You Had Me at Cougar by Terry Spear

Chapter 12

Ava was in the middle of baking a birthday cake for a special order when she got a text from Chet. She washed her hands and checked her phone. She was still miffed at him that he hadn’t told her the danger he was bound to be in and that he had been concerned enough to call on Leyton to provide backup. She knew it wasn’t really any of her business, but if she was to be his girlfriend, she wanted to know if he was putting his life in danger.

Still, she knew that was the case anyway because of the kind of work he did.

He texted: I may be going to Loveland, Colorado on this case and if I am, I’ll drop by and see you if I’m able to. That means if we’ve taken him into custody and are bringing him to the jail in Yuma Town.

She texted: Okay, thanks for letting me know.

Ava was thrilled.

He texted: I didn’t tell you about the mission, not because I couldn’t, but because I didn’t want to worry you.

She texted: You know if we’re going to date each other, I need to know I can handle you always being in danger.

Oh, hell, yeah. And you’re right. Next time, I’ll let you know.

She texted: What about this case?

We have three possible suspects we’re trying to track down and clear them from our suspect list if we can.

She texted: Okay, then stay safe. I’ll let you contact me when you’re able to.

Sounds good.

She wished she could have said more to him. But if she got a vision that showed he was in real trouble, she would call him immediately.

Florence came into the kitchen for some more pastries. “Was that Chet?”

“Yes.”

“You know he just didn’t want to worry you.”

Was nothing sacred in town? No, Ava supposed not. As a retired CIA agent, Florence knew just what it was like to be chasing down bad guys.

“He’ll be okay. So will Bridget and Travis, unless you see something differently.” Florence put the pastries on plates and then waited to hear what Ava had to say before she took them out to the customers.

“I haven’t seen any premonitions of anything,” Ava admitted.

“Okay, well, good.”

No, it wasn’t good. It just meant Ava hadn’t seen any of him. He could be in a world of danger any second and she wouldn’t have a clue. She went back to icing a couple of dozen cupcakes to get her mind off Chet’s job and hoping he would make it here to see her. This time, she would make sure her place was neat.

* * *

When they finally reached thecoffee shop in Cody, Wyoming, Bridget, Cedric, and Chet piled out of the car and headed inside, the fragrance of coffee making Chet think of Ava working at Florence’s bakery in Yuma Town.

“Do you want a cup of hot chocolate?” Travis asked Bridget.

"You could read my mind."

Travis chuckled. "Not like you can read others. Unless you're rubbing off on me. I just know you well enough.”

Bridget smiled. “If you could read my mind now, that would be cool. But we can get some hot chocolate if I still feel like it when we call it a night at the hotel. Hey, there’s a man who looks similar to Hugo, don’t you think?”

They all looked at the man sitting in the last booth. He was busy reading a paper and drinking coffee, a half-eaten, buttered bagel sitting on his plate. He wasn’t typing on a laptop or writing in a notebook, so Chet didn’t think it was him. He was a little taller, grayer haired than he thought he would be.

Chet suspected Hugo wasn’t here. But where was he?

Cedric was looking at Joe’s phone. “Hugo’s on his way to Loveland to meet up with the brothers.” He showed his phone to the others to show them what he meant.

“What?” Chet looked at it, but he saw nothing that would indicate Hugo was going to Loveland.

Cedric shook his head. “I guess I saw it on his phone in a vision. He’s meeting up with Nancy’s brothers in Loveland at the Park Hotel.”

“Wow, are you sure you don’t want to work with us on this case?” Bridget asked, sounding impressed.

Cedric laughed. “I have that other case, or I would take you up on it. But I want to wish you the best of luck on this mission.”

“And we wish the same for you,” Chet said.

But Chet was wondering about Ava’s similar ability and if she could help them with the case, when he shouldn’t be considering such a thing. She should be an agent, getting paid to go on dangerous missions, highly trained in combat and in weapons.

They drove Cedric back to the hotel he was staying at.

After they parked in the hotel lot, they shook his hand, and Cedric went inside. Then Bridget called Travis on Bluetooth. “Hey, Hugo’s headed to Loveland. And he didn’t tell Nancy. Cedric saw a vision of it. So do you want to meet at the hotel, and we’ll stay the night and leave in the morning?”

“Yeah,” Luke said, but Chet thought she was saying it to Travis and not Luke.

But if Luke wanted to go with them to track the three men down, Chet was all for it.

“Sure. See you in a few,” Travis said.

Chet was thinking about how Travis and Bridget were going to spend their night and Chet wished he and Ava had the same arrangement.

“We’ll get up early, have breakfast and head out of here in the morning then,” Bridget said.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan,” Chet said.

