Caleb looked at the six-and-a-half-foot giant of a man with broad shoulders, curly dark hair, and deceptively calm expression. “Now that I think about it, not really.” He took another drink and turned to Tom. “Can I help?”
“You’re probably the lightest of us, so you can crawl up on the roof and get the top half of this thing. We brought a ladder.”
“Can’t you just fly up there?”
“If I wanted to show my naked ass to you two when I shifted back, then sure.” He slapped Caleb’s shoulder. Fairly hard. “But since I feel like keeping my clothes on, you can do it, Chief. Make you appreciate that nice cool air a little bit more.”
Three hours and a half a Mason jar full of quarters later, the three men sat outside the Airstream in folding chairs, drinking more beer and staring at their handiwork. The new air-conditioner filled the early evening sky with a pleasant hum that filled Caleb’s ears with the promise of cool afternoons for months to come.
“Thanks, Tom. Tell Cathy thanks, too.”
“It’s no problem. Feel bad you’ve been stuck in there with it cutting out every couple hours.”
He shrugged. “I lived. And Ollie, thanks for the help, bear-man.”
“No problem… people-man.” He frowned. “That one doesn’t really roll off the tongue, does it?”
Tom said, “You could just call him a skinwalker.”
Caleb shivered. “Please don’t. I know Devin probably doesn’t know this, but that term is horrible. Skinwalkers are black magic witches that curse and maim and do all kinds of horrible things. They’re legends, of course. It’s just superstition—”
“Except when it isn’t.” Ollie nodded at him.
“Yeah… I have no idea how all this happened. My grandmother would say that all the bad shit I’ve done has finally caught up with me.”
Ollie frowned. “What? Like the thing with your cousin?”
Caleb tried not to cringe. Of course the news about Charlie would have spread all over the town within a short time.
As if reading his mind, Ollie said, “It’s not all over. Devin just told Alex and me what happened and included that part as a demonstration of his bone-headedness. Don’t worry. It’s no one’s business but yours. But is that what you’re talking about? Because I gotta say, man, that’s a hell of a thing, but it doesn’t sound like it was anything you could have helped.”
“Agreed,” Tom grunted. “And any family that’s going to hold you responsible for your cousin’s actions is… Well, I’m sure they’re grieving, but there’s no excuse for it, in my opinion.”
Caleb sat silent, stunned by the unexpected loyalty of these two men who barely knew him. “I… uh”—he cleared his throat— “it’s more than all that. It’s complicated. There’s a lot of superstitions and complicated taboos about all sorts of things where I grew up. Lots of good stuff too, but being a homicide detective violated a lot of cultural taboos from their standpoint. So even though my mom and stepdad raised me—”
“Hard to leave behind how you grew up.” Tom gave him a brisk nod. “Understood.”
“Well,” Ollie finished his beer. “I gotta get back to the bar. Caleb, thanks for the beer. You coming to Sunday dinner at Jena’s?”
“Yeah, she invited me.”
“See you there, then.” He nodded at Jena’s dad. “Tom, see you around.”
“See ya, Ollie.”
Ollie lumbered off and got into the truck with the old AC unit thrown into the bed along with all the junk and packaging from the new one.
“He has a dumpster behind the bar he can put all that stuff in,” Tom said casually. “So, you going to Jena’s on Sunday?”
He nodded, suddenly realizing that Tom might have an opinion about… things. Things having to do with his daughter. He liked the man, really did. But his interest in Jena Crowe wasn’t something he wanted to talk about with her father. Nor was it something he was going to change his mind about if he disapproved.
“Listen, Tom, I really like Jena—”
“I hoped for years that she and Ollie would get together, you know? Love that boy like he was my own. And after Lowell passed… Well, it seemed like the natural thing. They’d always been such good friends.” Tom took another drink of beer as Caleb tensed. “But that’s all they ever were. More like a big brother to her. And he’s got his heart set on something he can’t have, so that’s fairly hopeless.”
