“We are going to find Nicolette—and I need to call her father.” Jade hit the speed dial on her cell phone, but Wilson didn’t pick up. She waited a moment, and tried again. Next, she tried her fellow deputy, Dougie, who was second in the chain of command. He picked up at the first ring.
“Dougie, where’s Wilson?”
“Hey Jade, nice to talk to you, too,” he teased.
“No jokes. It’s an emergency, Nicolette is missing.”
“Missing? What do you mean missing?”
“Dougie! Where’s Wilson?”
The urgency in Jade’s voice told her colleague things were serious. “Didn’t he call you? He’s on his way to Billings. Peggie broke her ankle and can’t drive back, so he’s gone up to bring her home tomorrow or Sunday. He was cutting through the National Park, and you know the cell reception is crap up on the north side.”
“Where are you?”
“Cheyenne. Ensuring the chain of custody on my evidence.”
“Tim?”
“Remember? He had his brother’s wedding in Denver. They flew out on the 7pm from Jackson, back Sunday morning.”
Jade tried not to screech in frustration, that was the sum total of their department.
“If you think Nicolette is in danger, call the State Troopers and get help from Jackson, right now, Jade. Don’t be trying to fly solo.” The tone of Dougie’s voice told Jade he was worried, and the knot was back in the pit of her stomach. She knew that Dougie was absolutely right. She had absolutely no business gallivanting around the county with a rancher, a wildlife biologist, and a dog in tow. “I’ll call you later, Dougie.”
“I’ll leave super early so I can be back by late morning. And don’t worry about waking me up if there’s news, good or bad. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping much now, anyway.”
Jade clicked off her cellphone, and then saw the message indicator. Wilson must have called when she was in the shower. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, debating whom to call next.
“Don’t miss the turn.” Conall’s voice was soft and measured.
As she flipped her turn signal, Jade thought that the flashing light and clicking sound seemed to be beating a point into her brain. She was missing something, but what was it?
Conall gestured, “Right by that cottonwood up there, that’s where I found the wallet.”
Jade slowed the Bronco and eased it to the side of the road, and Harlan behind her followed suit. They got out of the vehicles. Scanning the area with her flashlight, Jade wondered what, if anything, they could manage to learn by stumbling around in the dark. Conall stepped a short distance away.
“I’m going to stay away from the lights. I can see better if me eyes adjust to the darkness.” Conall began to pace a little, his head tilting ever so slightly. Jade couldn’t shake the feeling that he could see, hear, and maybe smell things that she couldn’t. As he worked his way out from the spot in zigzagging lines, Jade couldn’t help but wonder how he had ever found the wallet in the first place. A minute later Conall called back, “Harlan, bring Sargent—Jade, give him a good smell of Nicolette’s wallet.”
Sargent bounded out of the truck, giving himself a good shake that caused the sound of his slapping ears to break the stillness. Jade held out the wallet and the hound’s nose gave it a thorough inspection as he sniffed and snuffled.
Harlan leaned over and patted the old dog’s shoulder, “Find, Sargent! Find!”
Sargent trotted around the immediate area, his nose to the ground as he paused to get a whiff from time to time. Suddenly, he got alert, and made a beeline toward Conall, who reinforced the task at hand with another quick rub, and the command of “Find!” For a moment, Sargent seemed confused, and Jade feared that he had lost the trail, but then he seemed to catch it again, and headed toward a six-foot tall clump of sagebrush. He tried to stick his head under the lowest of its twisted branches, but the undergrowth was too dense. He sat down and woofed.
Obviously, he hadn’t found Nicolette, but maybe this was a clue that would help them. Jade raced toward Sargent, but Conall beat her there. He reached into the twiggy undergrowth and extracted a small pouch. It was the Dooney and Burke cell phone case that matched Nicolette’s wallet. Jade snatched it from Conall’s hand.
“I need to see what calls have gone in and out this evening. Maybe that will help.” Jade punched through the menu to the messages. The last message on the phone was from Wilson. Jade hit play.