They parked at the hotel and headed into the lobby and waited for Travis and Luke to arrive.

“I told you Cedric was good,” Luke said. “I only wish he had known earlier, and we could have gotten a head start.”

“Well, sometimes someone with his abilities has to be in a place where the vision can be triggered. If Hugo had been in the coffee shop when he contacted Rob and Joe on his phone, then that might have helped Cedric to ‘see’ it,” Bridget said.

Chet wondered if she knew because that’s how it had to happen with Ava and her sister, Nina.

“Hey, I need to take all of you to the homes of the victims and see if you find anything I’ve missed,” Chet said.

“Yeah, and we can smell the scents in the residences so we can help you with identifying the culprit if he didn’t wear hunter’s spray,” Luke said.

Then Chet took them around to each of the victims’ homes, checking each of them over, looking for any clues that they could find, breathing in the scents.

“Humans and cougars,” Bridget said.

They couldn’t find anything that would indicate who the murderer was. Each of the women had been suffocated with a pillow. No forced entry. Nothing left behind.

After investigating the final house, they were ready to call it a night. Then they drove back to the hotel, and everyone said their goodnights. Travis was getting a hot chocolate for Bridget, and Luke and Chet went up to their own hotel rooms.

Once Chet was in his room, he called Ava. “Hey, our perps are going to Loveland. We’re going there in the morning. It’s a seven-hour drive. I’ll let you know when we get in.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you there.”

“All right. We had another person help us, a bear shifter who has future visions.”

“Oh, wow. Is he working with you now?” she asked.

“No, he has another job to do.”

“Could you use my help?” Ava asked.

He wished. He would like nothing more than to work with her like Travis did Bridget, but it wasn’t something Ava was trained for. Now her sister could because she was a police officer. But that wasn’t what she was paid to do either.

Still, if Ava was working behind the scenes and could see something that would help them, all the better. “Possibly. I have to admit I think about you all the time.

“Good. I wouldn’t want this to be a one-sided affair.”

“No way.” Then Chet got a call from Chuck. “Hey, the boss is calling, probably for an update. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Night, Chet. Stay safe.”

“Thanks, you, too.” Then he answered Chuck’s call. “We’re headed to Loveland in the morning. We have Luke Bier joining us.” Chet told him about Cedric too.

“That sounds like we’re getting more involved in each other’s affairs.”

“We are. We might end up having to form a United Shifter Force.” Chet explained about the jaguars and wolves working with each other.

“Yeah, there might be an issue with funding.”

“That’s what we were thinking. Okay, well, I’ll let you know what happens when we get into Loveland tomorrow.”

“Talk to you then,” Chuck said and ended the call.

All Chet was thinking of when he finally retired to bed was about Ava and how much he couldn’t wait to see her.

* * *

Ava settleddown for the night and she figured it might still take days for Chet to finish his mission, but at least he would be close to her home, unless the man he was after went someplace else and led him on a wild goose chase.

She hugged her pillow and thought of being with Chet again. Soon, she hoped.

The morning came too early, and she headed into the bakery to begin work. She wondered if Chet was still sleeping in Cody while he was on an assignment and figured he was. It was five in the morning. Sometimes, she went in at four, but she didn’t have as much to bake first thing this morning, except for donuts and cheese and sausage kolaches for hungry cougars working early hours too.

What she hadn’t expected this morning was to see a dark-haired, very pregnant woman wearing designer-looking clothes, a sequined jeans jacket and jeans, high-heeled boots, and a diamond necklace at her throat, approaching her from a souped-up Maserati. Ava had never seen her before, and then she smelled her scent. She was human. Suddenly, Ava recalled the vision of her—the woman who was coming to see Ricky—to renew relations.

"Hi, I'm looking for Ricky Jones," the woman said to Ava intercepting her as she was about to enter Florence's bakery shop to begin her workday. “I heard he moved to Yuma Town.”

"Ricky Jones?" Ava asked the woman.

She looked like she could have the baby any day now. In her vision, Ava had only seen her face, not her whole body.

"Yeah. He loves donuts and it’s a small town. I figured you might know him." Then the women frowned. “You had better not be dating him.”

"Me? No. He's a deputy sheriff and already very happily married." If Ava could send the woman packing without anyone else having to get involved, she was doing it.

"Married?" The woman held her stomach and looked distressed as if she had just learned the father of her baby was a rat.

But Ricky and his brother had been living here for too long and before that he’d been dating Mandy in another town. This woman hadn’t been in the picture. Ricky had been with Mandy once she had run him over with her car and he had turned her—accidentally—in Yuma Town. So he wouldn't have been seeing the old girlfriend in Cody. It just wasn't possible.