Allie. Caleb had seen it weeks ago. The man was pining for a married woman. Nothing good could ever come of that. “Well… I know they’re close, but—”
“You seem to… brighten her up,” Tom said quietly. “She’s happier when she comes back from seeing you. More irritated, too, but then I suppose I do the same to her mother at times.” He grinned for a second. “She’s a serious girl, Caleb. She’s got a lot of responsibilities and two boys who depend on her.”
“I know that. I do.”
He could feel the other man’s stare. “Be careful, Caleb Gilbert.”
“Tom, if you’re worried about their safety, I can tell you I’ll do everything in my power to make them safe. I know there’s a killer out there, and I’m not foolish enough to believe I can catch him on my own. I know Jena agreed to help me, but I will make sure she and the boys—”
“Be careful,” Tom interrupted. “With her. She’s not as tough as she looks.”
And Caleb suddenly understood they were talking about more than Jena’s safety. “I understand, sir.”
Tom nodded and stood, ambling toward the path that would lead him back to the big trailer he and Cathy shared. Suddenly, he turned. “Caleb?”
“Yeah?”
“The elders are going to want to speak with you. They’re going to have to know who you are and that you know about us.”
He nodded, trying not to let the tension show in his face. “Anything I should be worried about?”
Tom shrugged. “I don’t think so. We all have secrets. And so do you now. We respect that. It’s our water that made you change. So, that makes you one of us. Even if you’re not exactly the same. You’re still a shifter.”
A strange warmth filled him. A kind of acceptance he hadn’t felt since he was twelve years old. “So, no problem?”
“I don’t think so.” Tom smiled. “We take care of our own.” Then the old man looked toward Jena’s house. “Remember that.”
Message received, old man. Don’t mess around with Thomas Crowe’s daughter without carefully considering the consequences.
“I’ll remember.”
Two days later, he was back at work. This time, Jeremy was the one taking some time off, since Brenda hadn’t been feeling well, and they needed to get some work done on the house. Considering the young deputy had covered for him during the previous week, Caleb could hardly complain. He was sure glad the weekend was coming up. Maybe some drunks would cause problems down at The Cave. He could use the distraction.
He was paging through Ted’s notes about Alma’s remains—the real ones, not the ones she’d shown him before—when he heard the door open. He peeked around the divider to see Low walking in, looking around the empty room.
“Hey.”
The boy’s eyes found his. “Hey.”
“You looking for Jeremy? He’s home today. Brenda needed some help.”
“No.” Low looked around curiously. “I want to know about my grandma’s case.”
Caleb nodded. Part of him was tempted to call Jena and ask how much he should tell the boy. The other part remembered how he’d felt when Beth had been killed. The condescending looks from the grown-ups. The useless sympathy. The rage at the unknown. “Go ahead and sit down.” He nodded toward the chair across from his desk.
“Okay.”
“What do you want to know?” The boy froze, apparently surprised that Caleb was asking.
“Just… about how she died, I guess. And why.”
He nodded and kept his eyes locked on Low. “You realize that anything I share with you has to s
tay between us, right? If I give you details about the investigation, they absolutely must stay between the two of us. No telling your friends. Not even your brother. He’s too young.”
The boy went from stunned to awestruck in a heartbeat, and he nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Caleb looked down at the file in his hands. Too thin. He was hoping that picking the brain of all of Jena’s friends at the dinner on Sunday was going to help fill it out a little. But until then…
“I can’t tell you everything, but I can tell you that your grandmother was getting ready to go out flying with you mom that night. You knew that, right?”
Low nodded and Caleb continued. “She let someone in who attacked and killed her. Probably someone in animal form. Someone who knew she was going to be at her house. She usually watched you guys on moon nights, right?”
“Yeah, but…” The boy squirmed.
“But what?”
“I told some people.” He saw tears come to corners of Low’s eyes. “That she was going out with Mom. I’m sorry.”
