She tried not to pout as she put her jacket on.
“Oh, I forgot something,” Sean said.
“Hmm?”
He tugged her against him. “I missed you today.”
She slid her arms around his neck and settled into his embrace. “Really?”
He kissed her, letting her know just how much she was missed. When he pulled back, he grinned. “I’m really glad I’ll have you to myself tonight.”
She feigned disinterest. “You won’t.” She nodded to the kitten, curled up asleep on Sean’s sofa. “The cat sleeps on my head at night. That’s just the way it is. If three’s a crowd—”
He chuckled. “I’m looking forward to it.”
The council meeting ran long, as usual. Sean sighed, long and hard, and glanced beside him. Andrea actually looked interested in the discussion occurring about zoning and ordinances.
Sean felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out.
Megan.
He leaned over to Andi. “I’ll be right back. Let me know if I miss anything.”
Andrea narrowed her eyes, and he knew she wasn’t nearly as interested in the meeting as she looked. That brought a smile to his face, but not for long. Megan was crying when she picked up after two rings.
“What’s wrong? Have you seen something?” His first thought was that the werewolf-animal had returned.
“No. It’s the dog.” She sniffed. “His owners responded to the ad we placed in the paper and are coming to take him home. Jason is devastated. Can you come over?”
He glanced into the room set aside for city council meetings. The discussion was still going strong. “I’m covering a meeting. When will they be there?”
“They’re on their way now.”
He sighed. “All right. I’ll leave now. Don’t let them take the dog until I get there.”
Sean hated it when he had to choose between work and family, because family always won. Thank God Andi was with him. He trusted her to fill in the gaps for him. He wrote her a note and slipped back into the room. Leaning down, he handed her the piece of scribble.
She read it. Her eyes were troubled when she looked at him. “Go. I’ll be here waiting with plenty of notes when you get done.”
His nephew was practically in hysterics when Sean arrived. Jason threatened to take the dog and run away. This worried Sean on many levels. Jason had always been a sensitive kid. It had really affected him when his parents got divorced and his father had left.
Sean had considered relocating to be closer to Andrea when she left, but seeing Jason’s face now, he knew he couldn’t do it. The boy would only see it as another abandonment.
A young man and woman in their twenties stood in Megan’s living room. Jason knelt on the carpet holding Buddy, but it was clear the dog wanted to go to his real owners.
Sean pulled the man aside. “Look, I understand this dog was your pet, but obviously, my nephew has grown quite attached to him. Is there any way I could convince you to let us adopt him?” It wasn’t the right way to handle the situation, Sean knew, but he couldn’t stand seeing Jason so upset.
The man looked sympathetic. “I’m sorry, but my wife and I have had Jingles since he was a pup. We were so relieved when we saw the ad. I couldn’t imagine giving him up for anything.”
Sean tensed. “Do you have proof this is your dog?”
The man pulled out several photos of the dog with him and his wife. Sean couldn’t deny the evidence. Neither could he prove that “Jingles” had been neglected before they’d found him, so he had no choice.
Megan leaned down and tried to remove Jason’s arms from around the dog’s neck. “We have to let him go. We can go to the pound and get another dog tomorrow.”
“No!” Jason yelled and struggled. “You can’t take him!”
Sean shot a sympathetic glance at his sister as Jason stormed upstairs in a flood of tears. “I hate you,” the boy yelled. Sean walked the couple and the dog to the door. He didn’t feel comfortable leaving his sister and her children, but he had Andi to consider. She would be stranded if he didn’t pick her up.
“I’m sorry.” Megan hugged him. “I couldn’t stand the look on Jason’s face. I couldn’t handle it. I didn’t know what to do, so I called you.”
Sean squeezed her back. “I’m glad you did.” He glanced toward Jason’s room. “Keep an eye on him and call me if you need to. It doesn’t matter what time it is.”
“I’m so glad you were here to call.”
“Yeah.” Sean nodded and felt a weight settle on his chest. “Me too.”
