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“ W hat about your gun?” Monica asked Andy as they left the mini-mart and headed home.

“About losing my gun to the perp? My boss wasn’t happy about it, but he understood my dire circumstances. He authorized the reissue of another gun for me, and they’ve notified all the agencies that one of the men we had confined, Lionel, had fought me for it.”

Andy told his boss about it as soon as he had reception when they were driving to White Bear.

He’d had to tell him what he’d been doing the last few hours also.

In case Lionel or one of the other men had used his gun in the commission of a crime, he had to warn his boss that he didn’t have it any longer.

“And?”

“Everyone in the department will give me grief about it when I pick up the new gun, but losing it was in the line of duty while I was fighting for my life. It wasn’t a case of me leaving it in a bathroom stall at a bar, which happened to one of my coworkers.”

“Oh, no.” Monica shook her head.

“Yeah, and worse, he lied about it being stolen, but an honest citizen turned his revolver in to the police. So the officer was fired for drinking on duty, being drunk, and losing his weapon. Totally a different case from mine.”

“Wow, not a good thing to do. Regarding our perpetrators, we need to learn where they could have gone.”

“We could question the owners of the cabin Denny and Helen were staying at and learn about their association with Denny,” Andy said.

“What if Denny just broke into their place and wasn’t supposed to be there?

He feared someone might realize his grandparents had a cabin, and he would take Helen there.

He might have thought they could safely hole up in the vacant neighbor’s cabin instead if the word got out that there was a kidnapping in progress. ”

“On the other hand, if he did know the owners and they had agreed to let him use their cabin, they might have a clue as to where he could go next.”

“Not his cabin,” Monica said.

“Your agents would have undoubtedly checked it and even talked to the cabin owners.”

“Let’s see if we can locate them, call them, and learn what we can.”

They went inside the house, but he noticed Monica wincing every time she got in and out of his car. “Before we do anything else, you’re napping. You’re supposed to be resting during these three weeks, you know.”

“That’s the part I don’t like about being off.”

He laughed. “I know. It sucks.”

“Okay, will you call them while I’m napping?”

“Absolutely. I’ll run into the department and get some handcuffs and my replacement gun while you rest. That way, we’ll be ready to go as soon as we have a lead.”

She smiled and hugged him. “More than anything, I would love to nap with you.”

“I feel the same way, but you need to rest your back.” He wrapped his arms gently around her and kissed her mouth. “Feel better.”

She kissed his mouth back, and he parted his lips for her, their tongues tangling with each other in pent-up intrigue. Then she pulled away.

“Whatever you do, you don’t go anywhere on this case without me if I’m sleeping and you get a lead,” she said.

“Are you kidding? I’m not going anywhere without you. This is a team mission.” He just hoped neither of them would get killed doing it. “I’ll be back.”

“Better be.” She headed for the bedroom.

“Do you need me to tuck you in?”

She chuckled. “Tonight.”

“Gladly.” Then she retired to bed, and he headed to the station.

When he arrived there, he knew he would get a lot of grief from everyone in the office. Losing a gun, no matter how it happened, was big news.

“Hey, Andy, you didn’t tell me you lost your gun to one of the perps.” Roger slapped him on the back. “And your jacket. One of the officers turned it into us when they searched the cabin.”

“Oh, that’s great. Yeah, the guy got his handcuffs out from under the couch leg. I couldn’t find anything else to handcuff him to. He came at me like a grizzly ready to rip me apart.”

“Which one was he?”

“Lionel.”

“Oh, yeah, we have an APB out on the whole gang, and you’re right. The guy’s huge. Six-four, muscled…I can see why you had trouble keeping him away from your gun. The boss said you can have a replacement, right?”

“Yeah, it was in the line of duty, unlike one of our fellow troopers who left his gun in the restroom.”

“That was a dumb action—drinking on the job, the whole thing. I heard you need a slew of handcuffs. The guys chipped in and got a bunch together for you.”

Andy laughed.

Roger opened his desk drawer and piled ten pairs of handcuffs on his desk.

“I don’t know if this will be enough for you, but if it isn’t, we’ll get more.

