Free Bear Me Away (Alpha Werebear Paranormal Romance) (A Jamesburg Shifter Romance) by Lynn Red Page A

into a knot. How had she forgotten that? Another case check-up with West was planned. She guessed she’d have a chance to try out her new resolve to stop being so guarded. “What do you mean you can’t make it?” Elena asked Paul. “Is this some kind of a set up? Are you trying to be cute?”
    Paul groaned and made a sort of croaking sound. “Does this sound cute to you?” he asked before issuing a thick, hoarse cough. “I woke up at four this morning and started,” he trailed off for a second and made a gulping noise. “Anyway, it just wasn’t good. And you know I’d never leave you hanging like this, but—”
    Elena’s phone beeped in her ear. Someone else was calling. “Hold on a second, someone’s buzzing in.” She took a quick glance. “Oh, it’s your cop buddy. Want me to tell him you’re too hung over to come to work, and that he has to talk to me?”
    Paul laughed a little, and then groaned in pain. “Hangovers come with drinking. If they made me feel like this, I’d never touch another bottle. Anyway, I’ll talk at you later. Sorry again.”
    “Feel better,” Elena said. “Seriously, get better. I need you.”
    “Will do, I’ve got a day or two worth of Gatorade and saltines, I’ll probably live. I don’t want to come in and get you sick, too,” he said. For a second, Elena thought maybe his illness had brought out some sentimentality. “Someone’s gotta pay the bills,” he finished, banishing that thought.
    “Yeah, yeah, get some rest,” she said, clicking over.
    “Saints,” she said into the phone. “Private investigators with a... to hell with it. What’s up, Ralph? Paul’s out sick today, so—”
    He snorted a laugh. “I’ll say he is. I’ve never seen anybody eat that many tacos. He got the really crazy ones, too, with the sour cream, guacamole and barbecue or something.”
    “That son of a bitch,” she swore, shaking her head and smiling despite having to hold down the fort on her own. Of course, when you’re talking about shuffling three cheating mate cases and one actual real case, that’s still not all that much to deal with, but still it’s the thought that counts. “I knew it. Well anyway, you must be calling me for a reason.”
    “You know those little shreds of paper? The ones from the tomato jars?”
    “Yeah, of course, though I never did manage to make any sense of them,” Elena said. She grabbed a pen, and got ready to scribble something. She wasn’t quite sure what, exactly, but it seemed like a good time to be prepared to write. “Any leads?”
    “Yes,” he said, and then trailed off. “Sort of.”
    “How do you have a sort-of lead? Either you got something or you don’t.”
    Ralph chuckled under his breath. “Well, the department’s official position is that we issued a citation for improper food handling, we call it a Violation C-208. Like when the guy at Applebee’s drops a riblet on the ground and then just sticks it back on the plate?”
    She shuddered. “You should issue a citation to riblets for existing. Anyway, what does a food handling violation have to do with the case?”
    And there it was, like a shot of lightning forking through the night sky. Every damn time she thought of the case, every time anyone mentioned it, Elena thought of the guy who hired her in the first place. The guy she needed worse than anything to get out of her head, but who just wouldn’t let go of her consciousness. She shook her head, trying to clear the stupid.
    Luckily, Ralph started talking again before she could really lose herself in the jungle of longing. “It isn’t exactly what we found, rather who we fined. Uh, so to speak.”
    Elena perked up. “Yeah?” She started scribbling a note, but didn’t have anything to write. “Well, are you gonna say anything else, or just leave me hanging?”
    “It’s like you said – she’s a rabbit. A strange, albino rabbit, who is way twitchier than she needs to be. You’re looking for one Petunia