Page 22 of Cold as Hell

There’d been an incident earlier this month, where Raoul had growled and lunged at Grant. It’d been a warning feint when Grant came near the butcher shop. Understandable from Raoul’s point of view, because Grant’s last visit had involved an altercation with Sebastian.

Mathias is responsible for the meat, but Grant decided he’d rather complain about the nice young man instead—by shouting and getting in Sebastian’s space. Raoul had taken exception to it and apparently decided Grant had lost his butcher-visit privileges. That would be fine… if that weren’t the only place to get meat.

After the lunge feint, Sebastian had asked Grant to help him with a bit of training, to teach Raoul that the dog can’t decide who does and doesn’t enter the butcher shop. Instead, Grant went off on a rant about the dangers of having a half wolf in town with children. Never mind that Raoul adores the kids. Clearly we had to get rid of the dangerous canine.

The upshot was that we refused, and now Lynn picks upthe couple’s meat orders, and Sebastian understandably avoids Grant while walking Raoul.

Understandable… but a problem when Grant would have provided a partial alibi.

“I can’t prove it wasn’t me,” Sebastian says finally. “But I’ll give you whatever you need to help with that. Ignore Mathias’s growling. I will fully cooperate.”

“I know. Just like you know I need to consider you as a suspect for the dosing part.” I make notes. Then I say, “If you didn’t do it, then someone stole those two pills. You last took one on February twelfth, right?”

“On the eleventh and again on the twelfth.”

“And when did you last touch that box?”

“This morning. It has my regular prescriptions in it. I take it out daily. I don’t remember ever thinking it wasn’t exactly where I put it, but honestly? I just pull it out and shove it back under. Half the time, I’m still in bed. I don’t have a nightstand yet—I’m on the list for having one built—so my med box goes under the bed.”

He shrugs. “Not the most secure place for pills, but I never really thought of that. Usually, living with Mathias is security enough. Then there’s Raoul, obviously.”

Storm might be nearly twice Raoul’s size, but the Australian-shepherd-and-wolf blend makes Raoul a better guard dog. He’s very protective of his home and his people, as the incident with Grant proved.

“No one is going into your place while Raoul’s there,” I say. “Even if he was down in the shop, he’d hear someone break in upstairs.”

“And everyone would hearhim.”

“When’s the last time someone took him hunting?”

Sebastian shrugs. “Before today? It’s been a few weeks.Sometimes he’s with the boys, but Mathias and I would both need to be away for anyone to break in. Even going upstairs while we’re in the shop would be risky.”

I tap my pen on the pad. “Let’s say you got back from a walk and someone had been in the apartment. Would Raoul alert you?”

Sebastian thinks about it. “I don’t think so. Remember how territorial he was as a pup?”

I smile. “He decided only the people he liked were allowed into the butcher shop, which made a very small list. Your dog is much pickier than mine.”

“He is. But we worked on that through training. He defends people, not turf. When we had the incident with Grant, that’s because I was in the shop. It wasn’t that Raoul didn’t want Grant going in—it was that he didn’t want him near me. If someone broke in while Raoul was alone in the apartment, he’d go after them. But I don’t think he’d react much if he came home to discover someone else had been there.”

Sebastian goes quiet, still considering. “We’ve definitely had people in while we’re gone, especially with the final construction touches. Raoul has never seemed bothered by it. Of course, Icouldbe saying that to support the theft theory. I’d need to explain why Raoul wouldn’t have reacted if we had a break-in.”

I shake my head. “I appreciate your honesty, Seb, but you really don’t need to play prosecution against yourself.”

He only smiles. “Covering all the bases. Also, because I know you’ll ask, we don’t use any other security measures. Like most people here, we don’t lock our door when we’re out. Nothing for anyone to steal.”

“Except very strong prescription drugs.”

He makes a face. “Yeah. I never thought of that. We should start locking it.”

“On that note, in order for someone to steal that particular drug, one that’s used in sexual assaults, they need to know you had it. Even April didn’t.”

He leans back. “You’re right. The only people who know are me and Mathias.”

“You’re taking them for insomnia.”

“Yeah. It’s a…” He makes a vague gesture. “A holdover from when I was incarcerated. I had problems with other inmates. I got into the habit of napping rather than sleeping. I’m mostly back on track, but I go through spells.”

“It’s not an uncommon problem up here,” I say. “The summer’s worse, when the endless sun doesn’t help anyone sleep, but winter can be bad, too.”

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