“How would that even happen?”
“They’re rich, right?” I asked, drawing several sets of eyes to me as I worked through a scenario. “Maybe someone knew they were going to be isolated, followed them out there, and waited for them to let down their guards to attack.”
“To what end?” Millie asked.
I shrugged. “Money? Perhaps kidnappers took them for a ransom.”
“The police have talked to the parents,” Chris argued. “No ransom demand has been made.”
“Maybe something else happened,” I offered. “Maybe the husband – his name is Ethan, right? – maybe he put up a fight. Maybe they killed him during the fight and they panicked and then killed Lisa. There are a lot of variables we can’t account for.”
Jack pursed his lips. “I can’t believe you’re the one agreeing with me,” he muttered.
“Oh, I didn’t say I agreed with you. I simply said we have no proof it was a lycanthrope attack. We need more information.”
“Do you have any idea how to get that information?” Millie asked.
That question led to thorny answers I wasn’t keen on exploring. “I don’t know. People live out there, though. That woman I ran into – who has quite the saucy reputation, for the record – is only one of a handful of people who live in the area. Maybe a hunter ran into them in the woods, accidentally shot someone and then messed up the campsite to make people think it was a lycanthrope. The legend about the Dog Man might simply have been a handy tale.”
“And here I thought you couldn’t be logical,” Jack said, shaking his head. “Both of those scenarios are possibilities. While you guys were at the lab, I did some research on the families in the area. The one that lives closest is the Winters family.”
Jack grabbed a folder from the coffee table and flipped it open, withdrawing a large photograph that featured three faces. “This is Aric Winters.” He tapped on a strapping man I recognized from the memories in Zoe’s head. “He’s the son of Senator Winters, who has a financial stake in the company that owns the land where the Savages were camping.”
“Well, isn’t he just a tall drink of water.” Laura’s eyes sparkled as she stared at the photograph. “He’s rich, too, right? If he’s a senator’s son he’d have to be.”
Jack shot a quick look to me, something unsaid passing through his eyes, and then he shook his head. “He’s also married. See the blonde in the photo? Her name is Zoe Lake-Winters. They’ve been married for thirteen years.”
Laura wasn’t about to be deterred. “That doesn’t mean they’re happily married.”
I thought about the images from the shared vision. “I’m guessing that their life isn’t always happy, but they’re dedicated to one another.”
Jack shot me an odd look. “Why would you say that?”
I realized I’d said more than I’d intended and quickly crashed back to reality. “She briefly talked about her husband in the woods. She didn’t mention problems.”
“Why would she?” Laura let loose a derisive snort. “It’s not as if you two bonded after talking for thirty seconds. She doesn’t know you. She’s not going to confide in you.”
We might not have bonded, but we shared something profound, and I couldn’t (no matter how hard I tried) force the images from my mind. “No. I guess you’re right.”
“I think you should totally move on him,” Millie suggested.
Laura preened. “Because I’m prettier than her, right?”
“Because I want to see you get your ass kicked and I’m pretty sure that woman can do it without breaking a sweat,” Millie countered, rolling her eyes. “Focus on the problem at hand, Laura. No one cares about your non-existent love life.”
Laura growled and folded her arms across her chest. Thankfully she opted to remain silent so we could continue talking about the Winters family. I was anxious to hear what Jack had discovered.
“It’s not easy to find information on Aric and Zoe Winters,” Jack continued. “They attended Covenant College together. Aric graduated. No graduation records for Zoe can be found, yet it appears she actually matriculated there and perhaps someone paid a lot of money to make that information go away.”
Now, that was interesting. “Why would someone do that?”
Jack shrugged. “I don’t know. They lived off the grid for five years after what should have been her college graduation. Their life on paper isn’t easy to track. Suddenly, five years after they apparently went into hiding, they came out of hiding.”
“Is that when they moved here?” I was enthralled by the story.
Jack shook his head. “They lived here while they were in hiding. They kept to themselves and didn’t broadcast their whereabouts. Apparently they just decided to stop at some point. Samantha Winters was born about eight months after they stopped hiding. They seem to mind their own business and stay out of trouble, although there’s some … um, I guess colorful would be the word … stuff in some of the notations I’ve been able to find.”
Now we were getting somewhere. “Like what?” I was practically salivating.
Jack slid me a sidelong look. “Why are you so interested in Zoe Lake-Winters?”
“I found her fascinating in the two minutes we spent together.” I opted to leave out the part when I magically saw flashes of her life and knew her to be so much more than she appeared to be. “I just want to know what you know. I heard a bit of gossip this afternoon at the lab, too.”
“Okay.” Jack cleared his throat and turned back to the file. “Aric Winters heads his father’s lumber company. It’s a very lucrative business.”
“Ha! I knew he was rich.” Laura was triumphant. “What else can you tell me about him?”
Jack stared at her for a long beat, his distaste on full display. “I can tell you he’s married and almost every story in his wife’s dossier features a cameo by him.”
“Which means there’s probably strain on the marriage.” Laura rubbed her hands over the knees of her jeans. “Go on.”
