Yeah, right. And umpteen thousand others would be sneaking around taking his place.
“There are no apes here. Or anywhere. And no skunk apes either.” Before he’d caught sight of a Dragon, he’d been hunting Florida’s equivalent of Bigfoot.
As he reached for the camera, she let off another shot, shattering it into pieces. “Leave.”
With a stumbling gait, he took off into the dark. She tucked her pinky into her mouth and let out a series of whistles warning that Smitty was on the loose.
A second later, her phone rang. Jessup. “Was that why I just heard two shots?”
“Yeah.”
“Please tell me you killed him.”
“Not hardly.” She slid a look to Kade. “Not with a member of the Guard standing next to me. No, I don’t want to kill him, and neither do you.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Okay, you may want to but you can’t. He’s crazy, annoying, but he is a human being.”
“A crazy old coot who’s going to get us terminated,” Jessup said. “I’ll keep an eye out for him. He’ll probably come this way. Did you at least maim him a little?”
“Nope, but his camera is dead.”
“Well, that’s something.” His voice lowered. “How’s your investigation with the pretty boy going?”
“We’re onto something now, so don’t do a thing. Promise me.”
“I’m only going to hold out for so long, little sister. And if I see one of them on our property, he’s dead.”
That’s what she was afraid of, that everyone now had that attitude. Especially with her and Kade trespassing tonight. “I’m going to find the one who did it, who started all of this. And they’re going to die.” She disconnected, swallowing her own rage.
Kade was watching her, looking sultry in the shadows and colored lights. “You’re a damned good shot. Remind me not to piss you off.”
Her laugh came out husky. “Too late for that. Remember, you were an intruder too. You tasered me, fought me?—”
“You fought me. I was trying to explain why I was here, and you went all alligator wrestler on me.”
Her mouth twisted into a smile at the memory of slugging him and grinding him into the mud. “I’ve tussled with smaller gators that were a lot tougher than you.”
“Why, thank you for that.”
“Just saying.” She jabbed a finger in his direction as they walked toward her car. “And you trespassed in my shop.”
“Technically it wasn’t trespassing; the door was open.”
“Technically it was, because you weren’t invited in.”
“You’re right. I’m a trespasser, a man who would sneak up on you while you’re grieving and tase you to boot.” He stared hard into the distance. “I’m a bad, bad man, Vee.”
She thought he meant that; all trace of that playful tone was gone. The man was mercurial. He kept his gaze on everything but her as they got into her Infiniti.
“You’re not so bad,” she said. “You’re helping me investigate. That means a lot to me.”
“I need to find out what’s going on for myself.”
She liked the idea that he was here for her, probably a little too much, so it was good that he wasn’t playing the white knight role. He sank into a dark silence as she drove toward the front of the property. When she passed the main house, her ma flagged her down.
She walked over to the driver’s side as Violet opened the window, but her sharp gaze was on her passenger. “I heard shots, thought you might have run him off.”