"Yes, and they have their own babies on the way. I need to get to work," Ava said.

Tears dribbled down the woman's cheeks. Ava wasn't buying her distress. She looked like she could cry on demand and get her way with the ploy.

"He told me he had dated you years ago," Ava continued, figuring she might as well let the woman know that no one would be taken in by any lies the woman thought to tell about the child she was carrying, whoever it truly belonged to. Mel might not even really know who the father was, and Ava suspected Ricky seemed like the perfect scapegoat. Maybe Mel had even tried to blame other guys and they didn't fall for it. Maybe she thought Ricky was such a softy—he certainly could be—she could coerce him into agreeing to marry her. Or at the very least—support her child. Who knew?

"Oh, you probably don't know about the rendezvous we had." Mel smiled slyly.

"He probably doesn't have a clue about it either. Look, Mel—"

The woman's eyes widened.

Whoops. Ava kept forgetting how she knew things when others hadn't told her about them. "Ricky said he'd dated you way before he met Mandy. So, the thing of it is if you think you're going to make things difficult for him, don't bother. You’ll be wasting your time. If you tried to pin the baby on him, it won't work. He can file a paternity lawsuit, just like that." Ava snapped her fingers as an illustration. Then she frowned. “How did you even know Ricky was living here?”

“Irena, a waitress in a restaurant in Cody, Wyoming, learned that Ricky and his brother are living here now. She had dated Kolby and she knew I had dated Ricky.”

Great.

Mel narrowed her eyes at Ava. "When my dad learns how you treated me—"

"How? By telling you the truth? Go ahead. Run by the sheriff's office. Believe me, you won't be causing an issue for Ricky. Everyone adores him and they all have his back. And his wife's too. But if you think you're smart enough to pull the wool over everyone's eyes, be my guest." Ava smiled. Then she went into the shop and locked the door in Mel's face. The woman was probably used to getting her way in Cody because everyone knew who her daddy was. But in Yuma Town? The cougars ruled.

Then the woman stomped off and Ava headed back to the kitchen, pulling her phone out at the same time, and calling Dan. Since he was Ricky's boss, she wanted him to know what was up first so he could protect Ricky.

"Hey, the Mobster's daughter, Mel, is in town and she looks like she's ready to have someone's baby any minute, Dan."

"Great. I'll let Ricky…wait. He's on his way to the bakery to get some donuts for the office."

Ava sighed. She should have already had them started and ready to eat by now. She went back to the front windows filled with summery displays and saw Ricky pull up in the police car. "Yeah. He just parked and Mel is following him back to the store. I guess I'll let them in and monitor their talk while I'm baking breakfast goodies."

"Okay, keep me apprised of what's going on if there’s trouble."

"Will do."

She opened the door and said to Ricky, "I've got to bake those donuts. Come in and you can wait for them while I'm in the kitchen and have your talk with Mel."

"Yeah, sure, thanks, Ava," Ricky said.

Then Ava went into the kitchen to begin baking pastries for breakfast. She was so late doing it, but at least with her cougar hearing, she would be able to listen in on the conversation between Ricky and Mel and if he needed further witnesses or backup, she would call for it.

“Okay, what’s this all about? You being here? Looking for me?” Ricky asked, sounding annoyed.

Mel rubbed her belly. “I told my dad the baby is yours. You have to marry me. That woman in the kitchen said you were married already—but if you know what’s good for you and her, you’ll divorce her and marry me.”

Ava couldn’t believe the nerve of the woman. She hadn’t even said the baby was his because she could never prove it was. But to get poor Ricky involved in this? What a horrible liar. Poor Ricky.

“You know I’m a deputy sheriff,” Ricky said, folding his arms across his chest. He was wearing his uniform so he hadn’t really needed to tell her that.

“Right. So? My daddy has a lot of you in his coat pocket.” Mel gave him a wicked smile.

“It’s not happening. You’ll have to square it with your dad and give up the baby’s father’s name on your own, if you even know who it is.”

Mel frowned at him. “He is furious with you and he’s going to have your head if you don’t come back with me and marry me.”

“No deal. For once in your life, tell your dad the truth.”

“I can’t go home without you.”

“I have a job, a wife, and babies on the way. I can’t help you.”

“All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. You haven’t heard the last of this.” Then Mel stalked out of the shop.

Ricky ran his hands through his hair and glanced back at Ava.

“I got it all on my cell phone. You denying anything, that you are a deputy sheriff. I can’t imagine her dad would believe her,” Ava said.

