You Had Me at Cougar by Terry Spear

Chapter 13

Bridget and Travis were glad Chet had asked Ava to join them in Loveland for the case. Chet was thankful she could do it too and wanted to. Though he didn’t want her to be in any danger. But they hadn’t had any success in looking for the men. Just maybe she could get a clue for them. She just needed to be here if her ability would work, he figured. But he didn’t want her to feel badly if it didn’t work out.

“I didn’t smell the men’s scents in the hotel lobby,” Chet said. “I doubt they would be running around wearing hunter’s spray here, believing cougars were trying to chase them down.”

“So they haven’t gotten here yet or they decided to meet somewhere else?” Bridget said.

“Yeah, either case I figure,” Chet said. “Or they’ve cancelled on the trip here.”

They took seats in the café where they could wait for Ava while having some drinks. And still watch for the brothers and Hugo.

“I still can’t believe you took down three cougars on your own on that last case,” Travis said to Chet.

“You weren’t there to help, or I would have given two of them to you.”

Travis laughed and saluted him.

They took turns checking on the lobby to see if the men had arrived and somehow slipped by them, but where they were sitting right now was the perfect spot for surveillance.

Then they finally saw Ava drive up and park. Chet hurried out of the café to greet her. He hadn’t exactly planned to jump off his chair and nearly upset their drinks, and he smiled when Bridget and Luke laughed and Travis said, “Go get her.”

Then Chet hugged and kissed Ava before she’d barely left her car. “I missed you. I’m afraid we have an audience.”

Ava kissed him and hugged him back. “I’ve been missing you and I’m glad we have an audience.” Ava waved at Bridget, Travis, and Luke.

They smiled and waved back.

“I’m starving. Are you all ready for a really late lunch?” Ava asked as she and Chet joined them.

“Boy, are we,” Bridget said.

Travis had already gotten the menus for them. Chet introduced Ava to Luke.

“I heard about how you helped Chet and the others up in Ely,” Ava said.

“Yeah, we were after the same bad guy and his cohorts,” Luke said. “Kind of like now.”

“I’m having the grilled ham and cheese sandwich,” Bridget said, looking over her menu.

“I’m going for the steak and cheese,” Luke said, “with an order of berries as a side.”

They all smiled at him.

“Hmm, the Reuben for me,” Ava said.

“I’ll have a Reuben also,” Travis said.

“BLT for me.” Chet waved at the waitress to take their orders.

Once their meals were served, Chet explained the case to Ava. “But they haven’t arrived yet. Two people said they were coming here, and Cedric saw the phone conversation that Hugo and the brothers had that confirmed that,” Chet said.

“But not for two more hours.” Ava took a bite of her Reuben.

Luke, Chet, and the MacKays were staring at her.

“What?” Ava asked and took a sip of her iced tea.

Bridget picked up a potato chip from her plate and pointed it at her. “You sound like you know for sure that’s when they’ll be here. We thought they would be here sooner.”

“I…I saw three men arrive who fit the description Chet gave me. They looked like good friends, and they were talking away to each other. I heard one say, ‘Hugo, are we going to have dinner here?’ And one of the men said, ‘Yeah, we are. They have the best steaks.’ As to the time, I heard the clock chime in the background—five times.”

“In another two hours,” Travis said.

“Yep.” Ava ate one of her potato chips.

“We knew we needed you on the case,” Travis said, the others agreeing.

“They’re sitting at a booth in the steak restaurant. Well, in my vision. It’s in the back of the restaurant,” Ava said.

“Do you see anything about us talking to them?” Chet asked.

“Or them trying to elude us?” Travis asked.

Luke asked. “Or pulling a gun on us?”

“I don’t see that much. Just that they ordered steaks and they’re talking and laughing like they haven’t a care in the world. Are you sure these guys did anything wrong?” Ava took another bite of her Reuban.

“We don’t know for sure. That’s why we need to talk to them and smell their scents. We have to learn if their scents match anyone that had been in the homes where the murdered women were.” Chet hoped that the mention of any of this wouldn’t be too upsetting to Ava. The CSF agents were used to dealing with crimes and crime scenes. Ava wasn’t.

“What do we do in the meantime?” Ava asked. “After we eat lunch, we’ll still have about an hour before they arrive.”

“We can move to the lobby for a while and then when we see the men, we’ll wait until they’re seated in the restaurant and then approach them there. They won’t be able to bolt if they’re sitting in a booth,” Chet said. “We can pin them in.”

“What if they’re not the ones involved in any of this? If you smell their scents and you don’t recognize them as anyone that was in the homes where the murders were committed?” Ava asked.

“They could have used hunter’s concealment. They would know that cougars would get involved in a cougar’s murder,” Bridget said. “Unless—”

“The murderer wasn’t a cougar,” Ava said.

