“Yeah, I agree. But they could have been corresponding all this time through text messages, phone calls, and chats.”

  “Can you check with the phone company and see if you could get printed phone records if we can’t get into his computer?”

  “The CSF agents might be able to. I wouldn’t be able to because I would need police authorization.”

  “Okay, well, that’s something else they can look into. But hopefully, one of them can hack into your uncle’s computer and you’ll find all kinds of information you were looking for. I’m kind of surprised he would take his phone and not his laptop, even though you think he might have left it to not arouse suspicions about his death.”

  If Mr. Merriweather was alive and well and he wasn’t totally committed to a she-cat in Florida, or anywhere else, what about enticing him to visit Yuma Town? That’s what Jessie was beginning to think about. They had single cougars: Florence Fitzgerald and Mae Sorenson, affectionately known as the cat lady, both who were widowed, and a couple of others Jessie knew of. Jack’s wife, Dottie’s widowed Aunt Emily Hamilton, for one. Florence would probably put him to work in the bakery. If he were to get to know Mae, he would have to like cats for sure. Aunt Emily doted on her great nieces and nephews, so he would have to like kids. Jessie didn’t think that would be difficult because when kids arrived at the resort, he often would go out and make snowmen or build snow forts and play with them.

  He would have a whole family of cougars to make friends with. And if Jessie and Emerson ever really hooked up, when they visited her family in the area of Yuma Town, they would be able to get together with Emerson’s uncle and his mate.

  She made the proposition to Emerson and he smiled that kind of smile that said he was ready to take her to bed because she was saying all the right things that told him she was thinking of making this a more permanent relationship between him and her—forget his uncle and whoever he might get interested in!

  “I’m just saying,” she said.

  “I know what you’re saying. You want to keep my uncle close to your family so when we visit, we can see them too.”

  She smiled. “I’m saying that he might find a mate for himself and make someone else just as happy and he’d have the backing of a whole lot of cougars if he lived in Yuma Town.” She planned to go back to writing, but she couldn’t quit thinking about finding a phone number for Robbie. One call might solve everything for them.

  She wanted to give Mr. Merriweather hell for scaring both her and Emerson, but she also wanted him to join her and her family for Christmas. Everyone would make him feel welcome and hopefully, he would make a connection with one of the single ladies.

  “Besides, if he is in Witness Protection and needs to cloak his identity, Yuma Town is the perfect place for it. We have so many cougars who are with various law enforcement agencies, he would be safe.” She continued to do searches, trying to find a phone number for Robbie, then figured the CSF agents could probably get one from their connections or databases. But they were still driving here.

  She thought of the next best thing. Florence Fitzgerald. Ex-CIA, Wonder Woman in the flesh. When Jessie called her, Flo’s phone went to messages, but her messages were full and Jessie couldn’t leave one for her. Darn it! Flo had to be busy at the bakery and wasn’t able to answer her phone.

  Chapter 11

  Before sunset and the CSF guys arrived, Emerson grabbed a lantern and Jessie had her camera slung over her shoulder. They headed across the snow-covered parking lot and down the wooden steps that turned into stone steps as they made their way down the cliff to the rocks. He hadn’t remembered doing this since he was a kid in the summer and skipping rocks on the lake water.

  She took him over to see the standing stones that she had set up on the shore, but her mouth was agape.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “There are two more here, two more on top of mine. No one comes to your shore except your guests and you don’t have any, well, except for me. There’s no way to get down here except by using your stairs, and then down to the rocky shore, the water reaches the cliffs and no one can go either way.”

  “The bears?” Emerson asked, surprised.

  “Well, when I stayed here before, there were always other guests. The cabins were always full and people would mess with my stone creations. But whoever did this was creative, not just knocking them over and spoiling things for me.”

  “And bear paw prints are here in the snow,” he said, peering down at tracks left around the area and then headed up the steep embankment.

  “More bear fur was caught on a branch here, and then they climbed up through the trees.” She took pictures of the bear paw prints and the fur. “It’s the same fur as the type we found earlier.”

  Emerson rubbed his whiskered chin. “They would have smelled your scent down here and though you were wearing gloves, your scent was the only one down here.”

  “They knew I would return and find this like this?” Jessie asked.

  “There was a good chance of it. They might have even watched you stacking the rocks and taking pictures of the sunset earlier.”

  “And then came down to do this after I left?”

  “Possibly.”

  She frowned as she picked up an even smaller smooth stone and set it on top to make it eight stones. “It’s almost as if they’re trying to tell me they’re not my enemy.”

  Emerson lightly patted his injured head, though it was feeling better now. “They might be okay with you, but I still don’t think they like me.”

  She smiled. “They just need to get to know you.”

  “Like you do?”

  “I’m working on it.”

  “I can sure help you out there.” He sat down on a boulder and she sat next to him and took some pictures of the sunset. “It’s beautiful.”

  “It is. More so because I get to share it with you. I never thought I would be sitting around enjoying a sunset over the lake on a winter’s day at Whispering Pines Resort.” He’d never really paid attention to sunsets. The sun set and he was on a mission in the dark—that was the importance of the setting sun.

