Page 26 of A Dash of Wolf

“Is there a volume setting on that cat?” Mason muttered.

“Nope,” Adeline said from the chair across from him.

She was rolling her fingertip across the ink pad without any help from him. It was clear she’d done this dozens of times. Heck, this was his second time processing her, and he’d only been at the job a few days. He didn’t know if he should applaud her bravado…or lock her up and throw away the key.

“You know, Chief,” Beulah called from her desk, “if you’d stop arresting Adeline, you wouldn’t have to listen to the cat.”

Mason chose not to dignify that with a response. He slid the fingerprint card across the desk and watched Adeline press her thumb onto it. At this rate, he’d soon be able to wallpaper his office with her prints.

He didn’t want to like her. He really didn’t. She was a walking headache...loud, stubborn, and allergic to following the law. But there was something about the way she sat in that chair, completely unbothered by the handcuffs, the ink, the holding cell, the singing cat. Something about that made him want to lean in…instead of backing away. She treated the whole thing like an inconvenience, not a crisis. Like getting arrested was just another item on her to-do list between baking brownies and saving squids.

It shouldn’t have been attractive. But it was.

The front door banged open, and her best friend and partner-in-crime, Emory Ashgrove, came flying in, curls bouncing, slightly out of breath.

“Dawnya and her daughter are still at the shops,” Emory said, skidding to a stop in front of his desk. “They’ll stay on until Adeline gets out.” She turned to Adeline. “How long do you think this time?”

“That depends on Chief Wolfe,” Adeline said, giving him a smile he had to fight not to return.

Emory looked expectantly at him, but he just ignored her because he had no idea how long he’d have to keep Adeline. Once again, it depended on whether or not Ivan would come in to press charges. Then, he’d have to get ahold of the prosecuting attorney.

“Cassie,” Emory said, turning to Officer Casswell, who was leaning against the filing cabinet with her mug of coffee. “Didn’t you tell the chief you were with us until late last night?”

Casswell nodded. “I told him we were all together at Adeline’s until well after eleven. But Ivan told us the truck was hit after midnight because he was at The Moonlight Tide until then. Says the truck was fine when he got home. Besides, I think she’s also being detained for throwing mud at the pompous troll.”

Adeline leaned forward in her chair. “I can promise you, Chief, I was tucked in bed by midnight.” She smiled at Mason, and his heart stuttered. “All alone.”

He looked away. He had to. If he held her gaze one more second, something on his face was going to give him away, and the last thing he needed was Beulah and Officer Casswell and Emory and that damn cat reading him like one of Miss Moody’s headlines.

Emory gave Adeline a hug and headed for the door. “I’ll hold down the fort. Text me when you’re free.”

No sooner had Emory left than the door opened again and Ivan Johansson stomped in, hard hat in hand, face still carrying traces of marsh mud on his left ear. Officer Dixon stepped in behind him.

“I’m pressing charges,” Ivan announced. “Assault. I want it on the record.”

“Forty-one bottles of beer on the wall!” Princess Muffin Top sang from the cell.

Ivan flinched. “And can somebody shut that cat up?”

“We’ve been trying for three years,” Beulah deadpanned.

Cassie laughed, but covered it by taking another drink of her coffee.

Mason rubbed his face and reached for his phone. “Let me call the prosecuting attorney.”

He dialed Thaddeus Hillman, the DA for Moonlight Bay. Mason had met the man briefly his first day on the job...before he’d ever heard of Adeline Beaumont. Hillman was a werewolf shifter in his mid-fifties. He’d told Mason he’d been the prosecutor for Moonlight Bay for nearly twenty-two years. He put the phone on speaker so everyone could hear.

“Thaddeus Hillman,” the DA answered.

“Thaddeus, it’s Chief Wolfe. I’ve got Ivan Johansson here wanting to press assault charges against Adeline Beaumont. She threw a handful of marsh mud at him.”

There was a long pause. And then Thaddeus Hillman laughed. Not a polite chuckle, but a huge belly laugh that filled the room. “Mud? That’s it? No magic? No hexes? Just mud?”

“Just mud,” Mason confirmed.

“Is Adeline there?”

“I’m here, Thad,” Adeline called from the chair. “How are you this morning? I’m so sorry we have to call you on a Saturday and bother you.”