“I wish I’d gotten a look at the tread on that guy’s boots,” Jason said.
“I talked with Deputy Marcs about him.” Nate faced forward, took off his gloves. “She doesn’t think it’s him. He had no four-wheeler, no rifle, no wolf that we could see. Plus, he doesn’t look like he has money. To get a four-wheeler of that size up here, he’d need a trailer and a truck to hitch it to.”
“We’re looking for someone with a bit of disposable income, not some idiot who thinks he’s Daniel Boone.” Jack turned on the truck’s windshield wipers, the snow falling harder now. “I’m going to run it all by Janet tonight.”
Nate grinned. “My father’s wife used to work for the FBI. When they first met, he threw her off the property.”
“Which neither of you will ever let me forget.”
“Is that true?” Winona had a hard time imagining someone as kind as Jack throwing anyone off his land.
“It wasn’t my finest moment.”
Janet West was much younger than her husband—probably in her mid-forties. She met them outside the garage, her daughter on her hip, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. “How did it go?”
“Hey, Lily-bean.” Jack scooped the toddler into his arms, quickly brought his wife up to date, then introduced Janet to Winona and Jason. “We’re hungry, woman. What’s cookin’?”
Janet kissed his cheek, a teasing smile on her face. “Whatever you make, of course. The salad is done, and the baked potatoes are in the oven.”
While Jack and Nate fired up a big gas grill and handled the steaks, Janet gave them a tour of the house—they hadn’t had time for one this morning—and then invited Winona and Jason to kick back in front of the fireplace in the living room. She walked with a noticeable limp, and Winona seemed to remember something about her having been shot in the line of duty.
“Can I bring either of you something to drink—beer, wine, whisky?”
Jason sank onto a long leather sofa. “Whisky. Thanks.”
Winona sat beside him. “Do you have any flavored seltzer water?”
“We sure do—raspberry, I think.”
“Perfect.”
Janet disappeared, returning quickly with their drinks.
“Thank you.” Winona glanced around, feeling strangely safe and at home here, the stress of their encounter with the creepy guy melting away.
Or maybe she was just stunned by their surroundings. She’d never seen a house like this before. She’d never known that anyone lived like this. Not only did they have a gym and a sauna, but they also had a two-story library with a fireplace. More than once, she and Jason had exchanged looks, both of them astounded.
“They call this ahouse?” Jason had whispered.
Jason took his whisky from Janet. “Thanks. I’m looking forward to one of these steaks. McBride swears they’re the best.”
Janet nodded like she’d heard that before, her lips curving in a smile. “I would have to agree with him.”
Then Emily came bounding down the stairs in jeans and a pink, sparkly sweater, a pair of fuzzy bunny ears on her blond head, Megan, Nate’s wife, back from Denver and following her daughter with little Jackson in her arms.
Emily’s face lit up. “Winona!”
Winona was surprised the child remembered her. “Hey, Emily. How was school?”
“It was okay. I like my teacher, but Ms. Walker made us do odd and even numbers again, and that’s boring. How is Shota?”
“I went to visit him a few weeks ago, and he was doing very well. I have a newborn nephew named Shota now.”
Emily’s nose wrinkled in confusion. “You named a baby after a wolf?”
Winona couldn’t help but laugh and saw that Jason was smiling, too. “Shota is a boy’s name in my language.”
The little girl’s eyes widened with understanding. “Oh.”