“I’m sorry but I haven’t seen your dog,” Andrea said into her cell phone. “I will certainly let you know if I do.”
Ending the last of the calls on her list, she turned to Sean and told him the street address for the lost-dog owner. “That’s the last one.”
They’d spent the past half hour calling each of the lost and found animal ads in the classifieds to try to determine a correlation between disturbed pets and sightings of the werewolf-animal. Andrea had fine-tuned her theory last night after learning that Buddy—or rather Jingles—had gone missing not far from a recent sighting.
Sean added a new mark to their map and nodded. “I think your theory is dead-on. Look.”
Andrea moved closer and examined the map spread across the bed. Most of the new dots ran parallel to the sightings.
“The question is, did these missing animals get eaten, or did they run away because they were scared?”
“Combination of both, probably.” Sean rubbed his eyes. “I called Charlie, and he’s picked up a number of strays the past three weeks in these areas I marked with orange. That matches the sightings too.”
Andrea tapped an area not far from that spot. “And this is where they’re building the new subdivision, right?”
“That’s right.”
Those missing pets, just like the werewolf creature, were probably displaced and looking for a new habitat because an unfamiliar predator had been scouting their territory. It made sense.
Andrea glanced at Sean. He sat up in bed, studying the map spread across their laps. His disheveled head and muscular bare chest were the only parts of him visible above the sheets, and Andi relished the view. She sat beside him, naked herself except for the discarded shirt she’d plucked off his floor an hour ago.
She wanted to concentrate on her story, but her mind kept wandering back to the night before. Not to their lovemaking or to Sean’s delectable body, but his change in attitude.
He was distant, different. Even the sex had felt different. Sean had held back, and she knew it. Andrea sensed he was trying to put some distance between them, and she didn’t know why. She wanted to ask, but her old insecurities kept her mouth shut.
You don’t want to scare him off by seeming clingy.
She hoped he was only preoccupied by what had happened to Buddy last night, but she didn’t think that was all.
“Have you talked to your boss lately?” Sean asked unexpectedly. “Your blog must be doing pretty well if they featured it on TV.”
She told him about its supposed popularity. “In fact, I was offered a promotion yesterday. It’s in Los Angeles.” She held her breath, waiting for his reaction.
He showed no emotion. “Are you going to take it?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
She waited for him to ask her to stay in Woodbine. She didn’t know if she would—it would require more discussion than they could afford right now—but with the right persuasion, she might warm to the idea.
Sean took a deep breath. “You deserve it. Do you have a deadline for when you’re leaving us?”
Disappointment settled in her chest, but instead of dwelling on it, Andrea forced a smile. “My crowning piece will run in the Halloween issue, so I’ll probably only be in your hair for another week. I have to have my final story turned in Friday.”
Less than a week away.
Sean said nothing. There was an awkward moment of silence.
“Well,” she said, shuffling her paperwork aside, “at least I have a topic for my blog tonight, but all of this is still just circumstantial.” She made a sound of frustration. “I wish Jared Novotny would call me back. He’s the experienced researcher in this field. Surely he could make sense of this better than we can.”
“Did you send him an email?”
“At least a dozen.” She nodded. “You’d think he’d be interested in some of the information I sent him. Maybe I’ll try again.” Andrea dialed the cryptozoologist’s cell phone and got his voice mail. She left a brief message. “Did I sound desperate?” she asked Sean.
“Little bit.”
Sean smiled, so she seized a chance to bridge the distance between them. She pushed the map aside and straddled his waist. He slid his fingers along her bare thighs and beneath the shirt she wore.
He’s not pushing me away. That’s a good sign.
“Sean, is something wrong? You seem…distracted.”
He blinked in surprise. “Nothing’s wrong.” He shrugged. “I’m a little worried about my nephew, but that’s nothing new.”
Relieved to hear she wasn’t the reason, Andrea relaxed.
“In that case,” she said, letting her fingers do some walking of their own, “maybe I can give you one of my famous magical massages to relieve some stress before we dive into work today.”