“Hey honey, your mom somehow managed to break her ankle out hiking with Aunt Linda. I know you’re on a date, but I wanted to let you to know I’m heading up to Billings. Don’t worry, she’s doing fine. We’ll call you tomorrow. Love ya.”
“That’s no help,” Jade said, with a frustrated snort. She clicked through to the recent calls.
“What is it?” Harlan knew from the look on Jade’s face that something was wrong.
“It says that I’m the last person she called, but I dialed her a half dozen times after she left the bar. She never picked up, and I never got her call.” Jade felt bewildered.
“Maybe she called while you were in the shower?” Harlan offered.
Jade wasn’t sure she wanted to be reminded of her shower at that moment. She jerked out her cell phone and punched up the messages. There were two. The first was from Wilson…and five minutes later, one from Nicolette.
“I’m sorry I stormed out of the bar. It’s not just Nate. I’m on edge…I haven’t told you that I’ve been working on a story about the meth business and I’ve…come across some really disturbing stuff. Anyway, work is a good remedy for a broken heart, right? I’m going to go check on some things up on the BLM property with…” The message cut off in mid-sentence.
“How was she getting up there? She had to have gotten in a car with somebody, and it sounds like it was somebody she knows—someone she trusts enough to let in on her investigation.” Jade looked despondently at Conall and Harlan. “You guys know this area better than me. What could be around here that might interest meth cookers?”
Conall ran the edge of his thumb across his mouth, thinking. “What if there never was a real wolf problem? What if the wolf killings and the activists and the bombing were all part of a plan to keep law enforcement busy so these methamphetamine dealers could do as they please?
The logic of it made sense to Jade. “Maybe the exploding meth lab Dougie is working on is part of it, too. That could have been their competition, or a liability they wanted to lose.”
“I don’t know,” Harlan shrugged, “the vandalism, and our dog in the trap, and the bomb under our porch—that felt pretty personal, not just some random crap to keep you running in circles.”
“Maybe it’s a case of killing two birds with one stone.” Jade pushed her cap back a little on her head as she pondered the pieces of the puzzle. She thought back to earlier in the day when she was on the Winters’ ranch investigating the bombing with Susan and Boomer. Susan had asked about the adjacent property, which included the BLM land they were currently standing on. Since neither Harlan nor his father, Carson, had been there, she’d had to make an educated guess.
“Harlan, who has property bordering your ranch?” Jade asked.
“Well, there’s this BLM land,” he pointed down, “and the Bar Double Star Dude Ranch, that’s the Minton Family, of course, and…the Hidden Springs Inn.”
Everyone in town knew the Mintons; Duke Minton’s family had owned that ranch for more than a hundred years, and Evelyn had taught every third grader in Broken Wheel for the last three decades—and they both taught Sunday School at the Methodist church. Jade couldn’t really picture them pushing drugs and building bombs.
“So, who owns the Hidden Springs Inn?” Conall asked.
“That’s Jim Lassiter,” Harlan answered.
“Jim Lassiter?” Jade asked, incredulously. “How’s a small town newspaper editor afford to buy a really nice small inn? And according to Nicolette, he just got a fancy new quarter horse�
�and a really nice boat…now that I think about it.”
“And a new truck,” Harlan added. The other shoe had dropped. “He’s been trying to get Dad to sell him a parcel of our land, saying that he’d gotten this inheritance, and he wanted to invest in more property around the Inn so he could think about an expansion in the future. But the acreage he wanted would connect the Inn’s property to the BLM land.”
The bells were beginning to go off like crazy. “They could cook on the BLM land, and move the meth out through the Inn where no one would think twice about out-of-state cars coming and going.” Jade hit the heel of her hand against her forehead. “Conall’s right. The wolf problem, exploding shit, the harassment—all part of a master plan. They could use horses or ATMs—or snowmobiles in the winter—and never have to risk getting on a public road with their product or be seen coming and going to the BLM area. It’s flippin’ brilliant.”
“So Jim Lassiter is Broken Wheel’s Walter White?” Harlan asked.
