“Yeah, no, I can miss that. Golden showers aren’t my thing, if you see what I’m sayin’.” Delight lifted her feet high in her Lucite platform shoes as we wended our way through the woods.

  Up ahead I spotted Tadger’s K-9 unit—the K-9 unit that has the auto air-conditioning to protect the dogs—parked just on the other side of the tree line. Over to the right, I could just make out the blue barn—a landmark in this area.

  Yup, I was going to go give Farrah a piece of my mind. And when Tadger came up for air, I’d give him a piece of my mind, too.

  Across the thin blue line, the police policed themselves. Did Tadger think I wouldn’t tell Dick and Connor, and, say, every other officer who came through the doors of my cop bar that he’d dognapped Twinkles to play shifter? I mean if he thought I’d let him get away with this just because we’ve been friends, he has another thing coming to him.

  I popped the door open and rubbed Twinkles behind the ears.

  He looked perfectly content. And why wouldn’t he? He’d been with people who knew, people who had fed him yummy things.

  But I was ticked!

  I grabbed Tadger’s notebook and wrote a note:

  Hey Alpha doggy,

  You dognapped my Twinkles. That’s uncool. Seriously. There is hell to pay.

  “He’s okay?” Rex asked.

  “He’s perfectly fine. I’m the one who’s hurt by this.”

  Rex looked down at the notebook. “Let’s get him home. What does the app say about the van?”

  “It’s a mile and a half up the road. That’s a good thirty-minute walk.”

  Rex and I both looked down at Delight’s Lucite platforms. She’d never complain, but they had to be hurting her.

  “I’d take his car,” I said. “But I’d rather he be the only bad guy in this scenario. And I’d rather not go to jail for stealing a cop car.”

  “How about I jog up and get the car and meet you back here in a little bit?” Rex asked. “The air conditioning’s on, you all can sit in Tadger’s car. I’ll be back soon.”

  “I’m sorry about all this. The dead body, and the shifter in the woods saga…”

  “Are you kidding me? I expected this and worse.” Rex dropped a kiss on my lips. “You have that reputation.”

  “Worse?”

  “You haven’t given mouth to mouth to any farm animals, yet.”

  “Yet?”

  He grinned as he took off at a jog.

  “Mmm mmm mmm,” Delight said. “That is one fine specimen of a man.”

  I couldn’t say that I disagreed.

  Just as Rex rounded out of sight, Twinkles’ nose went up in the air. He was sniffing hard. I wonder if Tadger had left bacon in the car.

  Twinkles hackles raised and a deep growl swelled from his chest.

  My skin prickled over with fear.

  Before I could call Rex back, Twinkles leaped past me out of the car.

  He wasn’t wearing a lead for me to grab. I saw it there on the seat. Snatching it up, I took off running after him. I knew Kay would follow right behind. I hoped Delight had the wherewithal to hang tight at the car and call Rex.

  I swiveled my head. Nope, she didn’t have the wherewithal to hang with the car, but darn, that woman could run in her heels. I mean, she was right there alongside Kay and me. Huh. Maybe I needed to get to the gym more often. Maybe it wasn’t so much that Delight was speedy as it was that Kay and I might be getting slower.

  With that, I pushed my bellybutton, my childhood speed accelerating button, and poured on the power.

  I only slowed when I came across Twinkles sniffing around the back of the blue barn.

  I walked up to him as if nothing were going on, holding the lead down by my side where he wouldn’t see it.

  Normally, Twinkles put up with the lead because he knew it was part of the Jamesburg law. If he didn’t have it on, I could get in trouble, and he could get a ticket to doggy jail.

  His tolerance wasn’t big outside of city limits.

  I was all the way up to him, bending down, when I heard a ding. “That’s the boss. The detective’s here. Dick—perfect name to put on the DVD. His car just pulled up.”

  “Short sticks stink. Dan and Rob got the better gig filming Luna and Tadger.”

  “Self-preservation, my man. We either stop the investigation, or we go to jail. I’d say cut town, but Farrah just set me up with this wicked little minx.”

