She looked at Hugh with fear in her eyes. Unless she was mistaken, she was a bear. She didn't know how she got this way. More importantly, she didn't know how to change back.
"Take it easy. As soon as you calm down, you'll change back. It's strong emotion that brings on the Change. Take some deep breaths. Practice your yoga breathing."
He looked up as Rome and one of his deputies, a man by the name of Harris walked through the door. Rome looked around at the evidence, and then gazed at Mary Elizabeth with interest. “I take it that's your mate? First Change?"
"Yeah, I'm trying to get her to calm down long enough to change back. She's got a hell of a temper and I'm sure that's what triggered the Change."
Mary Elizabeth sat down on her haunches abruptly. Now that the crisis was over, the adrenaline was leaving her body. Suddenly, she was too tired to be angry any more. She just wanted this whole day to be over. She felt a tingling in her spine and looked down to see her body changing. In a matter of seconds, she was back in her own skin. Her very bare, very naked skin. Where were her clothes?
Hugh stripped off his shirt and put it around her, before scooping her up in his arms. “We'll be in here when you need us,” he said as he headed toward the bedroom.
Mary Elizabeth looked over his shoulder and saw shredded pieces of material on the floor of the living room. That explained the missing clothes.
Rome nodded as he directed Harris to put the unconscious prisoner in the patrol car. Then he pulled out a camera and began taking pictures while another deputy began collecting evidence. Having taken all the pictures he needed, he went to the room to get Mary Elizabeth's statement.
Hugh laid her down on the bed gently and removed his shirt, running his hands over her body, checking for damage. She had a knot on the side of her head near her temple that was slowly healing before his eyes.
"Did that bastard touch you? If he did, he's a dead man."
"No, he hit me with the briefcase when I wouldn't go with him willingly."
"What!"
Right then, Rome knocked on the door. Hugh grabbed the covers and wrapped Mary Elizabeth in them before calling out for him to enter.
Rome came into the room with a small notebook in his hand. Mary Elizabeth looked him over with interest. This was the first time she'd seen a police force in the month she'd been living in Refuge. He was Latino, and a very handsome one at that. Instead of the usual police uniform, he was dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans and a black polo shirt with Refuge County Police Department monogrammed on the pocket in red. He pulled the police issued baseball cap off of his head and ran his hand through his mane of shiny, dark curls before sliding the cap back on his head.
"Are you okay to answer some questions? If not, you can come down to the station tomorrow and answer them. I know you've been through an ordeal."
"I'm fine. Let's just get this over with.” She straightened up her drooping shoulders and wrapped the cover around her more securely, uncomfortably aware of her nakedness. Hugh sat down on the bed beside her and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, silently offering his strength. She leaned into his warmth as she turned to Rome and asked, “What do you need to know?"
"Everything you can tell me, starting with who the unconscious gentleman in the front is. Just start from the beginning. Then, if I have any questions or need any clarification, I'll stop you and ask, okay? Be as detailed as possible."
She took a deep breath before starting. This was going to take awhile. “His name is Charles Remington and he's my brother-in-law.” She felt Hugh tense beside her at the information, but he said nothing. “He was married to my sister Babs who we buried a few weeks ago. Up until tonight, I thought she'd died as a result of a drunk driving accident."
Rome interrupted. “What happened tonight to make you think differently?"
"Charles confessed to killing her. I'm not sure how he managed it but he said that he was responsible for her death.” Hugh's hands gripped tightened until she winced in pain. “Hugh, please, you're hurting me."
"Sorry.” He loosed his grip.
"Okay, we'll come back to that later. So Charles is your brother-in-law. What's he doing here?"
This was the part she hated. It all sounded so sordid. “After the funeral, Charles came to see me. He was making noise about how he should have married me and how, now that Babs was dead, this was his opportunity to make things right. I figured it was the grief talking. I had already been offered the job here but hadn't decided yet. The incident with Charles, along with a few other things I won't go into, pushed me to say yes."
"That one piece of news just saved his life,” Hugh said with a growl.
"Hugh,” Rome said warningly. “Law present, in the room?"
Rome asked Mary Elizabeth to clarify. “Why did he say he should have married you? What made him think that you would be interested?"
"Charles and I were engaged when he met my sister.” Mary Elizabeth thought that the less said on that subject, the better. Seeing how crazy Charles was, she realized she'd had a lucky escape. Instead of being angry with Babs when it happened, she should have been down on her knees, thanking her instead.
"So he married your sister instead, and now feels he made a mistake."
Mary Elizabeth nodded. “Babs was cheating on him. I didn't think he knew about it but I found out after her funeral that he did. That's why I think he's so fixated on me. He figures if he married me, I wouldn't have strayed. I told him he was seven years too late and I was no longer interested. Anyway, I came here. Charles used to call daily, asking me to come home. The last time he called, about two weeks ago, he referred to me as his fiancé.” Turning to Hugh she said, “That was the night of the party. I told him again that I wasn't marrying him, and that I was here to stay. That was the last I heard from him until he showed up tonight.” Then she told him everything that happened from the time she walked in the door until Hugh arrived.
Hugh bristled and vibrated beside her during the telling, his anger a tangible thing. Once she was finished, Rome turned to Hugh and asked, “Do you have anything to add to this?"
"Yeah, Charles called again, only this time I answered the phone. He introduced himself as my mate's fiancé. I didn't tell him who I was but I did tell him she belonged to me. Then I hung up on him and disconnected the phone to keep him from calling back and disturbing Mary Elizabeth."
"So he was aware that there was a man in her life. It's probably what pushed him over the edge."
Mary Elizabeth shook her head. “I don't think it would have mattered. I thought he was just going through a difficult grieving process. I knew that my saying no to his proposal made him more determined to have me, but after tonight, I realized that the man's nuttier than my grandma's fruitcakes."
Hugh thought, Mary Elizabeth was right. Charles was insane and from the sound of it, he had plenty of money to cover the signs of his illness. He could afford good legal representation. The kind that didn't care about guilt or innocence and did the job they were paid to do—get their client off. He and Rome shared a look that showed they were thinking the same thing. With a small nod, Rome indicated he would handle it.
Mary Elizabeth didn't notice. She was slumped against Hugh. Reaction was finally setting in. All she wanted to do was wrap herself around Hugh and celebrate being alive and with the man she loved. Things could have turned out so differently tonight. She was ready for everyone to leave so that they could be alone. This was so not the homecoming she'd envisioned.