“She has always had her dad wrapped around her little finger. He always buys what she’s selling. So yeah, I’m sure he believes it, though if he had her watched at all, which I know he does, he probably has an idea who it might really be. I suspect though, he figures if she’ll go to such lengths to say I’m the father, he’ll go along with it, thinking she really wants to be with me. I never would have gone along with it. Not even if I had still been working as an informant and unmarried. Can you imagine what her father would have done to me if he had known I turned in bad guys to law enforcement?”

“Yeah, he wouldn’t have been happy with you, worried you would do the same to him.” Ava finished up the donuts and kolaches, placed them in a box, and handed it to him for everyone at the sheriff’s department. “Dan’s waiting to hear the news.”

“You better believe Mandy is too.” Then Ricky thanked Ava and headed for the door, his phone out, calling Dan. “Hey, hopefully Mel is on her way out of here. Ava recorded the whole thing.”

“I’ll send it to Dan and you,” Ava said, and then went back to baking.

“Thanks.” Ricky left the shop.

Ava just shook her head. She still couldn’t believe the nerve of the woman to do that.

Then she got a call, and it was from Chet. She smiled, thrilled to hear from him so early.

“We’re getting an early start and leaving now. We’ll be in Loveland at one for lunch.”

“It’ll take me two hours to get there though.”

“Yeah, unless we run into the men and have a time capturing them, if they’re truly involved in any of this. If we are led on a hunt, we might end up going somewhere else.”

“I’ll chance it. Where do you want me to meet you?”

“At the hotel where they’re supposed to be meeting up at.” Chet gave her the address.

“Okay, I’ll see you at three if you’re able to hang around.” She just hoped that she’d actually be able to meet up with him.

Then Mandy came in for donuts and kolaches for the hospital clinic and Ava smiled and waved at her. “Got to go. I have another customer.” She would tell Chet later about that crazy Mobster’s daughter, but she wondered if Ricky had already told Mandy about it.

“See you in a few hours.”

Then they ended the call and Ava wrapped up Mandy’s box of pastries to go. “Tell me about her. This ex-girlfriend of Ricky.”

Ava smiled. Ricky must have told her she had been here and talked to him, but Mandy must have believed he wouldn’t tell her all about Mel.

“She’s a spoiled rotten brat who gets her way because of who her daddy is.” Ava showed Mandy the video she took of Mel and Ricky. Mandy could see for herself what she looked like, how she spoke, and all.

“Oh, Ricky didn’t tell me she’s about to pop one out.”

Ava chuckled. “Yeah, a little too late to be hunting down a father for the baby.” She was going to tell Mandy that she didn’t have to worry about Ricky, but she figured Mandy already knew that. And that she had a whole ton of cougars to watch their backs.

“How are things going between you and Chet?”

Ava smiled. “We’re missing each other. He’s going to Loveland for a case.”

“Oh, great. Then he’ll be visiting you?”

“I’m going up there to see him.”

“That’s super. The nurses and doctors are waiting for me to get these over to the clinic.”

“Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Then Mandy left the shop and Florence arrived.

“Morning.” Florence said.

“Morning. We’ve been busy and I’ve got to get back to baking.” Ava headed back to the kitchen.

More cougars came in for pastries and Florence took the orders.

Later that afternoon, things slowed down, and Ava kept wondering if Chet had reached Loveland yet when she got a call from him. She smiled.

“Hey, we’re here, looking for the two brothers and a friend of theirs.”

“Oh, good, Chet. Any luck?” Ava asked.

“We’re headed to the hotel where they were supposed to be staying.”

“Okay, well, you know Tracey is from there, so if you need her help, you should call on her to get you around up there.”

“Yeah, we’re good so far. We’re parking now. You don’t have any premonitions about this, do you?”

“No, but if I were there, maybe.” She had the afternoon off so she could do it.

“Okay, meet us at the hotel.” Chet gave her the location. “If you haven’t had lunch—”

“Oh, I haven’t. I’d love to have lunch with you all, but it’s already one and it will take me a couple of hours to get there.”

“We have a hefty breakfast. We’ll wait for you. Everyone’s in agreement.”

“Okay, thanks, I can’t wait.” She smiled. “I’m on my way.” She was elated she might be able to help them with their case. She’d never used it to help any kind of law enforcement before. It was too scary to think of what would happen if she couldn’t see any visions in a situation and the police thought she was just a nutcase. But at least with the cougars, they knew she was the genuine deal.

“See you in a few.”

She was ecstatic. “Heading out now.” She gave Florence a hug. “I’m going to help Chet with his case.”

Florence hugged her back. “Finally, someone has enough sense to put your talent to good use.”

“Just for this case.”

“Uh-huh. Good luck and stay safe.”

“I will.” Then Ava got into her car and drove to Loveland feeling like she could conquer the world. Chet made her feel that way.