“World Cargo had its insurance people in here a little while ago,” the officer continued. “I heard them say the suspects who got away made it out with something like fifty of those platinum medallions. That’s a pretty big haul, right?”
Becker headed into the warehouse, leaving Cooper to deal with the overeager patrolman. Guarding an inactive crime scene had to be boring as hell, and any other time, he would have chatted with the guy, but right now, he had some urgent crap to take care of.
He headed straight for the crate where he’d told the female werewolf to hide but stopped midstride when he picked up her scent by a big trash can. He dug through papers and cardboard until he came up with her lightweight tactical vest and black sweater. Smart girl. She’d dumped them so she wouldn’t look suspicious. He checked them for anything he could use to track her, but the stuff was clean.
He could have followed her scent out of the warehouse, but he knew that wouldn’t lead anywhere but a dead end wherever she’d gotten into a vehicle. No werewolf’s nose was good enough to follow her beyond that.
He continued on to the crate and was just climbing inside to look around when Cooper showed up.
“What are you looking for?” his friend asked. “I’m pretty sure she didn’t leave her phone number in there for you.”
“Probably not,” Becker agreed. “I’m hoping I can find something that might give me a clue about who she is.”
Cooper rested his forearm on the edge of the crate. “You know, this would have been a lot easier if you’d remembered to get her name.”
“Yeah, well, I was a little distracted at the time.”
Becker hunkered down in the tight confines of the box, envisioning the beautiful female werewolf doing the same thing as he breathed in her incredible scent. Despite the perfume permeating the wood, he could still smell her.
“So what was it?” Cooper asked as Becker rummaged through the packing material in the bottom of the crate.
Becker glanced up at his friend. “What do you mean?”
“What was it about her that got to you? Was it her face? Her scent? The way she talked?”
Becker stopped what he was doing to lean back and consider the question. “I’m not sure,” he finally admitted. “I’ve been asking myself the same thing all day and still haven’t come up with the answer.”
He let his butt slide down until he was sitting in the same cramped space where the female werewolf had sat, except she’d done it with the lid closed and cops wandering around just outside the thin wooden walls. The thought of her being trapped and scared in here suddenly made him want to growl and tear into something—violently. He resisted the urge and instead forced himself to take a deep breath and focus on the question Cooper had asked.
“She was beautiful,” he finally said. “You know when people say someone has the face of an angel? Well, that was her. It completely took my breath away. She smelled amazing too. Like a cherry lollipop. And her voice…her voice was soft and just a little bit husky. She was so perfect, I swore my heart was about to explode.” He shook his head. “It was more than all that though. I can’t explain it, but something inside me knew she was special. Something told me I could spend the rest of my life looking and never find another woman like this one.”
Cooper lifted a brow. “Wow, that’s pretty…epic.”
Becker chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it is. Of course, now I have to find her, or I’ll be the werewolf known for losing the woman who might just beThe One.”
He was about to hop out of the crate when a little slip of paper different in color than the rest of the packing material caught his eye. He picked it up to get a better look.
It was a partial receipt from a Starbucks for a cinnamon dolce latte with a time stamp from three days ago just before noon. Unfortunately, the part with the credit card information was missing. There wasn’t even a store number or address. He had no idea which Starbucks the latte had been purchased at or the name of the person who had bought it, but he didn’t need any of that.
“What’s that?” Cooper asked, leaning in for a look.
Becker held up the tiny scrap of paper so his friend could see it. “This is the clue that’s going to help me find a certain female werewolf.”
Cooper frowned. “How do you even know it’s hers?”
Becker held the piece of paper under Cooper’s nose. “Of course it’s hers. Smell it.”
Cooper sniffed, then shrugged. “If you say so. I’ll agree that might be a werewolf’s scent on there, maybe even female, but that doesn’t mean it’s hers. She could have sat on it or something. That receipt could lead you to Mario the plumber.”
Becker vaulted out of the crate with a laugh. “I don’t know why you even bother sniffing anything. Your nose hasn’t been right since you were trapped down in that tunnel full of homemade explosives a few months ago. Trust me, this thing smells like cherry lollipops. It’s hers.”
“Okay, let’s assume you’re right and that piece of paper belonged to your mystery werewolf girl,” Cooper said as they headed for the exit. “There’s nothing on it. How’s it going to help you find her?”
“That’s the easy part,” Becker told him as they walked out of the warehouse. He nodded at the poor patrolman still standing at the gate. “All I have to do is get on a computer and start violating about a hundred state and federal laws. I should have an answer by tomorrow.”
“I probably don’t want to know exactly what you’re planning on doing,” Cooper said. “That way, I can’t be forced to testify against you when the NSA swoops in and arrests your ass.”
“Probably a good idea,” Becker agreed as he climbed on his bike and cranked it into rumbling life.