“It’s Saturday.” He sat up to nibble at her neck. “We don’t have to work if we don’t want to.”
Her lips tugged upward. “We have been working very hard.” She roamed her fingertips over his abs. “Very, very hard.” She shifted her hands lower.
He groaned and rolled her beneath him, promising to show her how hard he could get. He was in the process of doing exactly that his cell phone rang.
“Sean!” Andi gasped, feeling torn between the wicked things he was doing to her body and telling him to answer the phone. Sean lifted his head, finally catching on. He scrambled for the device and just managed to answer before the call rolled to his voicemail. Andrea could tell something was wrong.
His naked shoulders tensed, he pushed the covers out of his way and he climbed out of bed. “When?” He stepped into a pair of jeans. “Call the sheriff’s department right now. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Andrea slid out of bed and reached for her own clothes. She pulled on her jeans and felt something lumpy in the hip pocket. She reached in a hand and felt the latest cigarette lighter she’d confiscated from Reed. Stupid kid hadn’t given up the habit yet. Soon she would have quite the collection of these things.
When Sean snapped his phone shut, she asked, “What happened?”
“Jason’s missing. Megan thinks he ran away.”
“Oh, no.”
Fully dressed, Sean reached for his keys. Andrea was tugging her socks on her feet when she realized he wasn’t waiting for her. “Give me a second. I’m almost ready.”
“I don’t have time to wait.” He seemed angry. “This is my problem, not yours. I don’t expect you to leave your story in limbo while I deal with a family matter. I’ll call you later.”
What the hell?
Andrea watched him disappear from sight while she struggled to finish dressing. By the time she had her boots on and made it out the door after him, he’d left. She saw his taillights in the distance.
You bastard,
Sean told himself.
He sat next to his sister, who was trying to find a recent picture of Jason to put on a
Missing
flyer and remembered the look on Andi’s face when he’d left her. His gut churned, so he rose to his feet. Pacing was better.
He loved Andrea Lockhart. He wanted her to stay in Woodbine. But…he knew she never would.
Both realizations had hit him full-force last night, along with the nagging feeling he’d been neglecting Jason and Kelly since Andrea had arrived. Obviously Andi didn’t feel the same way he did. How could she if she still intended to leave once she got her story? Los Angeles was a hell of a lot farther than Florida.
You should have asked her what her intentions were, jackass. Rule one in reporting: never assume anything.
What a mess.
Sean ran a hand over his face and rubbed his tired eyes. “You’ve called everyone you can think of? What about Tommy’s mother? Did you call her?”
Megan’s eyes were red, but at least she wasn’t crying anymore. “Of course I did. I called everyone.”
Sean was grateful the sheriff had sent out an alert that Jason was missing rather than waiting the standard twenty-four hours like they did on TV and in movies. Apparently the situation was different when the missing person was a child; at least in Woodbine, it was.
He pulled out his phone and started to dial Andi’s number. He owed her an apology.
There was a knock on the door, and Megan answered. Reed walked inside with Andi beside him. Sean snapped his phone shut.
“I came to see if I could help,” Andi told Megan.
“Me too,” Reed said.
Megan hugged them both. “Thank you for coming, Reed. Sean said you would make up some flyers for us?”
Reed nodded. “I brought my laptop and some paper. If I can use your scanner and printer, it’ll just take a few minutes.”
The teenager followed Megan to the room that housed her computer equipment. Sean glanced at Andi.
“I’m sorry I left like I did,” he said. “I should have waited.”
Her face gave nothing away. “Don’t worry about it.” She shrugged and moved closer. “What’s happening?”
Megan had found Jason missing when she went to wake him that morning. Some of his clothes and a duffel bag had gone, along with forty dollars from her wallet.
“Did he leave a note?”
“No.” Sean grimaced, remembering the look on his nephew’s face when he’d stormed off yesterday. He never should have left his sister and her kids last night. If he had stayed and tried to talk to the boy…“Jason was pretty upset about the dog. I should have known he’d do something like this.”
