Page 29 of Huntress Unleashed
“When we go together, we’re usually after a gang of rogue vampires, so yeah, we split the proceeds because there’s enough money to go around. Though we get paid a lot for every case because of the danger of taking them down,” Dane said.
Trey said, “I would have given you the full bounty on Axel, Jacqueline.”
Dane laughed. “Hell, he was on my take-down list also.”
“Dane earned it. We both did. And he did pay half of his bounty on Mabon when he did all the work.” Jacqueline squeezed his hand.
Then they arrived at the grocery store. Stacey got out of her car and gave all the guys a hug first, then finally hugged Jacqueline. Jacqueline knew where she stood on the totem pole—on the bottom—because Jacqueline was into handsome guys. Dane and his brothers were all real lookers.
“Thanks so much to all of you for coming to help me with this. I thought only Dane would be, but I understand how he was stepping in to help a fellow therapy group member.”
Jacqueline was amused. Stacey really liked men.
“Okay, so I put a tracker on Italia’s car and also her mate’s. They’re at the Blue Moon vampire club. They take separate cars when they go there so they can leave when they feel like it. I thought we could wait there and watch for them to leave. If Franklin leaves first, we need to have one vehicle follow him, and then the other needs to follow Italia. She’ll probably wait for him to leave and then go right after that,” Stacey said.
“Who of us is going after whom?” Matt asked.
“Since Italia’s the one we have to eliminate, I want to follow her and then Dane can see where Franklin goes. If he picks up a woman, he’ll be with her, then he leaves her house, the police believe he returns home and then Italia kills the woman her mate had been with,” Stacey said.
* * *
“Okay, that sounds good.” Now Dane understood why Stacey had needed someone to help her with the case. They never knew how they would have to take down a rogue until they did their research. He was glad they had agreed to help her. Stacey couldn’t have done this alone.
“We’ll divide up and some of us will go with Stacey and the others will go in Dane’s truck,” Matt said.
“I’ll go with Stacey,” Trey said.
Ryan said he would go with them too.
Then Trey and Ryan got into Stacey’s car with her. Jacqueline was glad that they were there to protect her if anything went sideways. She was also glad Dane wasn’t going with her in her vehicle.
As they followed Stacey’s car, Matt said, “She’s intriguing.
Dane glanced at Jacqueline. “She’s a nice person, but I’m not interested in her.”
Matt laughed. “She would be a handful.”
“Yeah, too much of a handful.”
“Maybe I would be,” Jacqueline said.
Dane smiled at her. “My kind of a handful.”
“That’s what you think.” Jacqueline wanted to make sure he understood that them being a couple wasn’t a sure thing yet!
When they arrived at the vampire club painted a cornflower blue and featuring a large white moon, Stacey called Dane and he put it on speaker. “Italia’s car is that red Cadillac. The blue Jeep on the other side of the parking lot is Franklin’s. According to when I saw them going inside the club, they’ve been there for about a half hour.”
“We’re used to waiting to take down rogues, so no problem,” Matt said.
An hour later, Stacey called Dane again and he put it on speaker. “The man in the black jeans, checked shirt, black cowboy boots, and hat, that’s Franklin. Some say he was a cowboy a couple of centuries ago.”
“Okay, we’re following him.” Dane waited to start his vehicle until Franklin drove off. Then he followed him. “I guess he never picks up a blood bond at a vampire club while his mate is there.”
“No, he appears to be sneaky about it. Maybe it’s always a one-night stand and he never realized that his mate eliminates the woman afterward,” Jacqueline said. “But what if he’s all in on this? It spices up their life? He gets to do what he wants, and she gets to do what she wants. It’s a mutual game between them and he knows all about what she’s doing.”
“Uh, yeah, I agree with Jacqueline on that,” Matt said. “I wonder if he’s on any lists.”
“Unless it can be proven that he and his mate are in collusion, then maybe not,” Jacqueline said. “He may know exactly what she’s up to but proving it could be difficult to do without questioning both of them separately. I suspect questioning either of them isn’t going to be an option. Especially with Italia because she’s already on a list. She’ll only have one thought in mind—kill the hunters who come after her and keep from being eliminated. And if she’s loyal to Franklin and doesn’t want us to go after him next, she won’t tell us that he is part of this whole murder scheme.”