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“He hasn’t been at my place. I’ll head toward you on foot. The only thing between the two of us is the Hutchinson place. Maybe we’ll find him there.”
The other guys chimed in to say they hadn’t seen anything. Sounded like our best bet was meeting up at the Hutchinson’s cabin to see if there was any sign of Hades around there. They usually spent the winters in Arizona, so their place had been winterized and sealed up for at least a month by now.
As the moon rose, the temperature dropped. By the time I reached the edge of the Hutchinson’s property, my toes were frozen, even in my heavy-duty winter boots. I walked toward the cabin, keeping my eyes and ears open for any sign of Hades. There hadn’t been any vehicle traffic since the snow fell. The long drive through the woods was free from tire tracks.
Off to the side of the road, I caught a few footprints. Jackson would be coming from the other direction, so they wouldn’t have been from him. I crept through the woods, all of my senses on high alert. Rounding the cabin, something caught the light from the moon that filtered through the trees. Shards of glass covered the snow. The front picture window had been shattered.
A figure came out of the woods. Based on the size, I assumed it was Jackson, but wanted to be sure. I let out a low whistle—the one I usually used to call Hades.
“It’s me.” Jackson called out, his voice gruff. “What did you find?”
“Someone’s been here. We need to get the sheriff over here as soon as we can.” I stepped around the area where glass scattered on top of the snow. A few paw prints led away from the area, some of them stained red. “Looks like Hades might have cut his paw on the glass.”
“Hades! Come here, boy.” Jackson pulled something out of his pocket. The foil crinkled as he unwrapped it.
A dark shape moved through the woods. Hades bounded over, his tail wagging. He came up and took the piece of granola bar Jackson had broken off and held out.
“We need to get a look at that paw,” I said. “If he’s still bleeding, there’s a good chance he stepped on a piece of glass and it might still be lodged in his paw.”
Jackson nodded. “You call the sheriff, and I’ll see if Asher can head this way.”
I dialed Sheriff Cade as I walked around the perimeter of the building. He’d had his hands full with the recent break-ins. It was frustrating he hadn’t made any headway yet. I filled him in and told him we’d wait on the front porch and not do anything else to disturb the area.
As I made my way to the front, I swept my flashlight over the snow, hoping to catch some sign of who might be responsible for this latest crime. Buried in snow, halfway under the front porch, the glint of metal reflected the light. I bent down to get a closer look.
It was a knife—the kind a lot of guys who lived around the mountain carried on them all the time. I picked it up and held it in the palm of my glove. There wasn’t anything special about it. Then I flipped it over. Someone had carved two letters into the bottom of the handle—S.B. If we could figure out who S.B. was, we might be on our way to unraveling the mystery of who’d been breaking into all the cabins.
Lights flashed through the trees, and the sheriff pulled into the drive. I met him on the steps to the front porch to tell him what had happened. Asher arrived a few minutes later, and he and Jackson were able to get Hades into the back of his truck to check his paw.
All I wanted was to get back to Ainsley. She’d only been back in my life for a few days, but her happiness and safety had become my top priority the moment I set eyes on her.
“You’ll let me know if you think of anything else?” Sheriff Cade asked. He’d been grilling me about every detail since I’d arrived at the Hutchinson’s place.
“Yes, sir.” I’d told him everything, including handing over the knife. “Can I go now?”
“Be careful out there, son. We’re going to catch the perps who are responsible. Leave it to me and my team.” He disappeared inside the cabin, and I headed over to the truck to check on Hades.
“Is he all patched up?” The big wolf laid on his side, taking up half of the truck bed.
“For now.” Jackson rested his hand near the wolf’s head. “Took Asher longer than expected to dig that piece of glass out of his paw.”
I glanced over at a three-inch shard of glass covered in blood. “We’re going to find whoever’s responsible for this.”
“I’m sorry your going away party got fucked up.” Jackson gave me a grim smile.
Asher finished stitching up the gash in Hades’s paw. “I’m going to take him over to Mack’s so someone can keep an eye on him for the next few days. You want to catch a ride back to the party?”
Even though I didn’t feel like celebrating my departure any more, I nodded. “I’d appreciate it.”
“I’ll ride back here with Hades,” Jackson said. “He’s pretty out of it thanks to the meds, and I don’t want him to try to jump over the side.”
“You’re going to freeze your ass off, man.” Asher shook his head, then pulled a couple of blankets from the backseat and handed them over.
Then the two of us climbed into the cab and headed back to town. Even though we’d found Hades and Asher had patched him up, I couldn’t help but think that we hadn’t gotten the answers we wanted. Now there were new questions running through my head. Questions I wasn’t sure I’d be able to leave behind when I got on that plane with Ainsley.
CHAPTER14
AINSLEY
