He smiled. “Does the size matter?”
“Oh, yeah, the bigger the better.”
Adam chuckled. “We’re still talking about boats, right?”
She laughed. She was glad they would be going out on it in a few days.
They reached Josh and Brooke’s house, and both of them came out to greet her. Sierra was planning to do portrait sketches in a few weeks at Brooke’s antique store for Brooke’s customers for fun. She hadn’t realized she would be working full-time now, so she might not be able to do it if she got called in to do a witness or dead-body sketch.
She loved picking up trinkets in Brooke’s shop.
“Are you sure you can’t grab a bite to eat with us?” Josh asked Adam before he left for work.
“You know how it is. I have to run in. Just keep her safe, will you?” Adam asked.
Josh smiled. “Yeah, you know it.”
Sierra shook her head and then went inside with Brooke to help make breakfast. She sure hoped that the bad guys didn’t target her friends next because she’d stayed there with them, if they were watching her every move.
* * *
Adam knew the look Josh had given him when he told him to keep Sierra safe meant he believed Adam was falling for the lady. Hell, he was. Here he had a she-wolf who could be his partner at work and his mate after hours, but Sierra was the one who kept his attention. He realized he’d wanted to jump in with both feet to date her the moment she had told Richard she was no longer dating him. And yet Adam had been reserved about it because he didn’t want to go too fast with her in the event she needed some time before she wanted to seriously date someone again. He sure hadn’t wanted to date her and learn later she was just on the rebound and there was nothing more to her interest in him than that.
Then he arrived at the bureau and met up with Tori.
“You look happy about something,” Tori said. “Good night last night?”
“Uh, we didn’t have any trouble, if that’s what you mean.”
“No, that’s not what I meant, but I’m glad you didn’t have any trouble with Dover’s crew. Are we ready to talk to the men then?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’m ready. Let’s get this done.” He sure hoped they could wrap up this case, since they were working on so many others. But he mostly wanted to concentrate on the one involving Sierra.
“So where’s Sierra?” Tori asked as if she realized no one was watching Sierra and she hadn’t come to the bureau with Adam.
“She’s at Josh and Brooke’s house having breakfast. You’ll have to meet them both. They’re really good friends of ours.”
“I’d love to meet them.”
They walked into the interrogation room to speak with the first of the men—Lonnie Hicks.
“So what’s your story?” Adam asked the man.
“Hey, man, I told that cop I was going the speed limit. He’s wrong about that.”
“Yeah, but I’m here to ask you about the boat you sold off Craigslist to a buyer.” Adam knew Rivers hadn’t bought it off Craigslist, but if that was the story he and Lonnie had concocted, Adam didn’t want him to think he hadn’t believed Rivers’s story.
The guy’s eyes widened.
“The one that didn’t belong to you.”
“Hey, I told that other cop what the deal was on that. It was just sitting idly in the water and I rescued it. It’s the law of the sea. Salvage rights. I claimed it. No one else did.”
“And you didn’t call the police to let them know about it. Did you even think that someone who owned the boat might have been in trouble?”
Lonnie leaned back in his chair like he wasn’t worried about them charging him with anything.
“Did you have anything to do with the owner of the boat drowning in the Willamette?” Adam asked.
The guy’s brows shot up. “Hell, no. Is that what this is all about? The boat was just sitting on the water when my friends and I were out fishing. We didn’t see nobody on the boat, so we moved in closer. We hollered out, thinking maybe the owner was in the cabin getting some—” The man glanced at Tori. “You know, the good stuff with some pretty blond. But no one answered, so I climbed aboard and there wasn’t a soul on the boat.”
“And like I said, you didn’t bother to call the police or River Patrol to tell them you found a boat with no one on it. It’s not like the boat was badly damaged and you had to haul it out of the river.”
“How many times I got to tell you people, it’s salvage rights, pure and simple. Finders, keepers. If the owner fell off his own damn boat and drowned”—Lonnie shrugged—“he shouldn’t be on the water.”
“He’s dead.”
“Well, see there? He’s dead.”
“And you had nothing to do with it?” Adam asked.
“Hell, no.”
“Or the other two dead men who were on the boat with him?” Tori asked, taking notes.
Lonnie’s eyes grew bigger again. “Hell, no. You mean you think my friends and I had something to do with the men who died because they couldn’t handle a boat that size on the river? No way. We were just fishing.”
“And selling a drowned man’s boat. Who were your friends on the other boat?”
At that last question, Lonnie wouldn’t say.
* * *
Sierra wondered what she would have to do today once Josh drove her to work. She hoped she had more witness sketches to do today rather than dead-body sketches. Maybe she would get used to it. She wanted to love going into work like she did before. If her sketches helped identify bodies, she supposed she would feel as useful as when she did witness sketches. She guessed it was because with witnesses, she had immediate feedback from them. They were glad she might be able to help them. She had to remind herself that the drowned men’s sketches helped identify them to the boat owner’s wife at least.
“Adam’s really glad you’ve taken the full-time position, by the way, if he hasn’t already said so,” Josh told her on the drive to the bureau.
“He has. Thanks for telling me.” Adam had only mentioned it about a hundred times. And she was glad he appreciated her for taking on Willy’s caseload.
“It’s not just because you’re a wolf and a friend,” Josh continued as if he wasn’t getting his point across.
She glanced at him.
Josh’s ears turned a little red. “Uh, he’s really glad you’re not seeing that guy out of state any longer.”