The two women began arguing with each other about what the men had looked like.
“That’s okay. You’re doing great.” Sierra coaxed them through the process, helping them to recall further details that she hoped were more accurate than not. “Thanks, ladies. You did really good.”
Then she and Ethan were back in his SUV and returning to the bureau.
“Thanks for helping us out as usual,” Ethan said.
“You’re welcome. I love doing witness sketches, though I’m not sure the women’s recollections were good enough this time to assist you in catching the culprits.”
“You can only do what you’re able to do with what you’re given. But in this case, your continued questioning of the ladies worked. When I saw your sketch, I knew who the shooter was.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope. He’s a known drug dealer who uses a gun when he gets pissed off. He’s been in and out of prison for years. We’ll get him. I think I know the others who were with him too.”
“Wow, that’s great.” Sierra really did love to do the sketches in the hope that it would help the good guys.
“If you need me to protect you from Adam tonight, you’ve got my number.”
She laughed. “I’ll have to let him know that.”
“He’ll be glad to know that, I’m sure. See you later,” Ethan said, dropping her off at the bureau. “The offer still stands if you need a different place to stay.”
“Okay. I’ll certainly keep that in mind. Thanks.” She smiled at him, glad he was sweet enough to offer, and hurried into the bureau. She saw Adam on his phone at his desk, but as soon as she caught his eye, he smiled, then turned serious and waved her over.
Man, working full-time was rough. She was ready to sit down and kick up her feet for a bit.
“Hey, we got five calls about the woman who kidnapped Melissa and left her at your house. It turns out the female kidnapper is Dover’s girlfriend.”
“Oh, great! Do you have a warrant out for her arrest?”
“We sure do. Her name is Phyllis Kenton.” Adam glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s time to quit work. Are you ready to go to my place and have some dinner?”
“Uh, yeah.” Boy was she ever. She would sleep well tonight, that was if she didn’t have nightmares about the girl being kidnapped. Or about bodies in the morgue. She’d had nightmares about Dover in her hotel room after that had happened.
“’Night, Tori. We’ll see you tomorrow.” Sierra hoped it would be a lighter workload than today, but if it was always like this, she could understand why Willy retired and why she had been hired to help out part-time prior to that. Not that she didn’t like to keep busy, but there was busy and there was exhausting. She realized she needed some downtime during the day.
“Night, Sierra, Adam. See you in the morning. If not sooner,” Tori said.
That was the problem with this business. Crime didn’t take a break.
“You bought lunch. Do you want me to buy us some takeout dinner we can take home?” Sierra asked Adam as they climbed into his Hummer.
“Yeah, sure. Pizza parlor? Or home delivery?”
“Home delivery. I’m ready to just relax.” She got out her phone. “What toppings do you want?”
“Anything but anchovies is good for me.”
“Okay.” She ordered a large meat-lover’s deep pan pizza with extra cheese. “Your address?”
He told her his address and she gave it to the cashier. “Thanks.” She leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes.
“It must be tiring for you working full-time again.”
“Yeah. But also the business with the young lady being kidnapped, my car being stolen and used in the kidnapping, and my house being the drop-off place for the kidnap victim took a toll on me.”
“I’m sorry for all that. You know, this didn’t happen until Dover ended up in jail. I’m surprised he’s incarcerated and still pulling the strings.”
“He’s arrogant.”
“Yeah, well, he deserves to be right where he is,” Adam said.
They soon arrived at Adam’s home, a pretty one-story brick house with big, framed windows and a blue bench sitting on a porch out front. He had nice flower beds filled with evergreen plants, but she could envision filling them with flowers too.
They hadn’t been home for more than ten minutes when someone knocked on the door and Adam answered it. “Here’s our pizza.”
“Good. I’m starving.”
After she paid for the pizza, Adam set it on the island counter, similar to hers, but his counter and his cabinets were black, while hers were all white.
“Wine with pizza?” he asked.
“Sure, that would be great.”
“If you think you could last that long, given that you’re so tired, we could go for a run in Forest Park tonight after it closes.”
“I would love that. I haven’t run in a while as a wolf,” she said.
“Good. Then we’ll head over there a quarter before the hour.”
“To Carver’s place, right?” She’d been to the wolf’s house before. He and his family had set it up so that anyone who wanted to run in Forest Park could use his place to park their vehicles and shift out of sight since his property was backed up on the park.
“Yeah, it’s summer vacation for them. He and his wife and two daughters are away.”
After eating their pizza and watching a fantasy movie, it was time to run and they headed over to Carver’s place.
It didn’t take Sierra and Adam long to remove their clothes and shift in the outer building in the backyard, and then they ran out through the wolf door in the back gate.
This was the perfect way to stretch their legs after a busy day at work and all the rest of the stuff that had gone on. She needed this and Adam seemed to be just as eager to run as a wolf tonight.
They moved off the trails and continued trotting along. The wind ruffled Sierra’s fur and she felt exhilarated. She was so glad Adam had recommended going for a run tonight. She knew if she ran, she would feel great, and then hopefully she could sleep really well.
They were having a blast keeping up with each other. With five thousand acres to explore, they had a lot of territory to cover if they wanted to spend hours out here.
About ten minutes later, someone fired a shot at them, and the round hit a tree within a foot of them. They immediately scattered, knowing to put distance between each other so that both of them wouldn’t be targets. Her heart was pounding out of bounds. No one was supposed to have weapons in the park, and no one was supposed to be hunting. Well, hell, no one was supposed to be in the park at this time of night!