  “From ShifterCon?”

  “Different fantasy. I’m not giving you any more information. Personal information can be used in nefarious ways, as we’ve been learning.”

  “You have fun at ShifterCon?”

  “I followed those three around the whole time. They are a walking catastrophe, especially the one done up like a pink lion. The kitty cat was cute. I would have appreciated getting a cat bath from her. But the stamp didn’t work while they were there.”

  Three? Catastrophe? Stamp? I called my home number and held out my phone to put this on my voice mail.

  “Yeah, the film from the bar isn’t going to be helpful. The cat girl just looked like she was on a date with Dick and had one too many. Besides, the one we needed to be affected was the BJ girl.”

  BJ? Girl?

  “It would have been helpful. Do you have that boom ready? Farrah’s in my ear saying she’s getting them settled in. Flip on the still camera.”

  I scowled over at Kay.

  Kay stared wide-eyed back to me.

  Delight lay on her back in the shade, fanning her face.

  “She’s using the stamp pad again. Farrah poured the rest of the bad batch onto it for those girls. Why she thinks that BJ has control over what the police do and do not investigate, I have no idea.”

  “I think it was more an idea of being able to plant false evidence and stay in the loop on the licker investigations. That camera’s not in focus. Hand me the computer.”

  “The stamp didn’t work on the girls, though. Not very well, anyway. How is it going to work now?”

  “Not my department. Ha! Look at this. Dan is sending me over some Tadger and Luna footage. That girl is wacked out of her mind. I almost feel sorry for this guy. He has no idea what’s coming up the pike his way. Farrah’s gonna be a picnic compared to Luna.”

  “Let me see.”

  “Luna’s gonna make that guy’s life miserable. She’s bat shit crazy and really truly believes that Tadger shifts to become Twinkles. Want to hear something even crazier? She thinks that Kay girl—the one dressed up like the kitten at ShifterCon—actually shifts to become a cat.”

  21

  Friday, Twilight

  My mind whirled at a reckless speed as I processed through the situation.

  The Dick they mentioned must be my friend Dick. There are no other Detectives named Dick on the force and no other Richard’s either. Very few people besides me and Kay called Richard Dick.

  But I introduced Farrah and Dick, so she knew him by that name.

  I introduced them.

  I was responsible for getting him mixed up in this.

  I had to do something to get everyone out of here safely.

  Dick liked Farrah—more than I had seen him like a woman in a very long time. He would trust her.

  Trusting her put him in danger.

  I had heard two male voices. But they’d mentioned two others. And there could be others around here that had nefarious schemes that I didn’t know about yet.

  Good dog, Twinkles. I rubbed his ears.

  I’d get him a reward burger when we got home. And I’d figure out a different way to get the excess weight off him, rather than give him green beans. Green beans obviously put him in danger’s way. Getting dognapped and what have you.

  I’d figure it out later. Once we were all safe and sound.

  But right now, my focus was on getting Dick out of here. Whatever they had planned had something to do with getting him drugged with a hallucinogen.

  I wasn’t going to let that happen.

  Running into the fray wasn’t the way to handle it. I grew up in a world filled with first responders. The mantra is you can’t help the victim if you become a victim, too.

  This might take some time to process through, but obviously there was a scheme afoot, and it included getting some control over Tadger, Dick, and me.

  I was the one who was supposed to be hospitalized not Kay.

  Guilt slid up my spine.

  But wait, they thought that all three of us would have a reaction.

  They said stamp.

  Kay and I were holding eye contact and mind-melding. I knew that we were on the same page when she leaned forward and whispered, “I had a tequila shot and licked where the stamp was when I was getting my dose of salt.”

  I stilled and thought that through.

  When we arrived at the ShifterCon, the ticket taker seemed to recognize us. We had a special pad from under the shelf to get our entry stamp. That seemed to work in my mind. But the formula hadn’t been absorbed the way they anticipated. Kay had ingested it when she licked it off her hand.

  What was it?