Now the tears made sense. “Low, you had no way of knowing—”
“I was mad about not getting to go to my cousins’ house that night. Grandma usually took us over there and it’s always really fun.”
“You couldn’t have known. It’s not your fault.” Caleb paused as Low cleared his throat. “It might help the investigation if you remember who you told, though. Do you?”
“I was complaining at school. About them being selfish and going out flying while we had to stay home with Cousin Jeremy’s wife because she doesn’t know everyone yet and didn’t want to take us to Grandpa Max’s.” Caleb saw Low blink away more tears. “Like, everyone in my class probably heard. Lots of people. So all their moms probably know. Mrs. Marquez even told me I shouldn’t talk out of turn about my grandma.”
He didn’t have to elaborate. In a small town, everyone would have known quickly that Alma wouldn’t be following her usual pattern and taking her grandkids to the McCanns. Not a big deal… unless you were someone wanting to get rid of Alma Crowe. Caleb’s mind finally caught up with one detail Low had mentioned.
“Wait… Mrs. Marquez? The mayor’s wife?”
“Yeah. Her daughter’s in my class.”
So Mayor Matt knew that Alma would be meeting Jena. Another point against the friendly man. But then, like Low had said, the information was probably common knowledge to anyone who was listening.
“Thank you for telling me.” Caleb spoke in a steady voice, trying to reassure the upset boy. “I appreciate your honesty. What you told me is really helpful to the investigation.”
He brightened immediately. “It is?”
Caleb nodded. “Yes. And I know that you know none of this was your fault in any way. The only person to blame is the person who killed Alma.”
He sniffed. “That’s what Mom said.”
“She’s a smart woman.”
Low sat silent in his chair for a few more minutes. “You like her a lot.”
Oh, so they’d switched to that conversation. Caleb suddenly felt as uncomfortable as the boy. “Um… yeah, I do.”
Low stared out the window, avoiding his eyes. “She’s really pretty, you know?”
“I know.”
“There was a guy. He was from away, but he was one of Ollie’s cousins. He was doing repairs to the kitchen at the diner for her. Putting in some new stuff. He liked her, too.”
Oh did he now? “Oh yeah?”
“But he went away. I mean, his job got finished and he left. And I could tell Mom was kind of sad, but not really. She didn’t really like him. Not like she likes you.”
Relief flooded Caleb. He had no idea why. It wasn’t as if the guy was still around vying for her affections or anything. And that, Caleb suddenly realized, was the point. He looked at Low. “Well… I like it here. I don’t really see moving away anytime soon.”
The boy watched him carefully. “But you will someday?”
Would he? Suddenly, the weight of his answer made Caleb want to squirm. What was this boy asking? What exactly was he committing himself to? Sure, he liked Jena Crowe, maybe more than any other woman he’d met. Including his ex-wife. But he hadn’t even taken the woman on a proper date yet. He’d told her secrets that he’d kept hidden for years, then they’d never brought it up again. A few stolen kisses when she slipped away from her responsibilities wasn’t exactly enough to commit the rest of his life to. In all honesty, he had no idea whether the woman was really that interested in him or whether she just felt responsible for him since her town had turned him into shapeshifter.
And Low was still watching him. More suspicious than ever.
“No one can predict the future,” Caleb finally said. Then a thought occurred to him and he smiled ruefully. “But I guess I don’t know many other towns where I would fit in anymore. You all might be stuck with me since I’m just as weird as you are now.”
Low smiled at the joke, but it was tight and nervous. Nothing like Aaron’s open acceptance. And Caleb knew he didn’t deserve the boy’s acceptance. Low was old enough to realize something his younger brother didn’t. Sometimes, whether they wanted to or not, people left.
By the time Sunday dinner rolled around, Caleb was tight and needy. He wanted to get Jena by herself. Didn’t want to spend the whole night with a bunch of her friends and family. Didn’t want to talk about Alma’s murder, even if he knew it was what he needed to do. He’d only seen her in passing a few times since he’d been back to work. She was too busy to stop by the trailer, or she was avoiding him. Avoiding the hard edges and shadows of his life. Avoiding the inevitable souring of a relationship that had never really gotten off the ground.
