75. Jax

75

Jax

I made a note on my phone for rain ponchos and tried not to growl. It was strange planning for such a long journey as a human and having to think about things like rain. Food.

Medical supplies. I frowned at Amelia's text.

We don't need motion sickness pills. We're wolves.

Her response was immediate. And do you know if Saul or Anna or Finn have ever been on a boat? I haven't. How do you know we won't get sick?

Damn it.

Put them on the list.

I hadn't wanted us to split up. I didn't like any wolf being out on their own, but Amelia apparently wasn't as happy being away from the motel room as I thought. She was only in the next store, but I didn't like that I couldn't see her.

I like it even less that the bond wasn't there. I couldn't feel her either.

Hats. Sunscreen. Loose clothing that we could move in. The captain had also mentioned that we'd be sharing two cabins, so I went to check out the bed rolls in the sporting goods store.

Watched.

Immediately, I stilled as my wolf's voice came through loud and clear. Without looking up, I took stock of my surroundings. There had only been three people in the store when I'd walked in. One person behind the cash register, one person stocking, and one person shopping.

Now there were six people in the store, and three of them were fanning around me.

Surrounding me.

I texted Anna a warning and glanced up. Both of my exits were blocked, and there was a man walking toward me. "Jax Bishop?" He asked as he pulled out a badge. "I'm Detective Warnos."

"Detective," I greeted. "Since you seem to know my name, that must mean that you were looking for me."

Had he gone by the motel first? I hadn't received any texts. I searched my bonds with Kenzi and Anna. They were upset but not panicked.

"As a matter of fact, I am. Do you have any weapons on you?"

I was a weapon. "I don't generally shop with weapons on me," I said dryly. "Is this about those missing women again? I let the officers in to look around. I didn't kidnap anyone."

"This is about those women. How about you come with me to the station, and we can talk about it a little further?" He moved his jacket out of the way to show me that he was armed.

I glanced at the gun and then back at him. "Do I have a choice?"

"You can go voluntarily, or I can put you in handcuffs and take you down. Your choice."

My wolf growled, but I didn't let it out. Instead, I pocketed my phone. "Then I guess I'm going voluntarily. Lead the way, detective."

The other two men immediately flanked me as I followed the man out of the store. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Amelia standing at the corner, a look of concern on her face.

As subtly as I could, I shook my head. There was no need to rescue me. I wasn't in any danger. These men were humans. Even if Emerson paid them off to try and kill me, I could still take them.

Instead, she pulled out her keys and slipped into our rental car.

When they opened the back of the police car, I didn't budge. "I'm not riding back there."

"Mr. Bishop…"

"I'm voluntarily coming with you. I'm not going to ride behind a cage like some criminal. I ride in the front or you can tell me what the hell you're charging me with and put me in handcuffs."

The detective took a look at the officer and nodded his head. They opened the passenger side, and I slipped in. No way was I getting into a caged car with no way of opening the door from the inside.

The ride was a short and quiet one. I was relieved to see that we were actually going to the police station. At least this wasn't going to be an attempted execution.

As we drove past the motel, I glanced at it and wondered what the hell Emerson was up to now.

The station was small. There were six desks at the front and two rooms in the front. "I'm guessing you're the only detective," I said as we walked in. Everyone inside stopped and stared at me.

"That I am," he sighed and opened one of the doors. "I know it says interrogation, but the other room is currently being used."

I doubted that very much.

Sitting on one side of the table, I glanced at the camera in the corner. Blinking red. That meant it was recording. So far, this seemed to be legitimate.

Detective Warnos was a tall and slender man with salt and pepper hair and round wire-ripped glasses. In his tan-colored suit, he somehow just looked like he followed the letter of the law.

"So, Mr. Bishop, what exactly are you doing visiting our little town? We don't exactly get a lot of tourists. Your identification says you live in one of the communities closer to the peak."

So he was going to try and make this a friendly conversation. I could play along. "I'm looking to expand my distribution route this year, and I wanted to see what you guys had to offer. As I'm sure you can imagine, we don't exactly get Amazon this far up. I didn't know if anyone here traveled up the mountain or if we could establish a designated holding area for goods."

"I'm sure our stores would be delighted in your business," the detective said without batting an eye. "The motel clerk said you bought out all the rooms. Any particular reason for that?"

"My wife and I are in a honeymoon period. We tend to be loud."

"Wife? I didn't see any records for that."

"We don't really file for wedding certificates. What's going on here, detective? Do all your out-of-towers get this level of scrutiny when they come visit?

The detective cleared his throat and pulled out a folder. He didn't open it. Just let it sit on the table. I looked at it with curiosity and raised my eyebrows. "What is that?"

He pushed the folder aside. "We're going to get to this a little later. You should know that we found that missing woman."

The hell they did. Where the fuck was he going with this? "That's great. I'm assuming I'm here because she said I was involved. Do you need some sort of alibi or something? As you can see, I'm not exactly traveling alone."

"No, you aren't. You're traveling with a large crowd for someone on his honeymoon."

"I'm mixing business with pleasure. As I'm sure you've guessed, we don't get out much."

Warnos grunted and pulled out another file. This one, he opened. "It's strange that there's so many communities in the mountains. Kind of harsh living conditions. You also don't seem to be under any police jurisdiction."

"I guess that makes us your jurisdiction. Should we call you if we start having problems? It might just be easier if we get our own police station. Then you could move on."

His jaw ticked, and I knew I'd hit a nerve. He didn't even like being here. He would hate to be further up the mountain. "We're not a cult, detective. We're not criminals hiding out. We're a large community. We pay our state and federal taxes. I've personally met with the state governor. I understand that we're responsible for taking care of our own emergencies. But I'm not here because you're interested in my community. I'm here because two women were reported missing, and you think that somehow has something to do with me. So either you tell me what I'm doing here, or I walk out of the station, and we go back up our mountain where you'll never see me again."

The detective flipped open the file. There were two photos. One of Janelle and one of Anna. It was one Emerson must have had taken recently. "You're here, Jax Bishop, because we have an eyewitness who not only identified you but followed you back to the motel last night."

"Bullshit. I never left the motel last night. I didn't kidnap any women."

"Maybe not." Warnos flipped the photos over and spun two new ones around. At the shocking sight, my entire body went cold. "Maybe you just murdered them."

She was nestled in the leaves, her eyes closed as if she were sleeping peacefully. Except of course for the blood dried all around her chest.

It was Anna. Dead.