Baby Protector Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 4) by Harmony Raines

pull myself together.”
    “Crying is not a sign of weakness, Chrissie. You’ve been through a lot.”
    “I know, but I need to function at my best to see this through. Not let emotion get in my way.” She took a deep breath. “What did you find out, Beau?”
    “Budget cuts.”
    “Budget cuts?” Joel asked. “That is what drove a highly respected man to murder?”
    “Maybe the murder was not what he had planned, we don’t know. But like I said, money is a motivator, and your Mr. Anderson is going to lose his job, and a nice chunk of his pension.”
    He turned his monitor towards them, and Chrissie skimmed the minutes from a council meeting from sixth months ago. The council was planning on making sweeping changes within the department, and part of that was streamlining her department. It was then going to be merged with another department, making Mr. Anderson’s job obsolete: it meant he would not get his full pension.
    “You think it pushed him over the edge. But why? What did he have to gain from killing Angela and taking the baby?” Chrissie asked, confused.
    “You tell me. Did this Krieg offer a reward, the kind of money that would top up his shrinking pension pot?” Beau asked.
    Chrissie felt sick. This was worse than she thought. There was no way her boss would sell out. He would not hurt another human being for money.
    Chrissie shook her head. “You would have to be expecting a large amount of money to do this, surely. I think Krieg was more into extortion and small-time drug runs, nothing big.”
    “Nothing Angela said to you? No life insurance?”
    “No, nothing. I have no idea about life insurance.”
    “When Landy rings, I’ll get him to check that out.”
    “Is there anything else?” Beau asked. “Because if not, I’m going to follow a lead I have on Krieg. It’s cold, but I’m good at following a trail others can’t.”
    “Wait, Beau, no. I don’t want you getting involved in this,” Chrissie insisted.
    “Chrissie is right; you have a family. Don’t get dragged into this.”
    “I already am. And don’t think you two have the monopoly on helping people. It’s why I became a PI. Now, I’m leaving. I have my cell; here’s the number. When Landy calls, or you think of anything, let me know. Between us we will get this cleared up.”
    Chrissie only hoped he was right. She wanted to stop her world from disintegrating around her, and that would not happen until she cleared her name.

Chapter Seventeen – Joel
    “What if he doesn’t call?” Chrissie asked, checking the time one more time.
    They were sitting side by side on the sofa, with Sam on the floor in front of them, amusing himself by turning from his front to his back. Elise was bathing her two children, and Beau had gone to find Krieg, making Chrissie feel guilty, but Elise was cool with it. It’s what he does, she had told Chrissie. “And I would hate for him to ever change.”
    “He will.” Joel turned and kissed her head. “It will be OK.”
    “I’m surprised we’re not on the news, you know, for kidnapping a child.”
    “That’s been puzzling me too. But hopefully…” His cell rang, cutting his sentence short. “Landy.”
    “Joel. I need to keep this brief.”
    “What’s going on?” Joel asked.
    “The shit hit the fan. But I need you to listen and do what I say. There’s a safe-house, I’ll text you the address when the call’s ended. You need to go there. According to our records it’s where you have been since being since told to evacuate last night. Do you understand?”
    “Not really,” Joel said.
    “We are close to flushing out the mole. We have a clear idea of who it is. Although motive seems to be eluding us.”
    “Money,” Joel said, using Beau’s word. “He’s about to lose his job.”
    “What?” Landy said. “Are we talking about the same person?”
    “ Paragon of society? ”
    “The one and only. It seems the Chief had his suspicions when the first house was found and