Your parka, backpack, and other gear are hanging on the rack.

You know everyone is damned proud of you for braving that blizzard to help the agent out and try to capture the people involved in the kidnap scheme. ”

“I couldn’t let her do it on her own.” He was so glad the guys had retrieved his gear.

“Yeah, as pretty as she is, I would have done the same thing. I can’t believe you had a sprained ankle on top of that. And then to capture bank robbers too?”

“Hey, you and the other guys helped with that.”

“Well, that’s true. We got many accolades for that, and”—Roger smiled—“of course, many troopers said if we hadn’t been there, you might have lost them too.

We defended you, reminding them that you and the agent had been injured in the car wreck, and you were outnumbered five to two with regard to the other perps.

With those odds, truly, we were amazed you could take them all into custody. ”

Andy was afraid he would be questioned on how they had managed that.

“So…how did you do it?”

“We took them down separately. We had already taken Helen into custody. Denny left the cabin to get firewood, and we easily managed him. Lionel, Teague, and Harvey separated so we could take them down one at a time.”

“Aww. I told the other troopers that you two didn’t have secret superhuman powers. Then, the four guys claimed that a polar bear had attacked them. Even the one you took into custody at the motel. We don’t have polar bears in the area. So what was up with that?”

“The blizzard made visibility next to nothing. I’m sure they thought we were polar bears coming for them in their delusional state. Maybe when Harvey hit his head in the lobby, he dreamed up being attacked by a polar bear.” Andy shrugged.

“Uh, yeah, that’s what we figured.”

Andy hoped everyone would believe their story.

“So…we heard Monica’s staying with you for now. You’re off for a week. What are the two of you going to do?”

Andy smiled. “Really? You think I would answer that?”

“I heard she’s a workaholic. So are you. If I had to guess, I would say you’re going after the suspects you lost since no one has caught them yet. If you need any help, let me know. Many of the guys would assist if you learn something and need us as backup.”

“I appreciate that, but then you would say we couldn’t handle the matter without you guys.”

Roger laughed. “Yeah, but there are six of them now, the four men and two women, and there might even be more if the only ‘victim’ in this—Pierre—is in on it.”

“That’s true. But I doubt they’ll all be together. I’m sure they’ll have split up so we don’t catch them in one place.”

“I figured that too. So you do plan to go after them.”

“We’re just going to try to learn what we can about it. You know how that goes. Lots of research and lots of dead ends. I don’t know how long Monica plans to stay with me. She’s from Anchorage, you know. But we’ll try to get some intel while I'm off.”

“All the bachelors are talking about how you rarely are seen out on a date, and now you pick up an FBI agent, and she’s living with you. They want to know how you managed that.”

“When you’re busy saving each other’s lives, you build a special connection.”

“That’s what I told the guys.”

Andy chuckled. “I’ve got to grab a gun and the handcuffs and get out of your hair so you can work.”

“Just remember to call me if you need help.”

“I sure will. Thanks, Roger. And thank the guys for me for getting all this together for us.”

“You’re welcome. They wanted you to be safe if you had trouble.”

Then Andy signed out another gun, grabbed the handcuffs and his parka, goggles, gloves, facemask, and backpack that he’d left behind at the cabin, said goodbye to Roger, and headed out.

Before he returned home so he could let Monica rest longer, he stopped by the tavern to say hi to his mom, dad, and Ben.

When he walked inside, his mom frowned at him. “Where’s Monica?”

“She’s at home resting her back.”

“Oh.” Then his mom frowned again. “Why aren’t you at home looking after her?”

Andy smiled. “She’s sleeping. I told her I had to get a replacement gun and handcuffs.”

“You better not be planning to chase after these villains when she’s still injured.”

“We aren’t. We’ll do some research though.”

Ben hurried over to see him. “Hey, how are the two of you doing?”

“Great.”

“You’re not together.”

Andy laughed. Maybe he should have skipped seeing his family this morning, but he knew they would be annoyed if they learned he was in town and hadn’t dropped by to tell them what was happening. They hadn’t wanted to intrude on them while they were at home.

“She’s resting,” their mom quickly said.

“Oh, of course. So I guess there’s no hope for me.”

