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A ndy suspected that either Rob planned to scare Eloise, Wendell, and Denny into complying on the way to the car or that he had something else in mind. Maybe shifting and dressing, then coming to help him with his charges. He and Monica could sure use the help.

Craig left the house in his woolly bear coat, ran away from them into the woods, and disappeared.

"That's both of them," Eloise said. "We have to go back to the house."

"No, they're still out there and could come back anytime," Monica said. "You don't want to tangle with them."

Wendell was the only one who wasn't saying anything, and Andy was a little worried about that. They were near his vehicle, but Wendell had parked his truck behind Andy's.

"Which pocket do you have your truck keys in?" Andy had to hurry this along and move Wendell’s truck out of the way.

Wendell didn't respond. He looked out of it and didn’t seem half as scared about the bear as Eloise and Denny.

Craig or Rob's vehicle was out of sight. When Wendell didn’t cooperate, Andy searched his pockets and found his keys. Monica pulled out her gun and kept it trained on the three detainees. Then Andy got into the vehicle and drove it off the road and into the snowbank.

When Andy climbed out of the vehicle and ascended the incline, Craig and Rob walked up the drive as if they were meant to be there. "Hey, Andy, Mom wanted you and Monica to come for lunch. We couldn't get through to you, so we came to see what trouble you had gotten yourself into this time."

"Yeah," Rob said. "Have you ever thought of using more backup?"

"No signal. But I'm damn glad you're here. And lunch is mighty welcome."

"You've got a handful; we'll take one off your hands. Who do you want us to take?" Craig asked.

"Denny. Wendell's half out of it, and Eloise knows we won’t put up with her nonsense if she gives us any trouble.

" Andy handed Wendell’s gun over to Craig.

"I'll go with you to watch Denny. Rob and Monica can follow right behind us.

That way, we will have a law enforcement officer in the vehicle to watch these guys. "

"Okay, let's load them up. We're parked just beyond the drive next to the trees," Craig said.

"Do you want me to drive?" Rob asked Monica.

"Yeah. I'll keep my gun on these two."

They got Eloise and Wendell situated in the vehicle, handcuffing them to the overhang handles.

"This isn't necessary," Eloise whined. "You haven't even read us our rights."

"I haven't questioned you about anything. But sure, I'll read you your rights." Monica did.

Andy said to Denny, "That goes for you also."

Rob started to back down the drive in Andy’s car while Craig and Andy led Denny on the tire tracks in the snow.

Once Rob was on the main road, he parked, waiting for Andy and the others to get into Craig's truck.

After they had handcuffed Denny to a handhold, Craig climbed into the driver's seat, and Andy sat in the back with Denny to watch him.

"So what happened this time?" Craig asked. "I mean that you were without backup again."

"We're short of staff. You know how it is. We were checking out Harvey's motel when we saw Denny and Eloise make a run for it. There was no reception; we couldn't let them get away. So we took chase."

"Where did the bears go? Did you see them?" Denny asked.

"What bears?" Craig asked. "All I saw was you in handcuffs with the others, being herded to Andy's car."

"No, you have to have seen them. Well, no matter. My grandparents’ cabin door is trashed, and all of us saw the bears."

Andy hadn't had his body camera on, but wasn't sure if he should admit to having seen them, too. Three of the people with them said they were there. Otherwise, how would they explain the mess at Denny's grandparents' cabin?

"Maybe a grouchy black or brown bear woke up from his sleep and did that," Craig said.

"Hell, I know the difference between polar bears and black or grizzly bears," Denny said. "What do you take me for? A moron?"

Craig smiled.

Andy kept calling for backup so they could turn the three perps over to patrol units designed to carry detainees. He finally got service before they reached Harvey's motel. He called Roger first.

"What's up? Are you coming in early to work? Or inviting me to a cold-weather barbecue?" Roger asked.

“We need your help again.” Andy told them where they were.

“Right on it.”

Then they ended the call, and Andy read Denny his rights in case he talked.

Denny started in about the polar bears. “They need to be shot. Both of those polar bears.”

Showing off their polar bear coats to non-shifters could be a problem, so they always had to come up with a plausible explanation. Though they also tried to do what they needed to do with as much covertness as possible in the first place.

Andy couldn't think of one this time, so he didn't say anything.

"You're not going to deny you saw the polar bears," Denny told Andy as if he were telling him what to do.

Craig changed the subject. "What is this one wanted for?"

"Kidnapping Helen for ransom money."

"She was in on it," Denny quickly said.

"You didn't say that when we arrested you the last time." But Andy knew why he had said she was innocent before.

Denny had hoped she wouldn't be handcuffed and could help free him when given the opportunity.

"Your buddies said otherwise," Andy said.

"Lionel? Teague? You got them?"

"We sure did, and they told us you were the mastermind." Andy was recording everything they said in case Denny told him the truth.

Of course, that wasn't what Lionel and Teague had said, but Helen proposed this fake kidnapping to get money from Pierre, then Pierre ended up taking charge of the plan.

"What the hell? No way," Denny said. “Who knew Pierre had money? I didn't. Sure, he had a nice home and car, but that didn't mean he had a lot of cash readily available. Helen came up with the plan."

Which sounded more like it.

