You Had Me at Cougar by Terry Spear

Chapter 19

Chet dropped by his mother’s house to tell her the news, figuring she would choose to move to Yuma Town now and he wanted her there. But he also needed her to meet Ava soon too.

“Hey, Mom, I have good news.”

She smiled at him. “You’re mating Ava.”

“I sure am. How did you know?”

“Every time we talk, you’ve been elusive about mentioning her, but you couldn’t wait to see her again. I don’t have to be a mind reader to know she meant something special to you. Did you want to have dinner with me? I made beef brisket, potatoes, and carrots in the slow roaster.”

“Yeah, sure. That would be great.”

“When are you moving?”

He came into the kitchen with his mother and helped her dish up the food. “As soon as I can load up the car. Leyton said he’d help, but I told him I wouldn’t need it.”

“They’re a great team there.”

“They are.”

“I knew you would be joining them soon, even if you hadn’t found Ava to be your mate.” His mother smiled at him. “I’m so happy for you.” She gave him a hug and then they sat down to enjoy their meal. “So tell me about the case. I hear you solved it, though there will be no headlines telling of how well you did in the hunt of this man because it’s all being kept secret.”

“That’s for sure.” Chet explained how they caught the culprit.

“Oh, I hate cases like that where you have to drive all over the place to learn that you needed to be where you were in the first place. Good job to you and the others. And Ava, wow. We could have used her and Bridget on the team when I was a special agent with the force or when I was in charge of the operation.”

“I know. They can be a real help on a case.” Not that Chet planned to use Ava for that purpose, though if she had any premonition about something that could aid them, he would be eager to learn of it.

“So now, what do I do?”

“You join us out there. You can get a place and be close by.” Chet would help his mother with all the arrangements, though he knew she was perfectly capable of doing it on her own.

“Okay, I’ll certainly do that.”

“I’ll help you with any arrangements that need to be made, moving, selling the place—”

His mom smiled. “I can manage, but if you want to help, sure. I definitely won’t turn you down. But you better be sure you’re moving there for good.”

He smiled. “This is for good. Just like with you and Dad.”

“Okay, I just wanted to make sure. I know when you make up your mind to do something, you do it, but this is a big decision.”

“Yeah, it is. I love her.”

“Good. I can’t wait to meet her. Do you want me to help you with your packing?”

“Yeah, sure, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. Once you return to Yuma Town, you’ll be a mated cougar. So I would love to spend more time with you before that happens. Though it’s about time you got mated and I’ll be glad for it.”

He figured his mother would be.

After dinner, he helped her clean up the dishes, and then he took her to his place, and she began helping him pack. He was glad she was here to assist. He always enjoyed spending time with her.

“Then the kids will come,” his mother said. “And I’ll be there for them too.”

“Yeah, you’ll be a great grandmother.”

* * *

Two days later,Chet had packed up everything and his mother was coming with him. Ava was glad she had asked Chet’s mother to come and see her. Even though they planned to mate when Chet reached Ava’s place, she wanted his mother to know she had a place with them too. And his mother wanted to look for a home while she was here.

Travis and Bridget said Wendy, Chet’s mom, could stay in the safehouse as long as she wanted, and the whole family of CSF special agents intended to wine and dine her, which Ava was looking forward to. Though Ava had thought they might mate before the big barbecue the CSF family was having for them.

When they arrived in town, the whole CSF bunch, Jack, Leyton, Travis and Bridget, and Leyton’s wife, Kate, and Jack’s wife, Dottie, were there to help celebrate Chet and his mother moving into the area.

“And a mating between cougars,” Bridget said, giving Ava a hug.

Everyone agreed.

“I guess we’re celebrating the capture of the serial murderer in Cody also,” Wendy said.

* * *

“About that,”Bridget said, sounding so serious, Chet got the distinct notion that they had the wrong man. How was that even possible? What had changed Bridget’s mind since he’d left to return to Wyoming? “I’m having serious doubts that Langston killed the women,” Bridget continued.

“Hell, why?” Chet asked as they all sat down to eat ribs, corn on the cob, and potato salad and drink margaritas.