  “Not something that you were interested in doing on your missions, I take it.”

  “Right, and as a kid, it just wasn’t that important. We used to come down here and roast hot dogs and marshmallows over a firepit. That was the fun of it. Or the sun would go down at Halloween time and we could trick-or-treat.”

  She smiled. “So what were you?”

  “For Halloween? A vampire.” He shrugged. “Batman one year. I look good in black.”

  “I bet you look great in other colors too.”

  “What were you at Halloween?” he asked, unable to guess what she might have been.

  “A black kitty cat, one year, princesses, most years.”

  “Looking for a prince?”

  “Heaven’s no.”

  He laughed.

  “So have you ever stacked rocks on the shore?”

  He smiled and put his arm around Jessie’s shoulders. “I might have to start doing that now that you’ve shown me how it’s done.”

  She chuckled and motioned to the rocks. “The next one is yours.”

  “That’s the hard one.”

  She laughed.

  “All right.” He wouldn’t be outdone and picked a bigger rock than she had and set it on top.

  She smiled and took a picture. “That’s great! Come on, let’s get back up to the house and warm up a bit before the guys get here.”

  “Yeah, let’s go.” He chased her across the snow-covered boulders and up the stairs, ready to catch her if she slipped. But she was as agile as if she were wearing her cougar coat and she was soon up to the top. He was right behind her.

  He figured if they went to the lighthouse as cougars and ran down the steps, she might just have beat him! When they arrived at the house, they warmed up inside by the fire and she turned on the Christmas tree lights. She took off her Mukluks and parka, hat, and scarf and left the living room while he hung all his outer wear in the coat closet.

  “Cocoa?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I would love some since we didn’t have s’mores down on the shore.” She returned to the living room wearing a pair of booted slippers, then sat down on the couch and opened up her laptop.

  “Next sunset.”

  “I’m keeping you at your word.”

  “We’ll do it.” But the guys would be there by then. He supposed he would have to invite them all, though he liked the intimacy of sharing the time on the shore during the sunset alone with her.

  He made up the hot cocoa, added mini marshmallows, and brought it over to her.

  “Thanks so much. I’m going to just work on the story for a bit. Did you want to watch something with me while we’re waiting for the others to get in?”

  “Yeah, sure. There’s a comedy, western, or thriller we could watch.”

  “Christmas comedy.”

  “Okay.” He put it on and sat next to her on the couch. If his uncle had the notion that he and Jessie should be together, Emerson could sure see the merit in it. He envisioned being with her during the spring and summer and fall too. And seeing more of the sights here with her. He just wondered if she would miss her family too much, or if her family would miss her too much. But this was sure nice.

  She soon closed up her laptop and snuggled with him to watch the movie, the fire going in the fireplace, the Christmas lights on the tree twinkling.

  “Did you finish what you needed to?” He was surprised she wanted to snuggle and not continue to work on the book.

  “No, I just wanted to enjoy watching the movie with you.”

  “Well, this has really been a pleasant change in what I thought would happen before Christmas.” He put his arm over her shoulder.

  “I sure didn’t expect to be dating someone new for the Christmas holidays either.”

  “We’re dating,” he said. Hot damn!

  “We sure are. You didn’t think it would happen? You ought to have known better.”

  He chuckled darkly. “I thought you only dated rogues.”

  “I’m willing to give you a chance. Who knows? Maybe the last bad guy finally did the trick and broke me of my bad habit of going out with rogues.”

  He sighed and squeezed her shoulders lightly. “Well, I’m not all that good.” He had always just done a job and thought he was doing right, but if she’d been in his life before he would have seriously reconsidered the kind of work he had done.

  “That’s probably why I’m so fascinated with you.”

  He was glad for that at least and that she hadn’t been turned off by the kind of job he’d done.

  After enjoying the movie with Jessie that night, Emerson headed into the kitchen to make beef stroganoff for dinner for everyone before the CSF agents arrived.

  “What can I do to help?” Jessie asked.

  “You can work on your story, if you would like.” He wanted to prove to her that he could handle everything else so she could write.

  She watched him bring out the steak, mushrooms, and onions. “Hmm, I think this meal will go in the story. I’ve never made it before, but you know what they say. Write about what you know. What do you need me to do?”

  Later, while the dinner was simmering and ready to eat, two vehicles drove up into the parking area next to the house and both Jessie and Emerson went to check to see who had arrived, assuming it was the guys from CSF, but they had to make sure.

  Both vehicles were black SUVs and Jessie verified that they were the men they were expecting. Emerson went out to greet them while Jessie hurried to remove her booted slippers and throw on her Mukluks and parka.

  “Leyton Hill,” Leyton said, offering his hand and Emerson shook it. “And you must be Emerson.”

  “I am. Welcome and thanks for coming.” Emerson was sure that the men would like to wrap this up and be home for the holidays with their own families.

  Jessie hurried outside and smiled at everyone.

