She liked his deep, manly voice, though it was a little rough around the edges right now, different from when she’d first heard him talking to her from the foyer.
“Was your front door open?” Brenham asked Amelia, a black brow arched.
“Yeah, I’m having trouble getting it to seat properly, and though I locked it, apparently it wasn’t shut all the way. I have a carpenter coming to check it this afternoon.”
She couldn’t believe Gavin hadn’t told the cops who she was. Maybe he truly hadn’t seen her face before, and he really was only here about the missing pups. If that was the case, she hoped he found them for the puppies’ and the family’s sake.
Brenham helped Gavin to his feet. Frowning, Gavin asked her, “Have we met before?”
Her heart pounded. The police waited for her to answer him. She quickly shook her head. “Everyone says that.”
“You look familiar,” Gavin insisted. “Have you ever been to Seattle?”
She felt light-headed all of a sudden and was afraid the color had drained from her face. “No.” She hated to lie. Since she hadn’t reported what had happened to her six months ago, she was afraid the police would believe she’d willingly been the robbers’ getaway pilot. Especially if they learned she had been dating the dead wolf.
“Okay, my mistake. It’s probably like you said. You just look like someone else.” Gavin didn’t sound like he truly believed that.
Which reminded her he was a former cop—like these two here who were watching her behavior. She was trying to look perfectly innocent. She wasn’t sure Gavin was buying it.
Brenham began looking at the pups’ photos that Gavin had, and then he carefully considered Amelia’s pups. “The ones in the photo and the ones you have look the same to me. Are you sure the pups you’re fostering hadn’t been stolen before they were taken to the shelter where you picked them up?”
The police were thorough, so one got in contact with the animal shelter to verify her story. Especially since her neighbor had told Gavin the pups had arrived about the same time he learned the Seattle pups had been stolen.
Fearing that they might be, Amelia took the photo from the officer and really studied it. The Samoyed pups did look very much like hers. Except for one thing. The ones in the photo were wearing blue leopard-print collars.
She frowned at Gavin, who was leaning against the wall, still looking like she’d just tased him. “Are the two puppies you’re looking for males?”
***
Once Gavin was feeling more like himself—though still having visions of a beautiful, naked, blond female streaking across her living room—he set up surveillance to watch Asher and Mindy Michaels’s home, the place London had originally steered him to check out. Gavin still swore he’d seen Amelia White before—in the commission of a crime. A flashback of the blond wearing a blue dress flitted across his brain for a couple of seconds. The experience was like when he’d see a bank teller at the grocery store. Because she wasn’t where he normally saw her, he couldn’t quite make the connection. Yet due to having been both a cop and a private investigator, he was good at remembering faces.
Still, he needed to get his mind on his work and off the woman.
***
Early in the evening three days later, a new vanload of dogs arrived. Gavin quickly made a call to coordinate with the police. Once they were on their way, he went to talk to Asher Michaels, the man getting out of the van, to delay him until the police arrived.
“Hey, excuse me. You’re Asher Michaels, right?” Gavin asked, stalking up the driveway and getting close to the man. He was dark haired and clean shaven, his square jaw tight with a cleft in the center of the chin. His hard, gray eyes narrowed at Gavin.
Gavin knew Asher wanted to secure the dogs pronto before anyone began asking questions. He kept looking back at the house as if expecting someone to come out and help him.
“I’ve got work to take care of. I don’t allow solicitors on my property,” Asher said.
“I’m not trying to sell anything. I’m just looking for these two little fellas. Kodi and Shiloh. They got out on me, and I heard you took in dogs sometimes. Your neighbor fosters dogs, and she thought you did too. Our family has been devastated by the loss. Can you look at the picture and tell me if you’ve seen them? Or have them?”
“Look, I don’t have your dogs. Now get off my property.”
Asher refused to look at the picture. Gavin shoved it under his nose, trying to stall him, but also wanting to get a reaction. “Please, take a look.”
Asher did, only because it was hard not to since the photo was so close to his face. His eyes widened fractionally. Either he had a couple of Samoyeds he’d stolen, or he’d already gotten rid of them.
“I’m an undercover cop,” Asher said. “Get out of here before you blow my cover.”
Gavin hesitated, processing that information. Then he assumed Asher was spinning a tale to serve as a cover for his illegal business. “If you know anything at all about them, I’m willing to pay a big reward for their return,” Gavin told him.
Asher moved his jacket aside and reached for a holstered gun. Ah, hell.
Gavin hadn’t expected the guy to pull a gun on him. He grappled with the man, hearing the cops pulling up street side. Gavin was glad for his police training as he struggled with Asher, trying to wrest the gun away before it went off. He hoped the police didn’t think he was assaulting Asher for just suspecting he had stolen the dogs.
Gavin called out to the cops, “He’s got a gun!”
The cops ran toward them, yelling at Asher to drop the weapon.
Gavin finally managed to trip Asher and take the perp down. When a shot fired, just missing Gavin’s head, he was thinking this PI work could be damn dangerous. At the same time, a woman raced out of the house and began beating on Gavin with her fists, trying to free Asher. Gavin wouldn’t let go for anything. He was just glad the woman hadn’t gone for the gun.
The police finally reached them and arrested Asher and Mindy, a petite brunette with catlike green eyes. Another couple of police vehicles arrived. The police officers hauled the couple off to jail. London even showed up with a list of dog thefts in Alaska to see if any of the dogs matched those that had been recently stolen.
“Hell, you need to come work for us,” London told Gavin.
“I thought you were retired.”
“Just got rehired to be on a special unit that deals with stolen pets and illegal hunting. Come on inside. Let’s see if we can find those pups of yours.”
“Asher said he was an undercover cop,” Gavin told him as they found kennels full of dogs of every size and breed in the backyard. He would guess the Michaelses had well over a hundred, not including the ones in the van.