Joy to the Wolves

by Terry Spear

  “That makes sense. If the man who’s still alive is reading it, I hope he’s scared and doesn’t try breaking in again. Are you going to check on the other shops’ security videos?”

  “Yeah. You call me about anything that doesn’t feel right while I’m down the street. I mean it.”

  She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I don’t know. You’re a cop, sure, but you seem to be taking this awfully personally.”

  “A detective.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. “And I am taking this personally.”

  She kissed him back, taking advantage of the kiss and caressing his tongue with hers.

  When the kiss ended, both of them panting and wanting more, she sighed, and they went to the kitchen where Josh offered to make the cocoa while she warmed up the scones.

  Once they were done, she said, “Thanks for helping, Josh. I’ve got to open the door for the customers.”

  “I’ll go with you.” He kissed her mouth again and waited while she flipped her sign from Closed to Open. Then he left the shop while she let her customers in.

  “Are the reindeer here today?” one of the ladies asked.

  Josh smiled and headed across the street.

  * * *

  Heading first to the bakery, Josh figured checking out the other shops’ security videos wouldn’t take too long, and he was glad the shop owners were all too eager to help catch the man who shot up Brooke’s attic.

  “When we heard all the shooting, my husband and I were worried because the light was on in the attic and we were afraid she was up there,” Sarah said. “We learned about the breakage inside her shop later. Our home is behind the bakery, so we didn’t hear any of that. But the gunshots? Yes. We called the police right away. Melvin wanted to go help her, but he’s got a bum leg from fighting in Iraq. I told him he’d just get shot anyway. It was horrible that she was hurt.”

  “It was. I’m glad you left it to the police, ma’am,” Josh said, watching the security video. He was afraid any confrontation with the intruders might have turned tragic if Mr. Burns had tried to stop them.

  “Do you think the two things are connected? The robbers and the day when the DEA and the SWAT team showed up?” she asked.

  “Might or might not be.”

  “Maybe she is just having a week of bad luck. My grandmother used to say we had to throw a pinch of salt over our shoulder to blind the devil and then good luck would follow.”

  Josh smiled. He was half listening to her but mostly concentrating on the video showing the people hanging around Brooke’s shop all that day. Most of her customers had been women while he was there, a few men, but he saw only the one suspect who arrived to carry the box into the shop for Brooke earlier. Which seemed off to him. If he’d been looking for a box being shipped to her place, maybe that was why he hurried to carry the one in for her that had just been delivered. To see if it was the one they’d wanted.

  “I heard you were staying with her. As her police detail?”

  “Uh, yeah. Since she’s on her own and the man who’s still alive might come back.”

  “Oh no. I sure hope you catch him. It was just fortunate the other one cut himself on the window and died. Served him right.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Josh left the bakery with a copy of the video and called Brooke on the way to the next shop he wanted to visit. “Is everything all right over there?”

  “Yeah. How’s it going there?”

  “I talked to the owner of the bakery across the street. I’m headed to the Christmas shop next since the men ran that direction. I was hoping we could get some facial recognition shots of the men to see if we missed anything. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Busy, but everything’s fine.”

  “Good. I’ll keep reviewing the shops’ security videos then and check back in with you as I go.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  He sure as hell hoped so. He walked to the Christmas shop a few doors down from hers and asked the owner if he could see the shop’s security video.

  The owner thanked him again for returning her cat. “I guess you’re Brooke’s police protection. I’ve noticed you’ve been here a lot during the day and at night. I’m glad for that. Lucky girl. You sure can look at the security video. I’m so sorry about what happened to her. It’s made all of us nervous, believe you me. And for her to have so much trouble this week…” The woman shuddered.

  One of her customers waved a Christmas elf in the air and said, “This doesn’t have a price tag on it. How much is it?”

  “I’ve got to assist my customers,” the owner said to Josh. “I’ll see you before you leave.”

  “Thanks.” Josh watched the grainy video. It was dark when Brooke turned off the lights in the store. He could see her windows on the side of the store, but the attic didn’t have windows on that end. Then he saw the two men approach the door. They’d come from the same direction in which they’d fled, talking to each other, hunched over, like darkly clothed thieves in the night. He was certain they went straight to where their vehicle was parked after they escaped out of Brooke’s attic window. He needed to check the security videos along that street to where they had parked their vehicle. If he was lucky, the license plate number was captured on one of them and would be perfectly identifiable.

  He’d spend the rest of the day doing that, if Brooke felt safe enough.

  Josh thanked the Christmas shop owner and left with a copy of her security video. He planned to go next to the shops down the street near where the men must have driven off, but he wanted to see Brooke before he went that far away. Besides, everything that involved her interested him. He wanted to see her doing well with sales, wanted her to be successful, not just so she could support herself but so she would be happy here.