“Hey!” She opened the door with a bright smile that immediately flooded him with relief. But the tension still sat in his belly.
“Hey.” He bent down to kiss her and she ducked her cheek to the side, blushing a little as a couple of kids he didn’t recognize ran through the room.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “There’s just a lot of people here and…”
He gave her a sharp nod, then ducked down to her ear. “Where’s your bedroom?”
Caleb could see the desire spark in her eyes. “Down the hall,” she murmured. “Second door on the left.”
The house was a babble of voices. Allie and Ted joking in the kitchen. Various kids screaming and laughing outside. Some male voices from the backyard. Caleb pulled Jena by the hand and led her down the hall decorated in children’s pictures and family photographs. He shoved the door to her room open and pulled her inside. The shades were already drawn to keep out the afternoon heat. The pretty, feminine room was dark and cool.
He spun around and cornered Jena, pushing her up against a wall as his mouth crashed down on hers. He angled his knee between her legs until she was straddling him, then he pulled her closer, cupping her backside as he swallowed the moan that left her throat.
“Caleb!” Her voice was a high keen. “We can’t—”
He cut her off with another kiss. He needed… he just needed. Her. Her skin. His hand crept around her neck, clutching at the warm soft skin at the nape. Her curves. His other hand grabbed a handful of her hip as he pressed his knee against the heat between her legs. Her heat.
“I want you, Jena. So much,” he groaned, pulling away from her lips for a moment when she lifted a leg, wrapping it around his waist. Her hands clutched at his shoulders, pulling him closer. She was just as frantic as he was, panting his name in soft breaths against his ear. They would fit perfectly, he thought as he kissed her neck. She was made for him. Everything about her. “You’re driving me out of my mind.”
Jena’s skin was flushed a deep red and burning up when he kissed her again. He wanted to forget about everyone else, lay her down on that soft, unexpectedly frilly, bedspread and dive into her. Until there was nothing else but him and her and push and pull and wanting and—
“Moooom!” Aaron’s voice called down the hall.
r /> Damn.
Jena pulled back, her head hitting the wall before he could catch it. He lifted a hand to sooth where it had hit, brushing her hair away from her face and kissing her temple. She took a couple of deep breaths and set both feet on the floor. He gave her a little room… not much, though. He didn’t particularly want to let her get away.
“Yeah, Bear?”
“Where’s the juice boxes?”
She rolled her eyes. “In the blue ice chest where they always are.”
“Oh.” He paused. “Why are you in your room? Uncle Alex was looking for you. And is Chief Caleb coming?”
“Not likely,” he whispered, making Jena stifle a laugh.
“We—I’ll be out in a minute. Tell Uncle Alex to put the tri-tip on, okay?”
“Okay!” He heard the little boy’s feet stomping down the hall.
“Not likely?” she whispered, trying to look severe. The smile fighting to get out killed the effect.
“Someday?” He kissed her neck. “Hopefully?” Then he gave the hollow behind her ear a little lick and whispered, “Don’t pretend you don’t want me, Jena.”
Her face burned. “Wanting? Sure. Acting?” Her face fell a little. “Entirely more complicated.”
He put both hands and her waist and spun them around so he was leaning against the wall with her standing between his legs. They were eye to eye when he spoke.
“I missed you.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s been a busy couple of days and—”
“I missed you,” he said again, pulling her face to his for a soft kiss. “Not just this. I missed seeing your face. And making you laugh. Did you miss me?”
She looked embarrassed and tried to pull away. “Caleb, I…”
“Simple question.” But an important one. Was he too strange to her now? She’d had a few days to think. Over a week for the reality of it to sink in. Maybe, like his grandmother’s people, she would find him grotesque now. Unnatural.
Jena finally looked up at him and she nodded. “I missed you, too.”
The tension that had wrapped around his heart eased a little. “Good.”