BirthStone by Sydney Addae Page B

become distracted by all the body odors in the
office.
    For a moment, he gazed at the folder. His
instructions from La Patron had been clear. “Close the case.” It no
longer mattered if La Patron was involved in the disappearance of
Merriweather or not. If his Alpha meted out judgment, then Jennings
would uphold that decree. His job now was to protect his Alpha and
his pack. A surge of affirmation from his wolf ran through him. He
and his beast were one on this issue. The question now before him
was how to follow his instructions without raising a flag.
    Opening the file, he re-read his notes from
the beginning and smiled. Now that he knew Rose Bennett was bitch
to one of La Patron’s top security men, he marveled at how well
she'd handled him. She could have ripped out his throat and covered
it up easily. There might have been a few questions, but his death
would have been swept under the rug. He had been rude and
disrespectful when he'd interviewed her. Once he discovered who she
was, he'd apologized to her mate. Apology had been accepted and he
lived to work another day. But the words he had spoken to La
Patron’s bitch were not so easily glossed over. He had received a
well deserved tongue-lashing from Froggy, and La Patron had knocked
him down. Lesson learned. It was a good trade-off as far as he was
concerned.
    The folder was jam-packed with
circumstantial data, but nothing concrete connected La Patron to
the death of Merriweather. There never had been any substantial
clues, other than the ramblings of a rich man yelling for justice
for his corrupt relative. And the twisted desire of a dying
detective bent on making a name for himself.
    Jennings pulled his thoughts together and
began filling in the computerized form. Just as he reached the end,
the phone on his desk rang. As he re-read the comments he had
typed, he answered. “Jennings.”
    “Detective Jennings, delighted to hear a
competent voice on the other end of the phone. I trust your father
is better,” Alfred Merriweather said. Four weeks ago, Jennings
would have wholeheartedly agreed with the man, puffed up his
over-inflated ego even more, and pretended they were both on the
same team. Now that he knew most of the cops on the force were
wolves, he took offense at the dig and didn’t respond to the
belittling remark.
    It took Jennings a moment to remember the
cover story Froggy had given him to explain his extended absence.
“Thanks, he is doing somewhat better, but he’s not quite out of the
woods yet. My brother is there with him now.” All of that was true
except he hadn’t been in Montana with his stepfather when the man
fell and broke his hip.
    “Good, good, glad to have you back. Listen,
I know you haven’t had an opportunity to do much on the case but I
found a folder in Bobby’s things. I’d like you to come over and
take a look at. I would bring it to the station but in all honesty,
I believe your fellow officers are tired of me and my family. If
you don’t mind coming out here, I’d appreciate it.”
    An uneasy feeling skittered down his spine.
One thing Froggy had preached the last three weeks, trust your
instincts because that’s your wolf communicating with you. “I'm
sorry but I have to clear my desk. I have a backlog here from being
gone so long. If you can, just drop the folder off with the front
officer, and I’ll grab it from him and take a look at it.”
    “Yeah, okay, I’ll see what I can do. Just
trying to get justice for my brother. You understand, right,
Detective?”
    Jennings heard the curious note in the other
man’s voice. “Most definitely Mr. Merriweather. We all want justice
and will do everything within our power to bring that about.”
    “Good to hear it, I knew you were a man of
value when I first met you. You’ll find the people responsible for
murdering Robbie. I have faith in your sense of honor.” He paused
as if Jennings should say something.
    He didn’t.
    “Well, thank you for your time,