They’d spent the last few hours driving all over the city, digging into dozens of useless tips that had come in to the hotline.
She fell into step beside Xander as he led the way up the cracked concrete walkway to the house. While it was in desperate need of repainting, there was nothing obviously suspicious.
“You two check out the back,” Xander said. “I’ll keep an eye on the front.”
She checked the back of the house with Alex, but didn’t see anything that made her werewolf senses tingle. When they came back to the front, Khaki walked onto the porch with Xander while Alex waited on the concrete walkway.
A harried woman with bleached blond hair answered their knock, opening the screen door just enough to slip her head out and give them a wary look.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
Xander did the talking while Khaki kept her senses alert. Xander was asking if the woman had seen any strange men in the neighborhood when Khaki picked up a scent she recognized. It took her a few moments to run through her mental database and pull up where she’d smelled it before.
Then it hit her—on the sidewalk that day during the bank robbery on Jackson Street.
She concentrated, trying to narrow it down even further. The scent was from the suspect she’d thrown against the wall.
Khaki threw Alex a quick look and flashed a two-fingered alert sign, then turned back to the woman in the doorway.
“Ma’am, is there someone else in the house with you?” she asked.
Khaki didn’t know if the man was there or whether the scent was lingering on something he’d touched, but the question made the woman go pale.
“N-no. I’m alone,” she said. “Look, I’m really busy. Could you come back later?”
Xander must have picked up on Khaki’s concern because he put a hand on the door as the woman moved to close it. “Ma’am, are you in danger?” he asked softly. “Is there someone else in the house with you?”
Tears pooled in the woman’s eyes and rolled down her cheeks even as she shook her head. “No. I’m fine. Really. Please just go.”
Xander exchanged a look with Khaki, his hand coming up to rest on the butt of his holstered weapon. Khaki did the same.
“Ma’am, do you mind if my partners and I look inside?” he asked.
The woman shook her head, mumbling over and over that she couldn’t come out. Xander took the woman’s hand, gently urging her to come out onto the porch.
“You can’t go in there,” the woman hissed. “I’ll get in so much trouble if you go in there.”
Xander moved the woman to the side of the porch, then nodded to Khaki. She pulled her sidearm as she entered the house, Alex at her heels. The man’s scent was much stronger, but a quick sniff confirmed he was gone.
Alex lowered his weapon at the same time she did, letting Xander know the house was clear before following her as she moved through each room, tracking the scent. His wasn’t the only one lingering there. Khaki picked up the scent of the second bank robber in one of the bedrooms. From there it wasn’t too hard to follow her nose to a pile of black duffel bags shoved in the back of the closet.
She unzipped the bag to reveal money—lots and lots of money. Alex was calling it in before Khaki even headed out to tell Xander what they’d found.
Xander was sitting on the bottom step of the porch, the woman sobbing against his shoulder. He looked up at Khaki.
“Anything?”
She nodded, dropping down to one knee in front of the woman. “Ma’am, we found some duffel bags filled with money in the bedroom closet.”
The woman lifted her head from Xander’s shoulder to look at her with red-rimmed eyes, but didn’t say anything. The fear reflected there spoke volumes.
“You know who put those bags in the closet, don’t you?” Khaki asked gently.
The woman nodded.
“Where are the men now, Shelly?” Xander asked.
Shelly shook her head. “I don’t know.”
