Page 48 of Patrick’s Seduction

The officer smiled. “Alright, go ahead.”

With a nod, they continued down the short hallway, until they reached the door with Sheriff Berry’s name on it.

Anita knocked, and something sounding like a growl came from the other side of the door. She opened the door, and together they entered.

Behind a massive oak desk, a heavy-set man in his sixties rose to his feet, while placing the receiver of his phone onto the cradle.

“Officer Diaz-Montgomery?” he asked, his hand extended in greeting.

“Sheriff Berry, nice to make your acquaintance,” Anita said and shook his hand.

When his gaze fell on Patrick, Anita stepped aside to introduce him. “This is Patrick Woodford, a consultant with the SFPD. We’re working on this case together.”

As they exchanged greetings, Patrick quickly assessed the man. He was human, and appeared to be an open, friendly man with a pleasant demeanor.

“So, what can I help the SFPD with?” he finally asked, after Anita and Patrick sat down in the chairs in front of his desk.

“It’s about the mountain lion attacks in the past four months, where two hikers were killed in separate incidents.”

A frown line formed on the sheriff’s forehead. “Hmm. Those cases are closed. Tragic, but there wasn’t much to it. I’m surprised San Francisco is interested in them.”

Patrick cleared his throat. “Well, it looks like we’re dealing with the same kind of attack in the Presidio that left a jogger dead a few days ago.”

“Oh? Are you saying you’re dealing with mountain lions in the city? That’s unusual,” he claimed. “Golden Gate Bridge is kind of a natural border, stopping them from migrating south.” He shrugged.

“We’re aware of that,” Anita said quickly, smiling sweetly. “That’s why we’re here. We’re wondering if it’s possible that the two attacks you had here, specifically the ones where the victims’ hearts were missing, could have been perpetrated by a human.”

Instantly, Sheriff Berry became defensive, his smile wiped from his face. “You think we don’t know how to do our job here in the country? I know in the eyes of a big city cop we probably look like country bumpkins to you, but—”

“No, that’s not what we meant, Sheriff,” Anita interrupted quickly. “I worked in the sheriff’s office of Elko County in Nevada for most of my career, and I know first-hand how hard and how diligently the staff at sheriff’s departments are working. We’re not here to criticize your work but rather to ask you for help.” She cast him a gentle smile, and the sheriff’s anger seemed to dissipate. “You see, we’re stumped.”

Patrick suppressed a grin. Anita really knew how to butter up a guy with her innocent-looking smile and her gorgeous eyes. The guy didn’t stand a chance.

“Oh, I see.”

“Sheriff,” Patrick added, “we’ve been having trouble wrapping our heads around who or what could have killed the man we found in the Presidio. We’d love to close this case as fast as we can, but our boss just doesn’t buy that it was a mountain lion. I mean, only the victim’s heart was missing. Nothing else. It’s just strange.”

Sheriff Berry grunted. “Yeah, we had the same issue: two of the three victims had their heart missing too. But when forensics found animal hair in the victims’ wounds, our hands were tied, and we had to rule those cases were animal attacks. Sorry, but we couldn’t find any evidence of human involvement. Sure, it was odd that only the hearts were missing, but the bite wounds and claw wounds were definitely from an animal.”

“Hmm.” Patrick nodded slowly, getting ready for the questions he really wanted to ask, but which would have sounded out of place earlier.

“Were there no witnesses to the attacks?” Patrick asked. “I mean, my understanding is that two of the three attacks took place on land owned by the Gallagher family. Were they questioned?”

“What are you insinuating?” Sheriff Berry pinned him with his brown eyes. “The Gallaghers are upstanding citizens. Yes, they own a lot of land around here, but that doesn’t mean that they know what’s happening in the woods they own. Besides, they’ve been more than cooperative during the investigations, giving us access to their land and their security footage. That was more than we expected, particularly after the tragedy with their oldest son.”

“Tragedy?” Patrick echoed.

Sheriff Berry nodded. “Yeah, real shame what happened.”

23

It was early afternoon when Patrick entered his home accompanied by Anita. He found Fallon in the dining room, a half-empty plate in front of her. Lydia sat across from her, with only a glass of water in front of her.

“You’re back,” Fallon said, a relieved expression washing over her face. “Oh, hi Anita.”

“Hey, Fallon,” Anita replied.

Patrick pulled the chair next to Fallon out from under the table and sat down on the edge of it, his body turned toward Fallon. He took a breath, not knowing how to start. Anita remained silent, and Lydia cast them a worrying look. She knew him well, and clearly sensed that he had important news to share.