You Had Me at Jaguar Read online

  “Howard called and said you were coming to help with our case. We’re so glad, dear.”

  Val would kill Howard. “I’ll check in with you when I get down there. I have some business to take care of too, so I don’t know how much time I’ll be able to spend on your case.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful.” There was a significant pause. “I asked if you’d taken Benny down since the last time we talked. He said no.”

  “No new leads as of yet.”

  “When will you be getting in?”

  “Not sure. I’ll let you know when I arrive at the airport in Belize. How’s your case going?” Val was certain if she told her mom she was looking for Benny in Belize, her mom would call Howard right back.

  “We’re staking out a house right now where Eric Erickson usually stays when he’s in country, according to one of our sources. The deed is in his name, but he’s not often here. He’s been selling purple heroin, but we haven’t spied him, or anyone else, there. We’re sure that when we take him down, others will take his place. But with any luck, they won’t be our kind.”

  “I hope not. You don’t have any leads on where he might be?”

  “No. The man that informed on him said for certain Eric comes here about this time of year.”

  “I trust you’ll be able to eliminate him soon.” She wished they could deal with this on their own without getting hurt. Every time they went on one of these kinds of missions, she worried about them.

  “You said you were coming to help.” Her mom paused for a moment, and in that pause, Val knew her mother suspected what she was up to. “Benny’s headed down this way, isn’t he? That’s why Howard called, isn’t it? To ensure you really were coming down here to help us with our case. You wouldn’t be coming down here to help us—or take care of other business, as you put it—if he was still at large. You would be following him to where he was headed next.”

  “I will help you with your case. I’ll be in the country. And if I eliminate Benny before then, I’ll be free to just work with you.”

  “All right. Let us know when you get in.”

  “Will do. Be safe. Night.” Val ended the call, knowing her mom would call Howard back and tell him where she was going and to continue to watch her back. Val had called the airport to get on the 5:30 flight but would go to the airport and try to get on standby for the earlier one.

  She paced across her hotel room, waiting until she thought Howard and Jillian might be asleep. She also figured the two of them might be taking turns watching her car to see if she tried to slip away in the middle of the night. Which was why she had pretended her car was in the parking lot down the street from the club. She’d looked for a car that was the same size and color as hers and that had only had human scents on it. She hadn’t wanted to borrow a car that had any shifter scents on it. Not when shifters could possibly track her down by scent later. While Howard and Jillian had watched her, she’d found one that was unlocked and hot-wired it. Then when they had reached this hotel, she had parked it at the side entrance so she could slip out through the front entrance without Howard or Jillian seeing her if they were observing the car.

  She packed her bag and checked out of the hotel, then called a taxi. When the taxi arrived, she had the driver take her to a parking area near the club where her car really was, paid him, threw her bags into the trunk of her car, and drove to a new hotel near the airport.

  She worked alone. Had for two years now. And she wasn’t going to lose the perp again.

  In her new room, she removed her clothes and tossed them on a chair. Then she pulled out her wet underwear so it could drip-dry in the shower. After pulling the floral bedcover aside on the bed, she climbed under the sheet. She wondered how long it would take Howard and Jillian to discover she was no longer at the hotel and that the car wasn’t hers. Would they return home for another mission or search for her?

  She let out her breath. She needed to get this done before the creep turned another woman and decided she didn’t suit him either. And she hoped Howard and his partner didn’t waste her time and theirs searching for her. But she suspected they’d end up at the airport when she did.

  She got a call from her boss and answered it, wondering what was wrong now.

  “I just wanted to give you a heads-up. Rowdy Sanderson, a Bigfork, Montana, homicide detective, has been questioning our people at the crime scene in San Antonio where Benny’s wife was murdered. When our agents asked what he was doing there, he said he’d gotten a call from her, saying she was afraid her husband was going to kill her. But she told him that whatever Sanderson did, he wasn’t to call the local police. So he didn’t. When asked how he knew her, he said they were friends back in Bigfork.

  “Hopefully, he won’t learn where Benny’s gone and follow him to Belize. If you hadn’t heard, Rowdy’s the human who knows about wolf shifters. He doesn’t know about us jaguars, and I want to keep it that way. No matter what, don’t turn him. Try not to kill him.” Sylvan sent her a couple of pictures of the detective. Rowdy’s hair was military short, dark brown, and he had blue eyes in the head shot, a professional photo. In the other photo, he was wearing a white parka in a wintry snow-filled scene at a frozen lake, giving an interview, the headlights of a car poking out of the ice.

  As if her situation wasn’t complicated enough.

  * * *

  Howard had the last shift to watch Val’s car that morning and hadn’t seen any sign of her, but he suspected she wasn’t sleeping in. After her mother called him and let him in on the news—that Val had a tip Benny was taking a flight out to Belize—Howard and Jillian had set plans in motion. He’d known not to trust Val.

  Jillian knocked on the connecting door to their rooms.

  “Come in.”

  “No sign of her?” Jillian asked. Her hair was tied neatly back, and she was wearing jeans, a floral shirt, and boots.