  The men had said it was a bad batch.

  I texted Kay so we wouldn’t be overheard: We need help.

  Kay: No kidding. Tadger and Dick, though. Should we call the police? This might affect their job. Poor judgment and all.

  Me: My dad?

  Me: Not my dad. He’d have to file a report and we’re already scheduled for a talking to at Sunday dinner.

  Kay: Tadger isn’t drugged, right?

  Me: You think he’d answer his phone right now? What about his uncle? He and The Pack are supposed to be meeting at Tadger’s house for their ride.

  Of course, there was Rex, but I had no idea if these guys had weapons. We needed cops. Okay, Virginia cops.

  Kay nodded at me.

  I pulled up my contacts, scrolled to Remus and typed: EMERGENCY! Text me immediately.

  Kay smacked me as they started talking again.

  I put my ear to the barn wall.

  “Here they come. Farrah looks nice.”

  “Make sure the camera doesn’t catch her face. Try to get her waist down.”

  “Yup here’s Dick. Good luck, buddy.”

  “How’s the sound?”

  I wrapped my hand on Twinkles’s collar.

  Twinkles looked back at me, and I put my finger to my lips. I dialed my home phone, again, to tape.

  I had missed something while I moved around because the voice was saying, “Hard to tell. Too bad the mining princess lost her mind and hit him with her car. We almost got two birds with one stone.”

  “She can’t rat on us. She’s dead.”

  “You think the cops aren’t following up on that? Think of the pressures from her family.”

  “They won’t find anything. They can’t trace it. Just settle yourself down. We’ll get the tape of this guy, and that’ll give us peace of mind. We’ll have to edit. Farrah just bent into the frame.”

  “I’m not a moron.”

  “She’s feeding him strawberries. How romantic.” He chuckled. “I’m afraid to open my mouth around Farrah. I don’t want to get that into my system and have some crazy video made of me.”

  “They didn’t have to give it to Tadger. He’s just out in the woods howling at the moon of his own volition.”

  Kay and I looked at each other and wrinkled our noses.

  Kay waggled her finger at me, and we crouch walked around the side of the barn.

  Delight was still resting in the shade.

  Twinkles was doing his best GI Doggy impression, low crawling on his belly.

  There was Farrrah, dressed like the farmer’s daughter, sitting on a circle of strewn hay.

  I’d played farmer’s daughter once, and a roll in the hay definitely wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It was scratchy and itchy in all the wrong places. Just sayin’.

  Dick was dressed in a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, a straw cowboy hat on his head. He pulled the hat off and fanned his face, then reached for the bottom of his t-shirt and pulled it off.

  “Time to go, girls,” Kay said. “Let’s leave the man to his privacy.”

  I grabbed at her arm. “That’s what you did before you started licking Dick’s head. She got the drug into him already.”

  “I don’t like you,” Dick said, his face turning red.

  “What?” Farrah pushed back a little.

  “You’re up to something.” His nostrils flared.

  “What’s going on Dick?” She looked toward the barn.

  “I think you’re hurting people.” He jumped up.

  Okay, it was just a split second that my eye wandered over his body and took in his tight hips and how nice those jeans fit, and the chiseled abs, then I was lucid again.

  Dick lifted his hands to the sides of his head, sticking out his fingers. His foot pawing at the ground.

  Farrah jumped up. “Oh no!”

  Dick bent in two and started toward Farrah looking like a bull in the ring.

  “Help!” Farrah screamed as she ran to get the bell post between her and the raging Dick.

  “Help me!” Farrah yelled toward the barn. “I’m not acting. I need help!” She picked up her red skirt and shook it at Dick. “Shoo! ¡Olé! Git!”

  Dick was pawing at the ground, kicking up dirt.

  Twinkles was panting with excitement.

  Kay and I stood there, bug-eyed.

  Kay leaned in. “He got half-naked, but he’s not licking her.”

  “He doesn’t seem to be feeling what you did after you were drugged. He looks angry.”