  “This is Jack Barrington”—Emerson shook his hand as Leyton introduced him—"who works for me in Yuma Town, and—”

  “I’m Chet Kensington. I had worked with Leyton out of Cheyenne, Wyoming, before he kidnapped Dr. Kate Parker. Though I had been partners with Travis MacKay and Bridget Sinclair also.” Chet shook Emerson’s hand. “Leyton mated Kate. Then somehow, after all that, he managed to talk our boss, Chuck Warner, into allowing Leyton to open an office in Yuma Town and head the unit out there, taking Travis and Bridget with him.”

  Emerson smiled. Leyton sounded just like him. He liked the guys already and couldn’t wait to hear that story. He motioned to cabin five, formerly Jessie’s cabin. “That’s your cabin over there. You’re welcome to any of them though since they’re all vacant. But that cabin has a cougar door in case you want to run as cougars. Why don’t you come in to eat before I help you unload your gear?” He was thinking that if her family came up here, he would have to install cougar doors in the other cabins also.

  “Yeah, sure, that would be great.” Leyton locked his SUV’s doors and Chet locked his.

  Leyton was definitely the one in charge of this mission, even if he wasn’t Chet’s boss, though Emerson could tell Chet was getting a kick out of it and wasn’t miffed.

  The three men all gave Jessie warm hugs, and instantly, Emerson wondered if either of the other two guys were mated. She had to stay with someone while she was writing, but he wanted to make sure the agent staying with her didn’t have any designs on her. He realized the rabbit hole he was quickly falling into.

  Inside, he served up plates of beef stroganoff, while Jessie made everyone spiked eggnog.

  They all took seats at the dining table and Leyton said, “Okay, tell us everything that’s happened so far—even if you have told me already—for Chet and Jack’s benefit.”

  Emerson was impressed that the agents were ready to work on the case tonight and not wait until tomorrow after they had rested up. He explained everything that Jessie had already told Leyton. He knew they would be considering all the angles like he and Jessie had been doing. With three more investigative minds on this, hopefully they would figure out what was going on pretty quickly.

  “So why would they break into the shed?” Leyton asked Emerson.

  “I have no idea. My uncle wouldn’t have kept anything of value in there. Well, tools, but nothing anyone would want to break into the shed for and steal. It didn’t make any sense that they would break into Jessie’s place either. Why not the main house?”

  “Did they steal anything from your place, Jessie?” Leyton asked.

  “No. But I might have startled them before they could grab anything. Though as bears, once they left the cabin and shifted, I don’t know how they would have managed to carry anything much. We did have another thought. It’s probably too farfetched, but what if Mr. Merriweather had faked his death to get Emerson to return here and take over the cabins? So he could retire. He didn’t know Emerson was already planning to leave his position. The other possibility, just as far out, is that maybe he wanted Emerson to meet me—a single she-cat.”

  The agents all looked at Emerson, as if they thought he had planned all this! He hadn’t even been thinking of dating cougars when he learned his uncle had passed away and he arrived here.

  Leyton smiled at Jack. “We were actually discussing that on the way up here when you told me Paul Merriweather’s body wasn’t in the coffin.”

  She sighed. “Good. I thought you would think it was too farfetched.”

  “We try to keep an open mind in any case we’re involved in. We need to speak with the doctor and find those bears,” Leyton said.

  “Had your uncle ever mentioned friends he might have in the area that we can talk to?” Chet asked.

  “He was friends with everyone. And his guests returned year after year because they liked it so much here,” Emerson said. “Come to think of it, he always kept a little black address book of addresses and phone numbers. I couldn’t find it anywhere. I was going to let his friends know of his demise if any of them didn’t know about it. It should have been in his upper righthand desk drawer. I was trying to hack into my uncle’s computer to check on his emails to see if they would give us any clues about anything, but I couldn’t.”

  “We might be able to help you with that. You said the two men showed their faces to you as if they had nothing to worry about when they asked you about seeing Jessie, but they were wearing hunter concealment,” Leyton confirmed.

  “Yeah. It doesn’t make any sense. If they’re going to break into the places, why show their faces at all,” Emerson said.

  “What if it was just a ruse?” Jessie asked. “I was staying at my own cabin until the electricity went out and you took me to your home because you had a generator. The men/bears attack you, only enough to make me worried about you, but not enough to kill you. I mean, why not break into the main house? Breaking into the shed and cabin didn’t make any sense to me.”

  “But the electricity had returned?” Chet asked.

  “Yes, sometime during the night and I was planning to move back to the cabin the next day. Though I kept wondering why they hadn’t broken into my place while Emerson and I were visiting the Split Rock Lighthouse during the day. Why wait until I return to the cabin to get eggnog for us to drink while we’re decorating the tree and then hit the cabin? Speaking of which, would you guys like a refill on your eggnog?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Jack said, the others agreeing.

  She refilled each of their glasses.

  “Maybe the men’s visit to your cabin ensured you would stay with Emerson that night.” Leyton raised a brow at Emerson. “Are you sure this isn’t any of your doing?”

  Emerson smiled, but he didn’t answer him right away, then finally said, “Well, I wouldn’t have ever thought my uncle was capable of such a ruse, but maybe so. Would the bears have been friends of his? Or just hired to do the job? My uncle never mentioned knowing any bear shifters.”

  “You weren’t in touch with your uncle that often, from what I understand,” Leyton said.