  “Nope. Want to check on her to see if she wants to have breakfast with us?”

  “What if she leaves while we’re walking down to her room?”

  “Yeah, that’s a distinct possibility. You stay here to watch her car, and I’ll go to her room,” Howard said. “Call me if you see her headed for her car. If she agrees to have breakfast with us, I’ll let you know and you can meet us at the restaurant.”

  “All right. We’re still going ahead with the plan, right?”

  “Absolutely. We’ll both get in line for the first seats available on standby for 12:30. If she gets on and I can’t, then you stick to her, and I’ll follow you on the 5:30 flight.”

  “If she doesn’t make it on the earlier flight, she’ll be stuck flying with you.” Jillian smiled. “She’s good at playing cat-and-mouse games.”

  “Tell me about it. Call you in a few.” Howard jogged down the stairs, reached Val’s floor, and soon knocked at her door. No one answered. He called her phone, but she didn’t answer. He didn’t have a good feeling about this.

  He called Jillian and headed down to the lobby. “She’s not answering the door or her phone.”

  “Her car’s still here.”

  “I’m going to the lobby to make sure she didn’t check out.” When he reached the lobby, he told the clerk, “I’m looking for my friend, Valerie Chambers. She said she was leaving early, but she left her phone with me by accident. I checked her room, but she isn’t answering, and I can’t call her because I’ve got her phone.” He waved his phone at the clerk a little to emphasize his point. “Has she checked out already?”

  “Let me see. Uh, yes, several hours ago.”

  Howard couldn’t believe it. “Okay, no problem. I’ll catch up to her at the airport. No one can live without their phone for long, you know. She’s probably already missing it and wonders where she left it.”

  The clerk laughed.

  Calling Jillian, Howard left the lobby and headed outside. “She
checked out hours ago.”

  “You’re kidding. But her car’s still here.”

  “Yeah, I’ll have the license plate run, just to verify the vehicle is hers. If it is, she must have taken a taxi to some other place. My guess is she went to a hotel near the airport for the rest of the night.”

  “She wouldn’t want to abandon her car here for however long it would take to go there and return. They could have towed it.”

  “That’s what I’d figure. Get back with you in a few minutes.” Howard stalked out to the vehicle Val had driven last night and called in the license plate to one of the agency clerks who did investigations for them behind the desk. “I need to know who the vehicle belongs to.”

  After a lengthy pause, the clerk at headquarters got back with him. “The car belongs to Whitney Bishop.”

  “Whitney Bishop? Thanks. Can you report to the police that it was left at the Kingston Hotel in San Antonio?” Howard smelled around the car. Except for Val’s jaguar scent, all he smelled were human scents.

  “Will do.”

  Howard thanked him, ended the call, and phoned Jillian. He headed back into the hotel. “She stole the car. It belongs to a human.”

  “She’s a bit of a rogue.”

  “Yeah and smart too. I wouldn’t have guessed she’d go to that much trouble to leave without alerting us.” He headed inside the lobby and entered the stairwell. He could take the elevator, but he liked to run up the stairs for endurance training whenever he had the opportunity, and it wasn’t as though they were in a rush to go anywhere now.

  “Do we search for her?”

  “Nah. We might as well get breakfast and then leave for the airport. At least we packed summer clothes for the San Antonio heat, which will work well for hot Belize this time of year.”

  “I’ve never been there. I was Googling it, and they still have jaguars that roam freely in the rain forest. No wolves though.”

  “Yeah. In some of the states, you’re in your element. The jungle is the big cats’ playground.” He opened the door to his hotel room. “I’m back.”

  Jillian tucked her phone away. “Do you ever feel the urge to live there?”

  “No. Visits are fun, but we have enough roaming-around land where I live. What about you?” He grabbed his bag and Jillian took hold of hers, and they left the room. “Do you ever feel the urge to live somewhere that wolves live wild so you’d blend in more?”

  “No. Though some wolf packs chose their locations for that purpose, to run as wolves where humans wouldn’t be shocked to see them. Like you, I don’t mind visiting places like that, but it’s the local wolves’ territory. If we moved to a place like that, they’d smell we were wolves and want to protect their territory. There’s only so much food to go around for a pack.”

  “That’s so true. Did you tell Vaughn you’re going to Belize without him?” Howard escorted her to the western-themed restaurant and took a booth near a window overlooking the parking lot. The restaurant was nearly empty. He hoped it was because everyone was taking off for other destinations or still sleeping—not that the food was bad.

  “Yeah. He wished he could go too and we could go snorkeling and do other fun things while there. He was glad to learn Val’s Enforcer parents are down there to help out if this gets complicated.”

  The server brought them menus and coffee. “I’m Sue, your server. I’ll let you have a moment to look over your menus.”

  “Thanks,” Howard said.

  Sue headed for a table across the room.

  Jillian glanced at the breakfast menu and set it aside.

  Howard was still reading his. “I’m afraid Val’s parents are busy with their own case. I hope they get it resolved soon, but they’re just staking out the drug dealer’s house for now.” He set his menu on the table. “I didn’t think I’d ever be working with a partner, let alone that you and your mate would be wolves.”