“But all the women murdered were cougars. How would a human have known—” Chet frowned. “Maybe he gained the women’s confidence and one of them spilled the beans, then he learned who all else was in her circle of cougar friends.”

“Then what do these men have to do with anything?” Ava asked.

“The rumor has gone around that these men might have been one of the ones who committed the murders,” Chet said.

“But one of the women wasn’t a cougar. She had dated Luke and she was human,” Bridget reminded them.

“Do we have a connection between the women?” Travis asked.

“They’re cougars from a small town. They knew each other. They were friends. They were all about the same age—mid-twenties to thirties. Different hair colors though. Blond, brunette, redheaded,” Chet said.

“It doesn’t have to do with hair color like in some serial killers’ cases, but that they are all connected as cougars and friends, or maybe just friends,” Bridget said.

“Then who has started the rumors that these men are involved?” Ava asked.

“Someone who actually did the murders and wants someone else blamed for them?” Travis asked.

“We could have been sent on a wild goose chase while the killer is still in Cody,” Chet said. “Since we’re here now, we’ll check out the men’s stories to see if they had any connection to the women, or alibis for the time the murders took place.”

Ava told them about Mel coming to the bakery this morning and explained all that had happened.

“Poor Ricky,” Bridget said.

“It just seems Ricky is always in trouble in one situation or another,” Travis said. “In a way, I’m not surprised.”

“Well, Dan knows what’s going on, and I showed Mandy the video of Mel this morning so she does too,” Ava said.

“A video?” Chet asked.

“Yeah.”

“Very clever.” Chet smiled at Ava.

When the time was upon them, Ava said, “There they are.”

Chet couldn’t believe Ava would see the three men first. He smiled at her and squeezed her hand. “Okay, let’s go inside and get a table.”

They found a table near the men and ordered dessert. They remained quiet while they listened in on the conversation. It was great having cougar hearing when they needed it for a mission.

Hugo said, “I’m glad we could get away like this. With all the rumors going around about us—”

“Yeah, by you know who. It makes me wonder if Langston had something to do with it,” Joe said.

Langston? Chet wondered why no one had mentioned him to them when they were talking about who might have committed the murders. Had the men been setup to take the fall? But unless they had no alibis for the times of the murder, then maybe they had nothing to with them.

“I just can’t believe anyone would think any one of us would have committed the crimes,” Hugo said.

Which could mean they were innocent, or one of them was still guilty and was playing the game.

Chet and the others ordered pies and cakes, figuring they would be finished before the men were and could ask them some questions, but also, they wanted to know what Bridget could learn from reading the men’s minds in the interim.

“Getting any clues yet, Bridget?” Chet asked.

Bridget shook her head. “Hugo is thinking about some woman that he wishes he was with instead of the brothers, and it isn’t Nancy.”

“The guy’s a womanizer,” Travis said. “But no thoughts about the murders from any of them?”

Bridget forked up another bite of her pecan pie. “No. I would think that if they’re talking about the murders, if one of them had done it, I’m sure he would have feelings about them. His secret knowledge. It would be hard not to consider it.”

“Okay. Then we…you need to just talk to them,” Ava said.

“I’m going over there and start up a conversation.” Chet finished up his apple pie.

“Do you want any of us to come with you?” Travis asked.

“Bridget?” Chet said. “Travis, you’re backup if one of these guys bolts. Luke, you too, if that works for you.” Since Luke was here on his own, not part of the CSF, he wanted to make sure Luke was okay with the division of roles. “Ava, you just sit tight.”

Ava smiled.

He suspected she would try to block an escape attempt if one of the guys tried to leave and they thought he was the bad guy. Which he didn’t want her to do.

“Sounds good to me,” Luke said, taking another bite of his blueberry-topped cheesecake.

Then Chet and Bridget got up from the table and Chet introduced himself and Bridget to the three men. “We overheard the three of you talking about those murder cases in Cody. We wondered how much you knew about them and if you might have any clue as to who might have been involved.”

Hugo frowned at them. “Are you reporters?”

“No. CSF.” Chet showed his badge.

The men’s jaws all dropped.

“We’re looking into the cases because we believe a cougar did the killings and I’m afraid each of you have been implicated through rumors. We would love to clear you of any suspicions anyone has,” Chet said.

“Well, I can tell you right now, none of us had anything to do with the murders,” Joe said. “But we suspected it had to be a cougar also since the women were cougars.”

“We figured it might be a cougar who has been jilted by his lover,” Joe’s brother said.

“That could very well be. Tell us your whereabouts on the nights of the murders.” Chet listed the dates.

“We have to tell you we’ve talked about this before because of the rumors that we’ve heard about us. We have witnesses that can prove we’ve either been with someone at our homes or working or socializing.” Joe shook his head. “We were as horrified over the deaths as anyone who knew them.”