“Has he run away before?”
“Never. He’s threatened to plenty of times, but he’s never done it.”
Until now.
Andi moved to a window and glanced out the curtain. “We have to find him. That thing is out there.” She glanced at him again. “I’m sorry to sound like a harbinger of danger, but it’s a thought we have to face. What if Jason runs into the werewolf?”
Sean didn’t want to think about it.
“I know that’s the point of your story, but I really would like to forget all about
freakin’
werewolves right now, okay?” His tone was harsh, but he couldn’t help it. His nerves were on edge.
“I’m just trying to help.”
“Well, I don’t need that kind of help.” He swore beneath his breath a second later. He didn’t mean to sound so hostile. “Andi, I’m—”
“No. It’s fine. I understand you’re upset about Jason.” She held up a hand. Her eyes glazed over with hurt before darkening with a veiled emotion so fast, Sean almost didn’t notice. She straightened and moved toward the door. “I don’t want to get in the way here. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
Why, why, why had Sean filled her head and heart with hope? The screen door slammed behind Andrea. He had started to follow, but Meg had intercepted him with a call for him from the sheriff. Fine with her. She saw Trey pull up in his patrol car.
“Where are you headed in such a hurry?” he asked.
“To book a flight out of here.”
“You’re leaving now?” He seemed shocked. “I’m hopeful we’ll find the kid too, but until we do—”
“It’s not my concern,” she snapped, regretting it a second later. She stopped and ran a weary hand over her eyes. “I don’t mean that. Of course I’m concerned. My concern just isn’t appreciated.”
Trey touched her elbow in support. “Want to talk about it?”
“No.” She looked at the cop and noted the genuine worry in his eyes. “Why are you here? Did you hear something about Jason?”
He nodded. “Afraid not.” He glanced around. “Is Megan inside?”
“Yes, she’s with Sean.” Andrea crossed her arms. “Do you think you can find him before dark?”
“I hope so. The sheriff is organizing teams of volunteers to search the woods now.” He glanced back toward the house. “I came to get a picture of Jason and see if Megan could tell us anything new. What about you? Got any ideas where he’d go?”
She shook her head. “Sorry. I don’t know him well enough.”
Or his uncle either.
Trey chucked her under the chin. “Everything will be fine, Andrea. Keep the faith.”
Andrea couldn’t help but smile. “Did they tell you what happened with the dog? I don’t know if Jason knows how to get in touch with those people, but he might have gone to them to try and get the dog back.”
Trey nodded. “Sean already mentioned it. There’s been no sign of him there.”
Andrea felt the phone in her pocket vibrate. Seeing Jared Novotny’s phone number on the caller ID, she excused herself to answer.
The researcher apologized for not contacting her sooner, but he’d been busy making arrangements to leave his current project, he said.
“I just wanted to let you know my assistant and I will be arriving in Woodbine in a few hours,” Novotny told her without preamble, including his flight information.
“Woodbine? Why?”
“Because,” he said, and she finally recognized the excitement in his voice, “I got the results back on that fur, Miss Lockhart. With almost ninety-nine percent certainty, that fur did not come from any living animal classified under known science.”
Andrea blinked and jerked her head to look at Trey. “What did you say?”
“I
said
, we have some pretty convincing proof that you have a cryptid in your midst,” he repeated. By the time she’d ended her call, Andrea felt more dazed than she had before. She truly was on to a once-in-a-lifetime story here. She started to return to the house and share the news with Sean, but she stopped herself.
He has other things on his mind right now.
She would tell him when they both weren’t so emotional.
Andrea headed toward her rental, waving to Trey. “I’ve got to go. Do me a favor, will you, and call me later so I know how the search is going for Jason. I might swing by and join one of those search parties if you’re not having any luck.”
Maybe I can’t do much to find Sean’s nephew, but at least I can try to find the werewolf before it finds Sean’s nephew.
Andrea just hoped it wasn’t too late.