots. With our sense of smell, we can tell if he’s lying or not,” Sierra said.
“She needs to be a detective.” Tori smiled and they got out of the car at the bureau.
“I’m on the team, just doing a different kind of job that I really love to do,” Sierra said. “I wonder if Dover knows I’m now working for the police bureau.”
“If he was the one who orchestrated the kidnapping from jail, I would say he knows a lot about you—your car, your house, and probably where you work. I suspect they didn’t think you would be having lunch with a police detective and have the perfect alibi though,” Adam said.
Chapter 12
Sierra and Adam climbed into his SUV, and he drove them out to the home of the man who bought the stolen boat.
“I worry about you being all alone after what happened today,” Adam said to Sierra, truly concerned about her and what Dover and his henchmen would pull next. “Anyone who would go to the lengths that they did to attempt to frame you for a federal crime is dangerous. Especially when their leader is in jail but that doesn’t seem to be stopping him.”
“So catch the rest of the bad guys and put them away. They are not going to keep me from living at my place. I’ll only stay with you tonight because it’s a crime scene. But once my window is replaced in the laundry room and the police have finished their business there, I’m returning home.”
Maybe Sierra just preferred sleeping in her own bed, but he still felt she wasn’t safe. “You don’t have security cameras or an alarm system set up at your place. I can always camp out at your home if you feel you need some protection. Don’t tell me you’ll just sleep as a wolf. If they catch you at home in your fur coat, they’ll shoot you for sure.”
“If I have more trouble, I’ll decide then. For now, I’m just staying at your place for the night.”
“Tori could stay with you.” He wondered if Sierra was afraid pack members would get the wrong impression if they learned he was staying at her house, or vice versa, when they weren’t even dating. Since Tori’s place was in disarray with her recent move, Sierra probably couldn’t stay there.
Sierra gave him a look that said to leave the topic alone.
He shrugged. “Or you could stay with Josh and his mate since he’s my former partner and could watch over you. I’m just trying to help.”
“I could return to the pack and stay there. Stay with my brother and his mate even. But I’m not going to. I’m closer to work here. And I’m not going to overreact.”
“If I stayed at your place, you could serve as bait.”
She laughed.
He was glad he could make her laugh, though he still felt the situation was serious.
When they reached the house where they needed to speak to the man about the stolen boat, Mr. Rivers came outside to talk with them. He was frowning, looking annoyed, his blond hair disheveled, his blue eyes narrowed. “What do you want now? I talked to that woman detective when you had to take off for other business.”
Adam figured the guy wouldn’t like it that he’d returned to question him all over again. But he needed to actually see Mr. Rivers’s responses and smell his scent to watch for his reactions to questions. It really helped being a wolf in the police business.
“This is Sierra Redding, the bureau’s sketch artist. I mentioned she would be coming here to get your description of the man who sold the boat to you. If you could walk us through meeting up with him and the exchange you had, we would be grateful.”
“I gave the other woman the description. Can’t you use that?” Mr. Rivers asked.
Why didn’t he just give them the description again? Was he afraid he wouldn’t remember the same details? Adam didn’t trust the man entirely. He always had to consider that if someone was in the possession of stolen goods and hadn’t reported it, the person could have been involved in the theft.