Jingle Bell Wolf by Terry Spear
Chapter 18
At the tavern, Silva had reserved a table for the group of women and Landon. Sam came over to bring them water and took their drink orders: brandy Alexanders for the ladies, since Gabrielle had raved about them, and a beer for Landon.
Sam raised a brow at Landon. “You sure have a lovely group of ladies to dine with tonight.”
Landon smiled and reached over and squeezed Gabrielle’s hand, telling Sam and everyone else in the tavern that Gabrielle was with him.
She leaned over and kissed his cheek and he kissed her back.
“I love this place,” Odette said. “I wish we had a tavern like this back home—for shifters only.”
“It makes it nice for us to be ourselves and not worry if any humans are about. Roast beef sandwiches for everyone?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, sounds good to me,” Zelda said, and everyone agreed.
“We’ll bring them right out.” Sam left to handle the food while Silva checked on other tables.
“We do have a jaguar hot spot—a dance club, the Clawed and Dangerous Kitty Cat Club—in Orlando, but it’s open to everyone. Of course, humans don’t realize the owners and staff are all jaguar shifters, nor that a lot of its patrons are too,” Zelda said. “But it’s really fun.”
“I’ve never heard of it. I guess we don’t have any in Colorado,” Landon said.
Gabrielle sat back in her seat. “They took me once to see it. There were no wolves there, just jaguars and a few humans. It was a real eye-opener.”
“The jaguars were fascinated with her,” Odette said.
“But she wouldn’t dance with any of them, which fascinated them all the more,” Zelda said.
Landon laughed. Gabrielle was precious. “What if I had been there and asked you to dance?”
“You would have stood a chance.”
He knew he would have convinced her to dance with him, if for no other reason than he was the only male wolf among jaguars and humans.
Silva delivered their drinks. “Food will be right up.”
Odette began telling Landon and Gabrielle more of the details about Melany’s situation. “She actually met Jim at the same jaguar club. He was so sweet and fun to be with, she said. She didn’t know he had a gambling problem. He was free with his money, buying strangers drinks. No one was a stranger to him. She couldn’t believe he would set her up to take a murder rap so he could convince the Mob, or whoever he owes money to, that he is dead. Untouchable.”
“It takes all kinds,” Landon said.
Silva served their food. “Enjoy.”
“We certainly will,” Landon said. Once Silva left, he asked Odette and Zelda, “Did they have life insurance policies for each other?”
“No. Nicole already asked us that. She said that was one reason people faked a death or were truly murdered, for the money. It would have given Melany more of a motive to end his life. Someone would…” Zelda was staring at her water glass.
“What are you thinking?” Odette asked.
“What if someone did get life insurance money for his death? Not Melany. She didn’t think he had any on himself, and she certainly wasn’t the beneficiary if he did have a policy, but what if he had a girlfriend on the side and they fixed it so she would get the money and then they would live together off the proceeds?”
“Do you have any idea who he might have been seeing?” Landon asked.
“Melany had mentioned a best friend, Belinda Montgomery. Melany said she always thought the two of them seemed more like lovers than just that Belinda was friendly toward him because he was Melany’s mate. Shared looks, catching them together in the kitchen and the living room in more intimate poses than Melany thought seemed right. But then he would be so loving toward her, and Melany would think she was just making something out of nothing. Of course, Belinda was her best friend, so Melany figured she would be in her court when she told Belinda she hadn’t killed him. She said Belinda was so upset, sure he was really dead, but Melany knew she hadn’t killed him,” Zelda said.
“Belinda didn’t believe Melany?” Gabrielle asked.
“Nope. Melany said Belinda reminded her of all the times she and her mate had fought, as if saying she had to have done it. That it didn’t look good. The whole thing was so upsetting, and Melany didn’t even have her best friend to back her. Then we were assigned to her case and we found where Melany was hiding and believed in her,” Odette said.
“We tried calling Belinda and she didn’t answer. We dropped by her house, and she wasn’t home. Maybe she was out, who knows, but we wouldn’t be surprised if she just—vanished, like Melany’s mate did,” Zelda said.
“The thing with a gambling addiction is he’ll blow through any money they have and be in the same predicament he was in with Melany. But of course if Belinda helped stage this, she deserves everything she gets,” Odette said. “Someone had to pick Jim up from the boat, if he didn’t fall overboard. He had to have an accomplice.”
“There are no family members or other friends that might have helped him out?” Gabrielle asked.
Odette drank some of her water. “A brother, but as far as we know, Jim is estranged from him, and from his parents. He kept asking for more money from them because loan sharks were going to kill him. They would loan him the money and he would spend it gambling. They finally just cut him off about two months ago.”
“Unless he had other relatives—aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents. His parents said they weren’t sure about what happened on the boat. They hoped Melany was okay. She said they never reached out to her. We sent them the video of him at the ATM. Who would be better able to identify him than his own parents or his brother? But they didn’t respond,” Zelda said.
Landon took a swig of his beer. “They’re probably too ashamed to admit he has lied to everyone once again.”
After they finished their delightful meals, they drove to the house to switch out vehicles so Nicole could drive the ladies to Doc Mitchell’s ranch house to run as shifters.
“Oh, wow, this is the giant snowman you all built?” Zelda said. “It’s fantastic. Gabrielle, you don’t start small, do you?”
Gabrielle laughed.