  “You mean hangry. It’s all the alfalfa she’s been feeding him. That’s what happens when you keep a man from touching his meat.”

  Suddenly, Dick dashed forward.

  Farrah took off toward the woods. “Help!” she screamed.

  Three men came sprinting out of the barn chasing Dick.

  Okay, so not two. I wondered how many more men would show up.

  Kay, Twinkles, and I chased behind them. I spotted an ink pad next to a dish of strawberries and slowed long enough to scoop it up and slide it into my back pocket.

  I quick dialed Remus. Gasped out the situation. Remus assured me he was right behind us. He’d be there. I was supposed to try to keep an eye on Dick. We didn’t want another Sarah Elizabeth situation.

  Sarah Elizabeth died.

  Shit.

  Agh! Kay grabbed me as my foot went in a hole.

  I was following the red splash of fabric that made Farrah easy to spot. She was pretty fast, running barefoot through the woods. Dick was slower, running bent over, with his make-believe horns up and what looked like a big nosedive in his normal coordination.

  But he wasn’t letting up.

  22

  Friday, Twilight Zone

  In the distance, a howl went up into the night.

  Twinkles stopped long enough to give a response bark.

  That must have been Tadger. If we could hear him, he could hear us.

  As if choreographed Kay, Twinkles, and I pivoted and ran toward the howl.

  “Tadger, Tadger,” we screamed one after the other, waving our arms in hopes he’d see us from the tree line. “Help!” That came from us.

  But right after, “Help!” that came from Farrah. Dick was almost up to her now.

  Tadger burst into sight, completely naked, and still in a state of happy.

  Wood in the woods seemed a dangerous combination. But he’d know how to sort that.

  Two men with cameras popped out from behind the bush, their heads on a swivel as they tried to understand the situation.

  Behind Tadger, more men rushed forward.

  We were surrounded! Overrun by bad guys! But as this new swarm came closer, in the dim light, I could see it was The Pack with Remus in the lead.

  Errrrch!

  Farrah and her five guys pivoted on the spot and headed back toward the blue barn.

  We gave chase.

  “Stop right there, police!” Remus called out as The Pack circled down to surround them.

  Farrah was hard to conceal even in the waning light with her bright colored skirt. She thought she was being slick climbing up on the tractor, over to the farm equipment, and sliding into the chute.

  Delight must have been hiding behind the side of the barn, because as soon as Farrah slipped out of sight, Delight raced forward and hit a switch.

  Shriek. Buzz. Thump.

  I had no idea what kind of machine that was or what it would do to Farrah.

  What had Delight done?

  Kay and I ran her way only swiveling at the sound of an engine racing. Into the fray came the lime green queen van with the blinking pink lighting.

  “What have you done?” I screamed over the noise to Delight.

  “I’m catching me a bad guy, if you know what I’m sayin’.”

  A scream and a whoomph sounded at the other end, and I sidestepped down to watch Farrah shoot out the end, trapped in the center of a tightly roped hay bale.

  I reached over to high-five Delight.

  “I grew up in Denial, Texas. A girl learns how to make bale.”

  Tadger was walking out of the tree line. He had his jeans on now. He had a hand on Dick’s shoulder as they came forward.

  Dick was walking upright. Mostly coordinated.

  A siren sounded in the distance, telling me someone had called the paramedics in and probably back up.

  The bad guys were on their knees in a ring of five men, their fingers laced and resting on their heads.

  We watched as Luna made a bee-line across the field toward Tadger.

  Remus grabbed her by the wrist.

  “Hey, hey, hey,” Tadger yelled. “Has Luna broken any laws?”

  “She’s mixed up in this somehow. We need to take her to the station while we figure this out.”

  Luna looked up at Tadger with reverence. “Tadger?”

  “Don’t worry,” he growled. “You’re mine.”

  “Who wants to talk?” Remus asked.

  The one who I recognized to have held the boom mic raised his hands. “It was all her fault.” He pointed at Farrah.

  Farrah was still in her bale with Delight sitting on her like she was a bench, fixing her Lucite platform shoe.