Jade shook her head, not wanting to believe it herself. “You know, innocent until proven guilty, but it sure looks like the editor of the Gazette is breaking bad.”
“So the bomb was part of a plan to push us off our land?” Harlan looked stunned, then angry. “He almost killed my dad!”
Conall continued Jade’s train of thought, “And Nicolette would have never thought twice about getting in a car with her boss. She must have been getting close to the truth, and he’s either trying to throw her off the trail, or…”
Jade didn’t want Conall to finish that thought and she burst in, “That little prick Nate Vanderville must be working for Lassiter, pumping Nicolette for information and stirring up trouble. And as trusting as Nicky is, she probably blabbed everything she knew to the guy because she thought he was ‘the one.’ I bet they planned for Nate to put the moves on me so she’d get upset and Lassiter could just happen to come along and rescue her.”
This idea seemed to make Harlan even angrier. “You better find these bastards before I do, Jade, because I can’t promise that I’ll control myself.”
“Killing wolves, hurting people…to make money from drugs?” Conall looked to Harlan, “We may have to draw straws for the honor of reefing up these pains in the hole.” Conall’s face quickly hardened into an impenetrable mask.
“Do I need to remind you guys that I’m the only one with any legal authority here?” Jade gestured emphatically at her badge.
A chill blast of wind rolled over the group and Jade thought of Nicolette in her adorable red dress and how little it would do to protect her from the elements as the temperatures continued to drop. “Com’on, we need to go.” She flipped up her collar and pulled her knit cap down more securely over her ears.
Harlan rubbed his forehead like he was getting a headache. “But where? Where are we going? Sargent can’t find any trail here, so I’m guessing her cell phone got taken away and tossed when she was talking to you.”
“Maybe she dropped the wallet on purpose to leave a trail.” Conall turned to look up the road ahead, “Maybe if we keep going, we’ll find some other signs.”
“You mean like a trail of breadcrumbs?”
“Yes, exactly.”
Jade nodded. “The question is, whether it would be better to go on foot or in one of the trucks?”
Conall thought for a moment, “Why not both? You and Harlan take Sargent in the Bronco, head toward the old mine, but no headlights…I’ll cut over that small hill on foot, see if I can get a look before they are able to hear your vehicle.”
The old mine! Wilson had wanted her to check it out, Jade remembered, and she had dismissed it as not very important. It was a terrifyingly perfect place to get rid of someone permanently. But wouldn’t it take Conall too long on foot? Jade wondered.
“Don’t worry, I’ll beat you there,” he whispered in Jade’s ear.
Once again Jade tried to disguise her shock at how Conall seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. Was she that much of an open book? Or could he really read her thoughts?
“Okay, we’ll see you shortly,” Jade jingled the keys in her hand a little nervously.
Conall took off in long, fluid strides, but not at a run. In moments, the darkness swallowed him, and Sargent and Harlan had already climbed into the Bronco. Thankfully, Jade thought, the moon was crawling out from behind the clouds, which would make running without headlights a bit less life threatening. Not that she expected to run into any other cars, but the road was curvy, and there were plenty of boulders, rock walls, and stands of cottonwood and sagebrush scattered along the way—not to mention a couple of drop-offs of ten or fifteen feet.
“He’s a little mysterious, don’t you think?” Harlan opened Jade’s glove compartment and gingerly ran his hand around inside. “I know you have your personal back-up gun in here, and as I have a license to carry, I plan on carrying it.”
Jade shrugged in resignation. It was pointless to tell Harlan to leave her gun alone, and since she had her departmental sidearm and a shotgun, she didn’t really need it. “You know how to put the clip in?” Jade had never known Harlan to fire a gun except to put down a seriously injured or sick cow.
“Yes.” He demonstrated his knowledge, and then picked up on his earlier remark. “Conall, he’s kind of a closed book, don't you think?”
“Yeah, I guess. He’s told me a few things about himself and he’s got good reason to steer clear of people. I mean…I can understand why he prefers the company of wolves to humans. They seem a lot less vicious.”