"I just went along with it once she convinced me she knew the real story."

"How come she knew he had a lot of money that was easily accessible?" Andy didn't think someone who had would tell someone he had just started to date.

"Sex, booze, drugs, and bed talk. He liked to brag about it—at least to her."

"What if it had all been just bragging?"

"Well, that's what I thought still. That it didn't mean that he had the money. Even so, it was too much to ignore."

"How much?"

"Five hundred thousand."

"And you got?"

Denny wouldn't say.

"Okay, listen, Lionel and Teague each got five thousand. I suspect there was a lot more that Helen, Wendell, and Pierre got."

Denny remained silent.

"So you go to Pierre's house, ready to implement Helen's plan, take her hostage, demand a ransom, and hide out at your neighbor's cabin. After that, Wendell and his buddies go to Pierre's house to get the money. Then what?"

"The plan all changed when I went to grab Helen and demand a ransom. I'd already hit Pierre to steal Helen from him, though he looked reluctant to rescue her. That made me worried. What if he didn't care if she was rescued or not? I hadn't considered that."

Andy wanted to laugh at that. What a mistake that would have been.

"So he was on his back on the floor with a bloodied forehead where I'd struck him with my gun, and he had his hand up as if he were surrendering, and I'm free to take Helen. She's scowling at him, looking furious that he wouldn't try to rescue her."

"Even though she wasn't an innocent kidnapped victim."

"Right. It's easy to start having doubts in a case like that. Yeah, maybe he's a nonviolent person, though he's a big guy, so he doesn't look like he wouldn't be capable of fighting his way out of the situation, and he would have the advantage. When I first saw him, it gave me pause."

"So Helen didn't tell you the guy was a hulking brute."

"No. And truly, I figured I could manage anyone, so I sure the hell hadn't asked. Then, he came up with a different scenario. He said he had money he could access, but only if it was a real emergency."

"So then it was Pierre’s plan."

"At that point, yeah. I told him I was listening. Then he said I could take Helen with me and pretend she was a hostage, send a ransom message, have some of my goons come pick up the money at his house?—"

"Not at some other location that would help disguise the fact they were coming for the money? Most ransoms work that way. The kidnappers have a place where the victim goes to leave the money. They don't want to be seen."

"Nah. He had it all planned. His security cameras wouldn't be working, and he said as long as they were wearing ski masks and hats—and in this bad weather, that was reasonable—no one would recognize them."

"What if he didn’t turn off his security videos? What if he needed evidence of the crime being committed?"

Denny looked a little pale and appeared to be thinking about the ramifications.

"They might have been wearing masks, but if they spoke, the cameras would pick up their conversations and still show the men's clothes and sizes.

Some other cameras along the road could have picked up Wendell's vehicle, and by timing, it would have been at Pierre's house, even if he had parked out of view of it.

It would show he was there after Helen was abducted. "

Denny mulled that over.

"Pierre needed to cover his ass. How else can he prove to the person who gave him the money to use in this emergency situation that there actually was an emergency?"

"Uh." Denny stopped what he was going to say.

"That's why I believe he had them come to his house. So he could prove everything. Including that you took Helen hostage."

Denny cursed out loud.

“That’s what happens when crooks trust crooks. Do you know who was giving the money to Pierre?” Andy asked.

“No. I didn’t need to know who it was. Just that I was getting the money.”

“I want to know if Pierre thought he would get away with this scheme and no one would realize he was part of the mastermind behind it, why would he be in hiding?”

“Okay, Wendell, how much money did you get on this take?” Monica asked, as Rob drove Andy’s car on the snow-covered road, slipping on ice and correcting his direction, but not before Eloise gasped.

Wendell was quiet, still looking out of it as he rested his head against the window.

“Eloise? How much did you get?”

“I’m not saying.”

“You know, Helen and Denny got a big windfall. Knowing Denny, he’s going to want to be with the woman with the money,” Monica said, trying to stir up the pot.

Eloise’s lips parted, and then she narrowed her eyes. “How much did they get?”

“Fifty thousand each,” Monica said.

Eloise’s face reddened. “No way. Denny told me he got five thousand like I got.”

“Well, he lied. What about you, Wendell?”

“Five thousand. I would have gotten more if I hadn’t taken Lionel and Teague. I would have gotten their shares. But Denny called me on Bluetooth with the offer, and both were with me then. I knew them well enough that if I didn’t cut them in on the deal, they might have gone to the police.”

Wow, so they weren’t Wendell’s buddies, as she thought. They were just a bunch of cutthroats.

Eloise was sitting in the corner, fuming.

“You know Helen hatched this plan to get back with Denny, don’t you?” Monica rubbed the notion in, even if it wasn’t true.

“She wasn’t with him. I was.”

“Oh, yeah, but that was soon going to change.” Monica loved making stuff up as she went to throw her off-kilter and get more of the answers they needed.

“He was just planning all this, so it looked like he was really with you, but as soon as he got his new passport, he would leave with Helen to go to Mexico.”

“He already has a passport.”

“Right, with a new name? You and the others wouldn’t know where he went if you all got caught and he didn’t. He and Helen could live nicely off a hundred thousand.” Then Monica turned her attention to Wendell again. “So, where is Helen?”