Bear Claw Read Free Page B

dropped into his lap.
    Cody wrapped his arms around her waist as she picked up his beer and took a long drink.
    She set the mug down. “Jamie, Zak, how are you guys?”
    The four of them talked and exchanged laughs until Cody stood to get another round.
    “I got to hit the head,” Zak said then left with Cody.
    Aubrey turned to him with mischief on her face, and Jamie wanted to groan. There was no telling what trouble she was going to get him in.
    “What?”
    “Well.” She laughed, looking toward the bar. Then she moved her chair closer.
    “Am I going to need bail money?” he asked, only half-joking.
    “Nah.” She waved him off. “You know Cody’s birthday is coming up.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “I want to throw him a surprise party,” she confided.
    Well, that wasn’t bad. A party shouldn’t get him into too big of a mess. “Okay.”
    “Except he specifically told me not to. Last night he called his parents and demanded they forget about his birthday.”
    “And?”
    “So I want to have it next weekend when he least expects it. He’ll be off call for the entire weekend. I swear, he fixed the schedule so he would have to be available for the Coalition on his birthday.”
    That did sound like Cody. “What do you need from me?”
    “You’re going to get him to the party,” she said then smiled widely.
    Now he knew why she was looking like the cat that had swallowed the canary. “What do I get out of it? Cody’s my best friend. A betrayal like that could really hurt our friendship.”
    Aubrey frowned and tilted her head, trying to figure out if he was serious.
    He held back his laughter as long as he could.
    “Asshole.” She smacked his shoulder.
    “Ow! Don’t hit me if you want my help.”
    “Help with what?” Cody asked, coming up behind them.
    Aubrey glanced over at Jamie quickly. “My case,” she lied.
    “Oh.” Cody nodded and passed around their fresh drinks.
    “No shots?” Jamie asked then stuck out his bottom lip in a practiced pout.
    “Screw you, man,” Cody griped. “I am not doing shots with you again.”
    Picking up his full beer, Jamie only shook his head. “Not my fault you can’t hold your liquor.”
    Cody narrowed his eyes just like Jamie had expected he would.
    “I am not carrying you two out of the bar again,” Zak said, joining them again. “ No shots.”
    “Man,” Jamie whined. “You guys are no fun.”
    Everyone laughed, and they drank for a couple of minutes until Aubrey turned back to him.
    “I do need to talk to you about this last case I got,” she said.
    “Sure, I’m all ears.”
    Aubrey laid out the information and details of the case in a clear-cut and professional manner. Jamie could see why she made such a great investigator. She didn’t miss the little things.
    He noticed both Cody and Zak leaning forward and listening intently too.
    Two teenage boys who, for some unknown reason, had run away from the reservation, couldn’t be found. Their clothes were gone along with some personal effects that they wouldn’t have left behind. Their families had both insisted that the two young men would never have run off.
    And they’d left two weeks apart from each another.
    “So the parents say they didn’t run,” Jamie commented. “What do you think?”
    “To be honest, it looks like they really did run,” Aubrey admitted. “But they were good kids who had no reason to do so. They seemed happy and I can’t find a single person that they told they were leaving. They disappeared.”
    “No clue on where they could have gone?” Zak questioned.
    “None, the parents let us go through their rooms and computers. We talked to their friends and family. I’m getting nowhere fast.”
    Jamie had to squash the spark of jealously as Cody rubbed Aubrey’s neck in a show of intimacy.
    “You’ll figure it out,” Cody assured her.
    “There’s more,” she said, her gaze going back to Jamie’s.
    His gut clenched and he wasn’t sure why. “What?”
    Aubrey blew