“Did you know the women?” Bridget asked.

“I knew some of them, but I was never involved personally with them,” Joe said. “They were cougars, and it was a small town, so naturally we would know some of them.”

“Yeah, it’s like Joe said,” his brother added. “It was awful, is awful. We even tried to come up with names of suspects who might have killed the women and who could have been spreading the rumors that it might be one of us.”

“Like who?” Chet asked.

“Langston, Benny. He is a real womanizer,” Hugo said, as if he wasn’t one also. “He has no respect for women. And he has a beef with me because a lady I had dated had left him for me.”

“One of the dead women?” Bridget asked.

“No. She’s still alive. You can talk to her and learn I’m telling the truth about it.”

“You’re dating Nancy and giving her the impression she’s the one for you, aren’t you?” Chet asked Hugo.

“Uh, yeah. You guys are good.”

“Thanks. So what about the two of you? What reason would Langston have to try and pin this on you?” Bridget asked.

“Really, Benny doesn’t need much of a reason. He just needs to get the heat off himself, if he did it,” Joe said. “Why not just start the rumors that any one of us did it? None of us have mates or girlfriends.”

“Hugo has a girlfriend.” Bridget frowned. “Nancy?”

“I haven’t been seeing her all that long,” Hugo said. “I mean, some of the killings took place before that.”

“Why would he kill a human woman? All the rest were cougars,” Chet said, playing along with what they were telling him.

“Are you sure he, or whoever did the killings, did that one too? We asked ourselves that but thought maybe it wasn’t the same person,” Joe said.

“One cougar had been in all the homes, even the human woman’s. She had been dating a bear shifter,” Chet said.

The men looked at them in disbelief.

“She’d dated some cougars too,” Hugo said. “Not me,” he hurried to add. “And I have an alibi for that murder too.”

“We all do,” Joe said.

Chet wondered about their professed alibis. So many times people had them, but their alibis were from girlfriends or family members, or set up to protect them from appearing to have committed a crime in the first place. Someone who had committed seven murders and not gotten caught yet had to be good at what he did.

Which made Chet think that Langston hadn’t even come up on the radar for them.

Chet was writing down all the dates and times and places the men had been so they could check them out.

Of course Ava, Luke, and Travis were listening in also.

“I didn’t do any of it,” Joe said.

“Neither did I,” his brother said.

Hugo shrugged. “I said the same thing. What else can we say to clear our names?”

“That’s all the questions I have for the three of you,” Chet said.

Bridget smiled. “I’m sure when your statements are proven to be correct, that will be sufficient.”

“Good,” Hugo said, but he sounded and smelled annoyed.

Not that Chet blamed him. Anyone who was being considered as a murder suspect could feel that way.

Chet and Bridget joined their companions and then they left the restaurant while the men continued to eat their dinner.

“What do you think?” Luke asked.

“I don’t know,” Bridget said. “I didn’t ‘hear’ anything that the three of them were thinking that would indicate they had done any of the murders. All I could ‘see’ was that they were considering possibilities of who might have tried to frame them by spreading the rumors. And all of them thought of Benny Langston, who also lives in Cody.”

“I say we return there tonight and locate him and question him,” Luke said.

“I agree,” Bridget said. “I think if we talk to him, we’ll learn the truth.”

“You will,” Travis said. “If he’s the one who was involved, I’m sure you’ll learn all about it.”

“She’s handy to have on the team,” Lucas said.

“She is,” Chet agreed. But he felt badly that he’d called Ava to come and join him and then not at least have the night to spend with her. He took Ava’s hand. “I’m sorry that we aren’t staying the night.”

Ava smiled. “I wish I could have helped more, but I’m so glad that we had lunch and dessert together.” She gave Chet a hug and kiss. “I hope we can see each other again soon.”

“Absolutely.” He planned on it.

Then he gave her a hug back and kissed her, not wanting to leave her, but he was glad she was so cheerful about it.

“Okay, I’m off and you catch the bad guy or guys.” Ava hugged him again. Then she got in her car, and they all waved goodbye to her and she drove off.

“Let’s go and see if we can find the new suspect on our radar,” Travis said, and they climbed into the car and returned to Cody.

“That seemed like a long drive for not catching the culprit,” Luke said, “though we might be on the right track now.”

“I sure hope so.” Chet wanted to finish the job so he could make some excuse to return to Yuma Town to see Ava.

* * *

Ava was soglad she had seen Chet, got to kiss him, hug him, and have lunch and dessert with him. And to see the others too but being with him had been like being on a date, so she was thrilled.

She really hoped they would figure out who killed the women and take care of it soon. And she hoped Chet would be able to return to Yuma Town soon too.

She finally arrived home and entered her condo, thinking about the last time Chet was here and wishing they were chasing each other up the stairs.