“You got a point.” Harlan cleared his throat, the way a man does when he’s getting ready to say something that he really doesn’t want to say. “Jade,” his voice trailed off.
“Yeah?”
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you, and I guess now is as good a time as any.”
The “uh oh” button went off in Jade’s head, if he was getting ready to declare his love for her, she had no idea how to respond. Being with Harlan would be pleasant, rational, and he had probably matured into a fine roll in the hay, but…it was the “but” that stopped her. But there was Conall.
“You know I have a great time with you, you’re like my best friend.” He coughed a little, “I love you to pieces, but…”
Jade perked up, Harlan was feeling the “but” too. She finished for him, “But you’re not in love with me.”
Harlan pressed his lips together, “No, I’m not.” He looked over to Jade, expecting some reaction—anger, tears, something. But Jade just patted his knee.
“It’s totally cool, Harlan, that’s how I feel about you, too.”
A long breath of relief escaped from between Harlan’s lips, “There’s more though.”
Jade looked over to him, what else could there be?
“I think I’ve got it bad for Nicolette. I think I’ve probably been in love with her since she turned me down for Senior Prom and went with George Black.”
“You asked her before you asked me?” Jade gave Harlan a playful pop in the arm. “If I’d known that, well, I never would have offered you my virginity.”
“Well, you got mine, too. It wasn’t like it was a one-way deal.”
“But kind of a lousy deal, huh?” They both started to laugh, before quickly sobering at the realization of the situation at hand.
Harlan cracked his knuckles. “I couldn’t believe she was chasing after that Vanderville guy.”
“And so you asked me out again, after all these years, what, to make her jealous?”
Harlan shook his head, “No, I asked you out because you were still one of the two prettiest and smartest women in town.”
“Look!” Jade pointed. The entrance to the old mine was visible in the moonlight. “We better walk from here.”
They got out of the Bronco as quietly as they could, and then Jade spotted Nicolette’s little black belt on the road. She had left a trail of breadcrumbs. Harlan clipped the holster of Jade’s spare gun on his belt, as sh
e grabbed the Remington pump action shotgun from the rear of the Bronco. Sargent whined at being left behind in the vehicle, but Jade had decided he might not fit into their tactical plan. The howl of a wolf split the night air and Jade shivered a little. In the distance, there were answering yips, and Sargent pawed at the window.
“That must be the pack Conall is studying,” Harlan whispered as they walked, trying to muffle the crunch of their feet on gravel.
Jade nodded in agreement as she scanned the topography, looking for a place where they could observe the mine undetected. She gestured toward a little hillock with a couple of short clumps of sage grass on top. They worked their way over and crouched behind the bushes, as Jade desperately wished the department would someday have enough money to buy night vision goggles. The moonlight illuminated a new model truck parked out of sight from the road, and from inside the mine entrance there was the faint glow of light. Jade could feel, more than see or hear, movement in the shadows. Suddenly, the silhouette of a huge wolf appeared near the entrance into the shaft, and Jade sucked in a breath. She had never seen such a massive and powerful-looking wolf in her life, and then he turned his head to look at her. His amber eyes were bright, luminescent, liquid. They were exactly like Conall’s.
Soon, other silhouettes began to appear, hiding themselves around the entrance in what seemed to be a strategic placement. All exits from the area were blocked, and two wolves covered the car.
“That’s the damndest thing I’ve ever seen,” Harlan breathed. “It’s like the wolves are setting up a perimeter.”
“Maybe—maybe they instinctually know that this is the bad guy that’s been hurting them, maybe they smell something.” Jade struggled for some plausible explanation, but the amber eyes of the alpha and the obvious intelligence at work pointed to something completely fantastical.
The alpha wolf turned his gaze from Jade, and loped back into the darkness. After a moment, Jade shook herself. “Okay, it’s showtime.”
“What about Conall?” Harlan whispered.
Broken Wheel Wolves: Boxed Set (The Complete Collection, Books 1-6) (Werewolf Romance - Paranormal Romance) Page 7