  Jillian smiled. “I never thought I’d be working with big cats either. About last night—”

  Hell, he hadn’t minded that Val had seen and felt the way she’d aroused him, since she’d seemed intrigued, but he really hadn’t wanted his female USF partner to see it. He’d tried to duck into his room and take a cold shower, but Jillian was his partner and she had wanted to know if he’d made any headway with Valerie. Which, knowing she’d left them last night, meant he hadn’t.

  He raised a brow at Jillian.

  She just smiled and looked outside. Jillian had gotten the biggest kick out of how much Val had heated him up last night and had told him he was doing a great job. Not that anything he’d done with Val had been part of the job. That had been a hell of a lot more personal.

  A few minutes later, Sue came to take their orders, but then paused. This time, she was close enough that Howard smelled she was a jaguar and she smiled at him, but she looked puzzled about Jillian.

  “We’re agents with the USF, United Shifter Force,” Howard said.

  “Oh. I’ve never heard of that organization. I’ve never met a wolf shifter before either. Do you need a minute to look at the menu further?” Sue asked them.

  “No, thanks. I’ll have eggs over easy and sausage links,” Jillian said. “And we’ll both have a glass of water too.”

  “I’ll have the steak and eggs, medium rare on the steak,” Howard said.

  “I’ll have these right out for you.”

  Before long, Sue brought out their meals while Jillian was texting her mate. They were so newly mated that Howard had been surprised she wanted to go with him on this mission. But she’d vowed to watch his back. Vaughn and jaguar mates Everett and Demetria were watching one another’s backs.

  When Sue left, Howard said to Jillian, “Okay, here’s what we know. Lucy Harding was married to Benny Canton. She was a jaguar shifter when she was murdered. We assumed she’d been one all along, but Val spoke to her family and friends and they’re all human.”

  “We know for certain Benny murdered her?” Jillian asked.

  “Yes. As a jaguar. Saliva proved it. We’ll take him down, one way or another.” Howard was certain of that.

  They finished their meal, and when they left the hotel, they saw the police and a man standing next to the car Val had stolen, talking to each other.

  “I hope Val called it in and not just us,” Jillian said.

  Howard drove his truck to the airport, hoping they’d beat Val there. “I plan to mention it to her when we catch up to her again. We are supposed to be the good guys.”

  Chapter 3

  Val finally got some much-needed sleep at the hotel and then took the complimentary shuttle to the airport, which was one reason she’d stayed at this hotel. She could leave her car here for the duration of her trip without paying for airport parking, compliments of the hotel. She made it through airport security and headed for the gate where the earlier flight would take off, hoping she would be able to get a seat on standby. What she hadn’t expected was to see Howard and Jillian at the check-in counter.

  Val came to a full stop. She’d truly thought she’d get there way before they did!

  Howard turned and saw her, offering her the most devilish smile. She wanted to growl. Especially if she missed getting on this flight because one of them, or both, made it instead.

  Still, she smiled back, admitting they were a step ahead of her this time. She added her name to the standby list and glanced at the board, hoping she’d come in ahead of one of them at least. But the board didn’t change. She was in third place. Not that she really hoped anyone would miss their connection—because she knew what a pain that was—but she still wished she’d end up with a seat on this flight.

  “Cute trick,” Howard said to her as the three of them took seats in a little windowed alcove so they had some privacy. “About the car, I mean.” But he didn’t appear amused.

  This time, she gav
e him a genuine smile. “Thanks. I did report the borrowed car, just for your information. I used the hotel phone. I didn’t want the person who owned it to think it was trashed or long gone, or for the police to spend a lot of time looking for it.”

  “Good. I reported it too,” Howard said.

  She raised her brows, hoping he hadn’t mentioned who had stolen it. She suspected he wouldn’t have. Not when they were all shifters and she had an important mission to accomplish. She was glad to hear they’d discovered what she’d done. She would have been disappointed if they hadn’t been that good at their jobs.

  “When did you figure it out?”

  “When I went to your room to escort you to breakfast.”

  She chuckled. She couldn’t help herself. “That late, huh? How did you know I was taking a flight out? Manuel told my boss, who told your boss, right?” Val should have known Manuel would keep her boss in the loop. And her boss would have told Howard’s boss, who would have told Howard and Jillian. “Or my mother told you.”

  “Something like that.”

  “Okay, look. This is my job. I work alone. You did too when you were an Enforcer. You know how it is. Since I can’t seem to convince you that I don’t need your help, if you’re going to watch out for me, you have to do it from a distance. I don’t want Benny being spooked and disappearing again. He’s a jaguar, wily and dangerous.”

  “Which is why we’re here to protect you. We’ll stay out of your hair, but you need to keep us informed of where you’re going at all times.” Howard spoke in a no-nonsense tone.

  Val suspected she was going to have trouble with him not letting her do her job her way.

  “Do you know any specific reason why he’s gone there? Other than it’s a jaguar hot spot,” Howard said.