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Ethan sliced off a piece of bread for Charlene, who thanked him and began buttering the bread. He cut off another slice for himself and buttered it. Before long, the server brought their lobster and steak dinners. They thanked the server and then began eating.

So what was the best case that you ever worked on? Charlene asked Ethan.

It s pending. Taking down Kroner and his cohorts was supposed to be my best case, since they were the ones responsible for my parents murders.

But with Kroner out and on the run, and no trial yet for Benny, and the others still free, it will be a while before I learn if it s the best case or not.

One of my earlier cases involved a boy, though, who had stolen a thirty-dollar fountain pen from an office supply store.

He didn t want the pen so much as he wanted to prove to his friends that he could steal like they could.

He figured it would be easy to grab because it was so small, but it had a security sticker on it.

How old was he?

Fourteen. He was just too young to start out on the wrong foot.

I told him it wasn t worth it to be involved in a life of crime, even if his friends had talked him into stealing.

He was new to the area, so I figured it was a case of new-kid syndrome where he was trying to make friends and fit in, but he was doing it with the wrong crowd.

I told him he would have to return the pen and clean my car once a day, three times a week for the month.

I even showed him how to do it right the first time.

Oh, good for you. What about his parents?

What did they think of that? Some would have been grateful that you had helped the kid out, but others would have tried to protect their kid and lawyered up.

I had to deal with both. Charlene pulled out some of the lobster meat from a claw and practically purred.

Ethan smiled at her. I told him the situation was that I could either talk to his parents about this and we would work out this deal, or I wouldn t tell them and he could just pretend it never happened.

Hmm, she said.

Ethan cut up some of his steak. He opted not to tell them.

But I said if he got caught doing it again, breaking any law, not just stealing, I would tell them everything.

The first day he was supposed to arrive to clean the car, he was late, and I told him if he was late one more time, he would have to wash the car four times every week during the month.

I had a job to do, and I couldn t put up with his tardiness.

I don t think anyone had really set down rules for him.

He was surprised to see me ready to wash the car with him.

I think it set him at ease. In any event, I mentored him, we visited and talked about school issues, family issues, and I ended up taking him on police rides.

I had him filing papers in the office and he became a regular figure at the police bureau.

He was a good kid. He just needed a little guidance.

What about his friends?

They ended up in juvie. Peter graduated high school with honors and became a policeman. I was so proud of him.

That s wonderful. What about his parents? Did they ever learn about his earlier theft?

They were thrilled he decided to do something with his life. They had found out I had him washing my car after the first week when he went home all wet. He finally told them what had happened, and they came by and thanked me.

Aww, so that had a great outcome.

They ate in silence for a while and Charlene finally said, I admire you for helping that kid out.

The funny thing was he ended up bringing his new friends over to help wash the car once a week after his month was up, and they all went on police ride-alongs several times.

I began getting a steady stream of more teens from the high school who wanted to do it too.

The guys all gave me a hard time about it at work.

She laughed. I bet. She thought Ethan was so cute. She thought he would make a good wolf daddy someday. Everyone who worked with me gave me a hard time for being such a bloodhound, whether it was finding missing people or finding the murderer in a homicide case.

We re well suited to police work, he agreed.

But we also are well suited to most anything that we can use our wolf instincts for.

Most assuredly.

We didn t get to do our berry picking today, so I thought we could do that in the morning, if you would like to. She drank some of her wine.

Yeah, sure. With us wanting to check out the restaurants and the whaling trip, I d forgotten all about it.

When you mentioned the whaling trip? That s what I wanted to do instead. It was just so much fun.

It was great.

They finished dinner and he paid for it, and then they left the restaurant. As soon as they got into his car, Charlene got a call and she frowned. She couldn t believe the name on her phone screen.

Any trouble? Ethan asked, observant as always.

Noah is calling.