I wanted to challenge her regarding her insistence on chasing Jack right up until the moment when she thought there was a potentially eligible rich guy hanging around, but I stopped myself from making a scene. Laura didn’t have a chance with Aric Winters. There was no reason for me to point that out.
“Wow.” Jack made a face before handing me the photograph and focusing on the typed information beneath it. “Sami Winters goes to the local middle school. Her parents seem interested in her studies and attend events. Their house is supposedly magnificent. It’s a log cabin deal that Aric designed and had built for them. It’s located off the main highway.”
“That’s great. The house sounds awesome.” Laura beamed. “Has the wife been locked up for mental problems or anything? That would be really helpful now.”
“I don’t believe Zoe Lake-Winters has ever been locked up in a mental ward,” Jack said dryly.
“I don’t think so either.” I stared at the photograph. “She’s famous around here, though.”
“How so?” Millie asked. “Does she do a special dance to entice men or something?”
“No, she simply doesn’t put up with any crap,” I replied. “We met this guy at the lab, Kent Logan. He was very talkative. He’s local and had a lot of information.”
“He tried to trade that information to Charlie for a date.” Hannah giggled at the memory. “He was totally hot for her. Charlie played it cool, though. I was very impressed, because he was cute and seemed really good at the flirty stuff.”
Chris furrowed his brow. “You thought he was cute?”
Hannah bobbed her head, clearly missing his distress. “He had a beard.”
“Yes, he looked like Grizzly Adams,” I agreed. “Except younger … and a little more manscaped. More important than his looks is the fact that he had a lot of information on the Winters family.”
“Let’s hear it,” Laura prodded. “And, for the record, I’m more interested in the gossip about him, but if there�
�s something I can use against her I’m all for it.”
“Whatever.” I blew out a sigh and shifted my eyes to Jack. I expected him to be eager to hear the gossip, too. Instead I found him glaring. “What?”
“You spent your afternoon picking up a date? You were supposed to be helping Hannah.”
I balked. “I didn’t pick up a date.”
“It wasn’t for lack of trying on his part,” Hannah countered.
“You were supposed to be working with Hannah.” Jack’s voice was sharp and laced with annoyance. “This is not play time. It’s work time.”
I shifted on my seat. “I was working.”
Hannah turned earnest. “She really was, Jack. She helped me as much as she could. Kent did all the talking. He inserted himself in our conversation and asked Charlie out a few times. She refused, although was nice enough to him to secure some information.”
“Oh.” Jack pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “I guess that’s okay then.”
“Oh, gee, Dad,” I drawled. “Thanks for your permission.”
Jack ignored my snarky response. “What did you learn? I mean … I don’t think the Winters family is necessarily guilty or even believable as suspects, but they’re the nearest ones to the location so we can’t rule them out.”
“I heard a lot of stories. Some of them are sort of fantastical,” I replied. “The first is that they used to have some sort of electrified fence surrounding their property. I guess that would’ve been active during the years you said they were hiding. Apparently they don’t use it much now, but there have been occasions when they’ve turned it on.”
“And how did your buddy Kent know that?” Jack challenged.
“I guess it’s common knowledge; hunters know to be on the lookout for it.”
Hannah nodded. “That’s what he said. People are afraid to get electrocuted, so they watch for it.”
Jack was mollified, but only slightly. “Well … what else?”
“There are a lot of rumors about them.” I worked hard to keep Jack’s harsh words from settling like an anchor around my neck. He was brittle when he wanted to be. He was also good at his job. I tried to remind myself that he was simply trying to be diligent and not a really big turd. “For one, apparently a woman and her child went missing in this area about a year ago. Some people claim the last place she visited was the Winters house. She was never seen again.”
“And people think the Winters family had something to do with that?” Chris asked, intrigued.
I shrugged. “There’s a lot of gossip about the Winters, Zoe in particular. There’s a little bit about Aric. Apparently he’s been known to run around the woods naked. A few hunters claim to have gotten a gander at … well, everything … near dawn a couple of times. Kent says there’s a rumor that he and his wife are into some freaky stuff.”
“Like freaky sexual stuff?” Laura asked.
“I have no idea.”
“As fascinating as I find romping naked in the woods, I’m more interested in stories that will lead to a motivation for murder – or at least kidnapping – so let’s focus on that,” Jack ordered. “What else did you hear?”
“I heard that last summer the kid was at a special camp when something happened and Zoe got in a fight with the other mothers and threatened to kill them,” I answered. “That’s not the first time she laid down the law with people she didn’t like. Apparently she’s one heck of a brawler.”
“Maybe she’s the lycanthrope,” Chris suggested. “Maybe she was in the woods looking around because she wanted to make sure she’d covered her tracks.”
That didn’t sound likely to me. “Why would she take her kid into the woods with her to cover up a murder?”
“She’s probably too young to be left home alone.”
“She’s thirteen,” Jack corrected. “She’s more than old enough to spend a few hours watching herself. I have to agree with Charlie on this one. I don’t think it makes much sense for a mother – even if she is some sort of weird killer – to take her kid on a search of the woods. I think something else was going on.”