“He’s not talking about anything, but when I read his mind, he knows too many details about the murders not to have been involved in them somehow. But he’s also not seeing them as in he committed the murders. I mean, think about it. If you, well, let’s say fish all the time. And I asked you about fishing, you would tell me some general details, but while you’re telling me about them, you’re thinking of fishing. Of catching certain kinds of fish. You’re not going to tell me every miniscule detail, but you’re thinking about some of them.”

“So you think someone told him about the murders. The murderer himself,” Chet said.

“I think so. Langston could still be an accessory to the murders,” Bridget said.

“What if we ask him questions that would encourage him to think of who told him about the murders?” Leyton asked.

“Sounds good to me,” Chet said.

“But Benny had pictures of the women at his place,” Kate said.

“What if he doesn’t live alone?” Ava said. “Maybe whoever lived with him took the photos of the women.”

“That could work,” Bridget said. “I imagine he would think of the murderer when we questioned him about that.”

“The woman at the home where we apprehended Langston said he took the photo of her at the bar where he works,” Travis said. “We saw that all of them were taken at that bar.”

“Maybe his identical twin brother did it,” Ava said.

“Twin brother?” Chet asked. “We hadn’t found anyone like that.”

“They would smell the same unless they use different soaps and deodorants, etcetera. As to how I knew about it, I thought you had mentioned it to me. His name is Marty and he’s furious that we have Benny incarcerated in Yuma Town.” Ava pointed her barbecued rib at Chet. “He’s going to be coming for his brother.”

“You saw this in a vision?” Chet asked.

“I guess. I just thought you had mentioned him to me. I must have dreamed it—well, had a vision when I was half asleep this morning. I’d…forgotten about it…until now.”

“When is he coming?” Leyton asked. “We need to be prepared for it.”

“I would think right away. Though he’ll have to get a scope of the situation before he can break his brother out,” Ava said.

“Is he coming alone?” Jack asked.

“Now that I don’t know.” Ava buttered her corn.

“But Benny is a womanizer,” Bridget said. “Which was why we thought he could fit the murderer’s profile—easily puts the women under his spell. If he’s not the one, what’s the real murderer’s issue?”

“He doesn’t like women,” Wendy said.

Everyone agreed that could be the case.

“If Benny isn’t the killer, but Marty is, then the murderer is still out there on the loose, and women are still at risk. We need to get him now,” Jack said.

“Well, you don’t have to return to Cody. Marty’s on his way here,” Ava said. “I’m sure of it. And if he’s the murderer, you’ll have him in custody soon.”

“You saw that in the vision?” Chet asked, hopeful.

Ava shook her head. “I just know you can do it.”

“You ought to hire her,” Wendy said.

Ava smiled. “My visions come and go. Sometimes I think they’re just dreams. They’re not all that reliable.”

“You’ve given us so much to go on already, I would say they’re pretty reliable,” Chet said.

“One other thing, Chet,” Bridget said, “we were at the jailhouse talking about that case you were on where you took those three cougars down because of the murders they had committed, and Benny knew who they were. Benny was glad he hadn’t been with them when you took them down. He hadn’t known what had happened to them though. To his way of thinking, they had just vanished into thin air.”

“Courtesy of our cleanup crews.” Chet dished up some more ribs. “But it sounds to me that he was involved in those murders.”

“Well, he did have the thought that if he’d been there, you wouldn’t have gotten the upper hand with the men. Of course, he never spoke a word about it. He was just thinking about it—the whole situation running through his thoughts. And yeah, he thought of killing one of the men they had murdered. That’s why he needs to remain in jail too. But it’s also why I didn’t think he’d murdered the women. He doesn’t have a clear picture of the women’s murders. He had witnessed the murders in the earlier case you had but he hadn’t taken part in them until they made him, or they would have killed him. They needed him to be just as guilty as they were, or he might have told on them. But he hadn’t done any of the other murders and so it really made me question whether he was our real suspect in the women’s case.”

