Page 96 of What a Wolf Wants
He walked her into the house, and everyone was smiling to see the two of them reunited in such a passionate way. She figured every one of the mated males there felt the same way about their mates after a difficult mission.
Then they all sat down and shared their experiences again, comparing stories, trying to figure out what might have happened to Kroner. Charlene and Maverick had fixed everyone breakfast before Ethan, Renault, and Noah went to interrogate the people they took into custody.
“I don’t know how Renault and I could have been following Kroner and then ended up catching Officer Davis and losing Kroner,” Ethan said, sounding perturbed with himself.
“What if he went down the cliff like Oakley had done, but he was able to get low enough that you couldn’t…um, smell his cologne?” Charlene asked.
“Yeah, not at the same place Oakley had gone, but farther away from Clara’s house,” Ethan said. “The ocean breeze could have carried it away.”
“I would sure like to know what her story is,” Charlene said.
“Yeah, we all would,” Renault said.
After breakfast, Ethan gave Charlene a hug and a kiss and then left with Renault and Noah to get these interviews over with.
Charlene packed a bag for both Ethan and her for the trip to the pack leaders’ ranch. She knew they would stay overnight or maybe a couple of nights at the ranch, with Kroner still on the loose. She sure hoped they could catch him once and for all.
Chapter 28
Ethan wanted to interview Officer Baker first since he was the one who had been shot, and he might be willing to talk if he was out of surgery and able to communicate.
He, Renault, and Noah went into Baker’s hospital room where he was handcuffed to the bed. A police officer was sitting beside the bed, another outside of the room. Ethan read Baker his rights. “I’m DEA Special Agent Ethan Matheson who has been working the case that you have been involved in.” He’d worked with Baker before so the man knew just who Ethan was.
Baker looked awful, his skin pale. Ethan figured he had lost a lot of blood before they had found him lying in the tunnel nearly dead. He wasn’t sure Baker was fully aware of his circumstances.
“Yeah,” Baker said weakly. “I know who you are. I’ve worked with you before. You were after Kroner, and he wanted your head.”
“You killed one of his competition,” Ethan said.
Baker glanced at Renault, then Noah.
Ethan introduced them both to him, even though Baker would know Renault from joint missions, but not Noah. “Who shot you?”
“Kroner. Bastard, and yeah, I’ll testify against him.”
Great! Ethan hadn’t even had to tell him they would askif the DA would give him a lighter sentence if he flipped on Kroner. Hopefully, Baker wouldn’t change his mind.
“I–I didn’t think it would go this far,” Baker said, wiping away tears that streaked down his face. “Once I started to take money from him, he owned me, threatened me that he would reveal I was taking illegal bribes, that he would tell my family.”
“And the drug dealer that Kroner had you get rid of?”
Baker let out his breath. “He was a drug dealer, guilty of several murders. And Kroner threatened me. I told you. My job, my life, exposing my extracurricular activities to my family, and knowing Kroner, if he’d had to take it that far, he would have gone after my family to get me to comply.”
“What about you pulling Charlene Cheswick over? You hassled her after she was harassed by Agent Pete Cohen when she witnessed him taking drugs off a man at a convenience store and keeping them.”
Baker’s lips parted and then he clamped them shut.
“That was one of the reasons we knew you and Agent Cohen were in collusion.”
Baker wouldn’t comment.
Ethan suspected Baker hadn’t realized he knew about that business too—that he and Cohen were taking illegal drugs from dealers and not reporting them, but keeping the confiscated drugs for themselves for whatever sordid purpose. “What about your partner? Davis?”
“Davis”—Baker cleared his throat—“wanted a part of the action. I just wanted to have him at my back if Kroner gave me trouble, but I know now that was a stupid idea.”
“Davis didn’t back you up that time, eh?” Ethan said.
“No. He knew Kroner would shoot him too. He didn’t, did he? Later, I mean?”
