“I should probably…” He glanced down at himself, a sheepish smile playing at his lips.
“Go shower?” I quipped, doing nothing to hold back my grin.
“That would be wise.” He pressed one more kiss to my forehead before stepping back. “Save me some coffee?”
“Always.”
As he disappeared into the bathroom, I leaned against the wall for a moment longer, trying to reconcile the guarded, isolated, always ready to run woman I’d been for the past two years with the one who’d just climaxed in a hallway while wrapped around her orc sheriff.
I liked the second woman a lot better, even if she scared me half to death.
Breakfast had a dreamy,honeymoon quality to it, with lingering touches and heated glances over coffee mugs. I made eggs while Dungar prepared toast, each slice buttered precisely to the edges, the jam spread in an even layer that stopped exactly a quarter-inch from the crust.
“What’s the plan for today?” I asked, sliding his plate in front of him.
He took a careful bite before answering. “We need to interview anyone who might have seen something around the wild luminooks, plus those who might’ve come near the in-town pens. Establish a timeline. Identify potential suspects.”
“Starting with staff?”
“And anyone who took tours or pottery classes in the last week. The pens are visible from the walking path behind the Pottery Barn.”
I nodded, appreciating his methodical approach. It was exactly how I would’ve handled a financial fraud investigation, establishing patterns, identifyinganomalies, building a case piece by piece until the full picture emerged.
“Do you think this is related to me?” The question had been weighing on me since we discovered the missing luminooks.
Dungar’s expression turned thoughtful. “It’s possible, but not certain. The timing is suspicious, but luminooks have value on their own. As we said, their bioluminescent properties could be worth millions to the right pharmaceutical or tech company.”
“But if it is because of me…” I pushed a bit of eggs around my plate, my appetite gone. “If Blainsworth’s people found me?—”
“Then we deal with it.” His hand covered mine, engulfing it completely.
The certainty in his voice made me want to believe him. But I’d seen what Edgar Blainsworth was capable of, the lives he’d destroyed without a second thought. His sons were cut from the same cloth, with the added motivation of family vengeance.
“Eat,” Dungar said gently. “We’ll need our strength.”
I managed a few more bites, watching as he cleaned his plate, each bite the same size as the last.
After breakfast, we rode Treelee into town, the sorhox’s gait smooth beneath us. I’d grown to love these rides, with Dungar’s solid warmth at my back and his arm secure around my waist. The mountain air filled my lungs, crisp and clean, carrying the scent of pine and wild grass.
Main Street was quiet when we arrived, the touristattractions not yet open for the day. We headed straight for the jail, where Dungar unlocked the door, checking the lock three times before moving inside.
I started searching the web for anything related to luminooks while he called his contacts for updates and organized everything else.
“I’ve compiled all our evidence so far,” he said a bit later, pointing to a folder containing photos of the footprints, the damaged fence sections, and the discarded components we’d found in the clearing. Each image had been labeled, dated, and arranged in chronological order.
I leaned over his shoulder, studying the pictures. “The boot prints are consistent throughout. I’d guess about a size ten men’s hiking boot, Vibram sole pattern. High-end but common.” I looked up at him. “Do we think the two incidents are related?”
“They could be, but we’ll investigate them separately to make sure we don’t miss anything.”
“In town, our suspect used wire cutters on the fence.” He pointed to a close-up of that section, and I could see he was right. “Clean, minimal distortion. And look here. They were sealed back with specialized crimping that wouldn’t be obvious to casual inspection.”
“They wanted to be able to return without creating new damage.” I frowned, thinking. “If the two are connected, that suggests an ongoing operation, not a one-time theft.”
He nodded grimly. “My thoughts exactly.”
For the next hour, we combed through security footage from the cameras positioned around town. Nonecovered the luminook pens directly, a security oversight Dungar was already planning to correct, but several captured the access paths leading to that area.
“There.” I paused a frame that showed a figure in dark clothing walking toward the back of the property. “Tuesday, 2:17 PM.”
