“Mr. Thompson suffered a head injury in the collision. It looks like another vehicle hit him, slamming his truck into the light pole, and then took off. There wasn’t any sign of a… woman.”
“Let me talk to him,” Wade said, trying to get past the policeman, attempting not to growl too much. He really had to speak with Thompson.
“Sir,” the policeman said.
“She’s my fiancée, damn it!”
David had parked the car farther away and was running in Wade’s direction.
The policeman cleared his throat. “You know this man well?”
“Thompson? Yeah, he’s from the Oregon Zoo, searching for a missing jaguar. We’ve been trying to help him track it down.”
“And your… fiancée was with him because…?”
Wade glowered at the officer. “He was taking her home.”
“Sounds like police business to me.” The officer waved for someone else to talk to them.
Wade glanced at the waiting ambulance as emergency personnel were strapping Thompson on a gurney before they loaded it into the ambulance. “I need to see Thompson.”
“I’m Detective Oberton,” the man said, then dismissed the other policeman. “I overheard you say you know the driver.”
Wade quickly gave him the same spiel as he had the other officer. “I need to speak with Thompson. My fiancée was with him. Where is she now? If the man who forced Thompson off the street did it to kidnap my fiancée…”
The detective let out his breath and glanced in the direction of two officers who were checking out Wade’s rental car. The men shook their heads, and one of them motioned that it was all clear.
Wade frowned at the policemen and then at the detective. He folded his arms. “I didn’t have anything to do with crashing Thompson’s truck into the pole.”
“It appears you didn’t.” The detective continued to jot down notes on his notepad, then looked up at Wade. “Mr. Thompson has a concussion. He’s incoherent, slurring his words, mentioning something about jaguars and Maya. I’m sure if he’s looking for the missing jaguar from his zoo, he’s confused about that and jumbling it together with talk about your fiancée.”
“So let me talk to him.”
“For just a second. They need to get him to the hospital.”
The detective walked with Wade to the ambulance, though Wade was ready to push him aside and sprint for it. He also needed to check out Thompson’s truck.
“Thompson.” Wade reached out to grasp the zoo man’s cold hand. He squeezed it reassuringly.
Thompson’s eyes looked like glassy blue lakes. He stared at Wade without comprehension.
“Was it that blond guy… you know, Lion Mane, who took Maya? Did he say where he was taking her? Thompson?”
Thompson’s lips parted, but he didn’t make a sound. Frowning a little, he looked confused.
“Thompson, tell me. Did he take her?”
“Mr. Patterson,” the detective said, “he’s just too injured to respond. Let them take him to the hospital. You can see him there.”
“Thompson, did… he… take… her?”
Thompson shut his eyes.
Hell. “Okay, we’ll check on you at the hospital in a little while. Hold on, buddy.” For the first time since he’d met the man, Wade noticed that Thompson wore a wedding ring. “I’ll get in touch with your family.”
As the ambulance took Thompson to the hospital, Wade began to walk toward the truck, taking deep breaths and trying to smell Lion Mane’s scent.
“You can’t get close to the truck. It’s a crime scene,” the detective said.
“I’m not going to touch anything.”
David was walking with him but stopped in his tracks to let Wade try and persuade the detective to let him get closer.
“The thing of it is…” the detective said, stopping Wade, “the situation’s a little complicated.”
Wade frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you think Mr. Thompson is a friend of yours and Maya’s, but maybe something else was going on… more than you might think.”
Wade stared at the man, believing he was trying to tell him something without really coming out and saying it. Wade looked back at the truck and tried to imagine why the detective was so antsy about him getting close to the vehicle. What would be inside that would concern him?
Her clothes. Damn it to hell. She couldn’t have shifted. Not in front of Thompson.
He turned to face the detective. The officer thought Thompson and Maya were getting it on when Thompson was already married and Maya was Wade’s fiancée? Not that she was, but close enough.
“She had a change of clothes. She lives with her brother at Anderson Garden Nursery, and he doesn’t like it when she goes to a club dressed in something kind of scandalous. Since I bought it for her, she wore it. She would have changed into jeans and a T-shirt before she arrived home. Were you worried about the dress she left behind?” He imagined she left more than that—panties and a bra, and how could he easily account for that?
“We did wonder.” The detective’s face turned a shade of mottled red, and he cleared his throat.
Wade was certain that the detective had probably seen everything anyone could imagine, but not a woman shifting into a jaguar. He was afraid one human had seen something he should never have. How they were to resolve that mess, he didn’t know.
“Do you have a picture of the lady?” the detective asked, not sounding convinced after hearing Wade’s explanation.
“Yeah. Hold on.” Wade searched for the one he’d taken on his phone at the club when he first met her and she was wearing the T-shirt minidress, smiling, beautiful. “Here it is. That was taken just a week ago at the club.”
The detective had Wade email him the picture. “And we can reach you where?”
Wade gave his information and Maya’s home address where they’d be staying, although they were sticking around Houston while they tried to locate Maya. He also gave the detective her brother’s contact information.
“Who was this… Lion Mane… character?” the detective asked.
“A man she danced with at the Jungle Cat Fever Club. He was interested in her. She didn’t return the interest.”
“I see.” The detective didn’t sound like he believed Wade. That maybe the lady had changed her mind. After all, if she was supposed to be Wade’s fiancée, why was she dancing with other men? “You don’t know what his real name was?”
“No. That was his club name.” Wade wasn’t about to give the detective Lion Mane’s real name. Wade had to take care of this shifter to shifter.
“If anyone contacts you concerning Maya, here’s my number. Call me directly—right away.” The detective handed him a card.
“Thanks. I’ll do that.” Wade walked closer to the truck and smelled that a gun had been fired, and that Jim Bettinger had been here. Another man had been with him. Another shifter. He was sure the two of them had taken Maya.
His hands clenched into fists, Wade felt his temper escalate.
“We’ll get her back,” David said quickly.
Yeah, but alive? Or dead?
When David and Wade returned to the rental car, both brothers were silent, just sitting in the car and saying nothing.
“He won’t hurt her,” Candy said, and they both turned to look at her. She shrugged. “He had the hots for her.”
Ignoring the woman, Wade said to his brother, “A shot was fired next to Thompson’s truck. Since Thompson wasn’t shot, I can only assume Maya was. She was… feral.” He couldn’t say she was wearing her jaguar coat in front of Candy. She wouldn’t have a clue what being feral meant.
David shook his head. “She’s not ready for city life. So where do we go now?”
“Where did Bettinger take Maya?” Wade asked Candy, his voice a growl, warning her to tell him the truth, or else.