“What did she say?” Millie asked. “You’re the only one who spent time with her, Charlie. She must have said something to you.”
In truth, Zoe said very little to me during our brief conversation. Most of what I learned was from the visions we’d shared. It wasn’t just me seeing flashes of her life. She saw things from my past as well. That left me unsettled, even though part of me couldn’t help but want to trust the woman.
“She didn’t say much. She said they lived close by and went for a walk because they’d heard the news in town. They wanted to look around.”
“That’s it?”
I nodded. “That’s it.”
“Well, we’re going to need more than that.” Chris slowly stood. “We need to find a way to get more information.”
I wholeheartedly agreed, although there was no way I intended to share my plan for getting that information. “That sounds like a good idea,” I lied. “We should get some dinner first, though. I’m starving.”
“You and me both.” Chris beamed. “Let’s hit the dining room and we’ll start making plans from there. We’re going to have a busy few days.”
That’s exactly what I was hoping for. If everyone was busy, it would be easier for me to slip away and confront Zoe. Right now, that was essentially the only thing on which I could focus. Everything else would have to take a back seat.
8
Eight
Dinner was full of energy and conversation.
Hannah planted herself next to Chris and stared at him adoringly whenever he wasn’t looking. Then, when she glanced away, Chris did the same to her. It was beyond frustrating. I figured one or both of them would need a little push to get things going.
Fred Pitman, the annoying owner of the inn, had a few stories of his own about Aric and Zoe Winters. His tales seemed bitter and mean – especially the one in which he swore up and down that they were nymphomaniacs because he was certain they once had sex in a vehicle parked on a downtown street – but he also had interesting tidbits about the family as a whole. My one takeaway was that Aric and Zoe Winters seemed to protect their child above all else, even if it made them appear wacky and overprotective.
I was fairly certain I knew why.
I said my goodnights early, claiming I had a headache, before retiring. Then I sat in my room for a full hour before pressing my ear to the door. I heard some of my colleagues return from dinner, laughing gregariously in the hallway before separating to their rooms for the night. Once I was certain that no one remained in the hallway, I let myself out and headed to the main floor.
One of the things I found most interesting about the inn is that Pitman had a key board and insisted that guests register their vehicles, leaving the keys on the board when not driving. That made things easier because I planned to “borrow” one of our rentals and drive to the Winters house.
That was the only thing on my mind as I crossed the lobby and focused on the girl behind the desk. That’s why I didn’t see Millie until she stepped directly into my path and cocked her head, forcing me to pull up short.
“I … um … what are you doing here?” As far as greetings go, it wasn’t my best attempt.
“The same thing you are,” Millie replied, keeping her voice low. “I’m going to spy on the Winters family.”
I tried to play it cool, but my gaping mouth wouldn’t allow me that small pleasure. “W-what?”
“Oh, don’t do that.” Millie made a tsking sound with her tongue. “I saw you over dinner. I could practically hear the gears in your mind working. You’re fascinated with the woman. You might be able to hide it from everyone else, but not me. If you’re fascinated with her, there must be a reason.”
Oh, there was definitely a reason. That didn’t mean I wanted to drag Millie into my espionage excursion. “Well … .”
Millie held up a finger to silence me. “I’ll
make this easy for you. I’m going. If you try to sneak out without me, I’ll make a fuss. Jack was adamant about no one taking off alone this afternoon. It shook him a bit when you disappeared.”
“It shook him?” That’s not exactly how I remembered things. “Why would it shake him? I’d think he’d prefer it if I disappeared in the woods and was never seen or heard from again.”
“You only think that because you’re an idiot. You’ll figure out the truth on your own going forward.”
I had no idea what that was supposed to mean. “Millie, I’m not sure you should be involved in this,” I said. “I’m about to break some really big rules.”
“You are,” Millie agreed. “They’re the same rules we broke a few weeks ago, in fact. That’s one of the reasons I’m going with you.”
“How will that help?”
“I can’t get in trouble,” Millie reminded me. “Given my position with the family, I can essentially do whatever I want. You don’t have that luxury. This way, if I steal the Jeep and force you to go along you’re in the clear.”
It made sense, which only forced my worry to grow exponentially. “I don’t know. What if they are dangerous? What if they really are lycanthropes and they try to kill us?”
“I don’t think you believe they’re werewolves.”
I didn’t. At least as far as Zoe was concerned, I was almost certain she was something else. That didn’t mean I felt good about potentially sharing her secret with Millie. It didn’t feel fair. It wasn’t something I’d expect Zoe to do to me if our roles were reversed. Of course, she could be sharing what she saw during our brain meltdown even now. I had no way of knowing.
“Well … .”
“We’re going together.” Millie was firm as she lifted her hand and jangled the keys. “I already secured us a vehicle and everything.”
Well, great. It looked as if I had no choice. “Okay, but if I sense something is about to go wrong and I tell you to run, you’d better do what I say. I know you’re older and technically the boss, but something really weird happened this afternoon and I’m desperate for answers.”
The Werewolf Whoops Page 7