Ava squeezed Chet’s hand and he suspected she was telling him she wanted to be with him tonight and she didn’t want him to go to the jailhouse and interrogate Langston, but it was his job. He wanted to be with Ava more, but he had to learn something further about Benny’s involvement in the murders in the other case he’d dealt with earlier. And he had to know more about Benny’s twin brother. He did consider that Benny wasn’t going anywhere, but with the issue of his twin coming to rescue him, he felt he had to talk to him tonight.

Chet felt disquieted though. Here he thought he’d wrapped up the earlier case in one neat little bow when instead one of the men involved—Benny—had gotten clean away. Chet just hoped Ava would continue to see visions of Marty to assist them. Benny was probably protecting his brother, if Marty had killed the women.

Ava leaned over and kissed Chet’s cheek. “You have to go and question Benny. No problem. I’ll see you at the condo later. I would do anything for you because I love you.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I feel the same way about you.”

Ava smiled. “Yeah, it’s your job and I know you have to learn about his involvement in the other case too. I’ll be working at the bakery early in the morning, but I get off at three and we can have brunch at ten. You and your mom and me.”

“That sounds good. I promise this won’t take too long.”

Ava shook her head. “You take as long as necessary. You have to find closure and you need to learn what you can about Marty before he gets here.”

“Thanks, honey.” Chet had to know that she would be a partner in this because he never knew how long it would take to finish a mission or where one might send him.

They continued to eat and enjoy their visit with one another, though Leyton called Dan with an update about the trouble they might have with Marty coming for his brother.

“Okay, Dan’s putting extra guards on the prisoner,” Leyton said when they ended the call. “If we need to, the CSF agents can help with guard duty. In the meantime, the whole force will be on the lookout for Benny’s twin brother.”

That’s what Chet loved about their team. They were always ready to help the regular law enforcement with criminal cases affecting the townspeople and do their own missions too.

By the time they finished eating and visiting, Jack took Wendy to the safehouse to stay. Ava and Chet kissed each other, and she gave him a spare key to the condo. Then he rode with Bridget and Travis to the jailhouse.

* * *

Ava wantedto go with Chet, but she knew this was his job and he had to do it without her and not have her always be there with him. If it hadn’t been ten at night already, she would have had Wendy come over to the condo and visit, but she figured she would be off to bed. Ava didn’t want to go to bed when she wanted to make love to Chet.

But this was past her bedtime because she had to go into the bakery so early. She dropped her purse on the kitchen island, pulled out her phone, and plugged it into her charger. She headed upstairs to the bedroom, stripped off her clothes, and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. While she was washing up, she was trying to think of any more details concerning Marty and his brother that would help her learn when Marty would arrive and where they might catch him so they could interrogate him next.

She finished washing up and grabbed a bath towel. She was just drying off when she heard the front door open downstairs. Chet?

She couldn’t believe he would get here this quickly. She was certain he would still be questioning Benny. Unless he got the information out of him that he needed right away, or he was just too eager to see her, or everyone goaded him into leaving and joining his mate.

She didn’t have a gun and her cell phone was downstairs where she’d left it on the kitchen counter charging, so there was no way to get ahold of anyone if someone had broken into her house. She could think of only one way to get out of the bind she was in. She shifted into her cougar and took off down the stairs. She hoped she was wrong, but when she saw a man walking into her kitchen, the light on in there still and smelled his cougar scent, she tore off through the cougar door. It didn’t take long for him to follow her as a cougar. And she recognized him from the vision she’d had during the Independence Day celebration.

She ran toward Rainbow Falls, but she knew he would be able to follow her scent wherever she went, and she suspected the cougar was Marty and he was coming after her to take her hostage as a bargaining chip to force Dan to release his brother.

No way was he going to use her to release Benny, when he had murdered someone himself. Benny might have had to be convinced to do it, but he had still been one of the gang. Coercion or no, he killed for them, to be accepted by them.

But Marty, he was a different brand of murderer.

She ran her heart out and hoped she would reach the river ahead of Marty so he would lose her scent once she was swimming in the water. If she’d been a wolf, she would have howled to the pack, to gather them together, to get assistance so she could help them capture the bastard.

But on her own as a female cougar against a male, she didn’t stand a chance.