“None,” Andy said.

Their dad left the kitchen and joined them. “Family gathering, I see. Is she staying here for good?”

“No, Dad. She’s just here for as long as she wants to be. I doubt she wants to leave her job to stay here.”

“Do you know her favorite dessert?” his mom asked. “We know yours is cheesecake.”

“We haven’t discussed our tastes in desserts yet.”

“All right. We'll make it for her when you learn what she loves.”

“Thanks, Mom. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it. I’m headed home but just wanted to check in with you all.”

“We’re glad you did and haven’t chased her off already,” their dad said.

Andy laughed. “No way. I’m hoping she stays with me for the three weeks.” And he planned to make that happen with whatever resources he had available.

Then he got into his vehicle and called the cabin owners near Denny’s grandparents’ cabin.

Monica woke to her phone’s ring tone going off and climbed out of bed to get it. She grabbed her phone and looked at the caller ID. “Pierre?” Ohmigod, it was Pierre. “Where are you? We’ve been trying to get ahold of you. We were worried the people with the kidnapping scheme had killed you.”

“I’m hiding out. They figured out I had told you, an FBI agent, where Helen’s ex-boyfriend was. They’ll kill me now.” Pierre was talking low as if he was afraid he would be overheard, but she didn’t hear any background noises she could distinguish.

“Where are you? We’ll put you in protective custody.” She wanted to ask him about her brake lines being cut—that he was the only one who knew where she was at the time.

“No one can be trusted.” He sounded paranoid.

“Where did you hand over the money to them?” She wanted to ask how he got it so quickly.

Then she heard the garage door open and headed is that direction with the phone to her ear.

“They wanted me to go to some isolated spot, and I said no. I figured that would be the end of me for sure.”

Andy walked into the house, and she immediately put her finger to her lips and mouthed, “Pierre.”

Andy nodded and set his phone to record. Now he was the perfect partner in an investigation!

“I’m going to put this on speakerphone. I hurt my hand and back in a car accident while trying to track down Helen so I need to take something for the pain.”

“I’m so sorry, Monica. I should never have put you in harm’s way like that.” After working on this case, Pierre sounded sincere, but she didn’t know what to believe.

She put her phone on speaker and laid it on the island counter. “I’m just going to get some water and the medicine. Did anyone contact you to tell you Helen was behind the faux kidnapping and request for ransom money?”

“No, hell, so she’s, well, hell.”

Monica poured water into a glass and drank it, but she wasn’t taking any medication until she was ready to go to bed that night.

“I’m sorry I had to give you the bad news”—if Pierre wasn’t part of the plot—“but at least you don’t have to worry about Helen being at risk since Denny hadn’t taken her hostage.”

Pierre still hadn’t answered her about where he had met the men to hand over the money bags. Was he shocked that Helen had taken his money under false pretenses, and was mulling over the business? Trying to figure out why he hadn’t realized she was pulling a con?

“Okay, you said you didn’t want to meet them in some isolated place to hand over the money.” Which made sense.

“Right, and the blizzard was coming. No way did I want to get caught out in that.”

But it was all right if she did! Then again, she was an FBI agent and was supposed to go after the kidnapped victim. She was growing impatient with Pierre for not telling her where he had met the men who got the bags full of money.

“Where did you meet the men to give them the money?”

“They told me just to set the money in the bags on the front porch. It’s hidden from the road, and I wouldn’t have any other visitors, so nobody would see the bags sitting there.”

“Oh, that’s great!” She feigned enthusiasm. “That means you have security video of them taking the bags, right? When I went to your house, looking for you because I was concerned for your welfare, I saw the security videos around the house.”

“I’m afraid they aren’t working. I planned to replace them but haven’t gotten around to it.”

Okay, so Pierre definitely was still on her list as a probable co-conspirator.

He hadn’t said he was angry with Helen for using him like that.

He didn’t say he was relieved to know Helen wasn’t harmed but angry that she had stolen his money.

He wasn’t reacting like Monica thought he should.

The non-working security cameras? Way too convenient.

“I’ve got to go,” Pierre said, panicking.

“Wait!”

The line clicked dead.