  He pushed open the door and saw her talking away to her customers, showing them the teacups and saucers they’d tagged last night. He was glad he’d helped her with those. She seemed to be in good spirits.

  “I need the blue ones. It doesn’t matter about the brand name. I just collect blue and white,” one woman said.

  “Me? I love lavender, any shade of purple. If you get any more in, let me know and I’ll buy them.” The other woman gave Brooke her name and number.

  “I sure will. I’ll keep on the lookout for them.” Brooke glanced in Josh’s direction, and her whole expression brightened, as if she’d seen her best friend arrive.

  Or maybe a lover? That was what he felt like, without the consummated sex. A lover who was sitting on the sidelines, enjoying the way she visited with her customers, cheerful like she should always be. Not apprehensive and fearful because of the bastards who had shot her.

  After she wrapped up the teacups and saucers for the two customers, she took their payments, and they left the shop.

  “Slow day?” he asked, coming around the counter and running his hands up her arms.

  “No, business has been brisk. Some have wanted to see the reindeer calf as if he lives here now.” She put her hand on Josh’s shirt and pulled him closer.

  Josh smiled.

  “Any more news?” she asked.

  He told her what he’d found out, then leaned over and kissed her.

  “Hmm, good thing I don’t have any customers at the moment.” She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back.

  “I’ll canvass the other shops near where I think they picked up a ride, but I wanted to see how you’re doing.”

  “Oh, really good. Thanks for dropping by, giving me a heads-up, and making sure I’m okay. A lot of people have been dropping in to get last-minute Christmas gifts. Some are just buying things for themselves.”

  “Sounds like it was a good idea to put more stuff out on the shelves this morning.” He ran his hands over her shoulders.

  “I’ll say. You know what
this means?” She raised a brow.

  “We’ll be working on more of the boxes tonight.”

  “Yes, and every night that you stay with me.”

  He chuckled. “I’m only too glad to help. I’ll be back around noon, if not before then, to spell you for lunch.”

  “I’m feeling…Chinese. I’d love some beef and broccoli.”

  “I’ll pick up an order later. What are you going to do in the meantime?”

  “I’ll work on some more boxes. The break from customers helps. Though selling the merchandise does, too, so I have more room to put out the rest of the stuff. Good luck.”

  “I might need it.” He kissed her before he left, and he knew this was becoming a habit he didn’t want to give up. She seemed to enjoy it just as much as she deepened the kiss. They didn’t have to stand under the mistletoe to get into the spirit of things.

  Then her shop door opened, the jingle bells jingling, and she pulled away from Josh. They both smiled and greeted the two women who entered the shop. After that, Josh took off to check out the other store videos, hoping he’d get what he needed to locate the second intruder.

  Chapter 16

  Brooke was excited to get so much done and still sell lots as she checked out her next customers. She was even happier that Josh had barged into her life. What a strange twist of events. He had enriched her life already, just through her getting to know him and enjoying his company. If she hadn’t met him and his brother, Adam, and Ethan, she wouldn’t have known what to do about all the trouble she was having. She was certain she would have been more at risk.

  After one of her customers bought a couple of oil paintings and left, since no one else was in the shop, Brooke brought her laptop out on the counter. Then she retrieved the old Chinese vases she’d found in the trunk from the office safe, which had her thinking about Chinese food and fortune cookies. She was already getting hungry, feeling great about the finds they’d already identified in her great-aunt’s attic, and she was ready to discover more treasures!

  That made her wonder again where the treasure list her great-aunt had left for her was hidden. She told herself she might as well enjoy what she had to do for the next three years while keeping her great-aunt’s shop going, but she had to admit this was like opening Christmas packages and finding some real treasures.

  When she was low on inventory, she’d have to go on some garage sale and estate sale hunts. And truthfully, she was looking forward to it. She suspected some of her change of heart was due to finding a hunky wolf to date.

  She began to examine the first of the vases and saw it was decorated with images of deer and cranes, beautifully painted, and it appeared to be from the Qianlong period—an imperial vase made for Emperor Qianlong during the Qing dynasty. It couldn’t be. It was probably a replica. Yet it looked old, eighteenth-century, and perfectly preserved. She looked at the base of the vase and took a deep breath. The family rose was marked on it, which meant it would have gone to one of the emperor’s palaces.

  Her heart was already beating faster, her hands shaky as she put the vase down on the counter. She kept telling herself it was probably a replica that could be worth a couple thousand dollars. Not bad. Yet the rose on the bottom of the vase made her believe it wasn’t. That it was the real deal. She could have in her possession millions of dollars in that one little vase. And her great-aunt hadn’t even put either of the vases in a safe! Knowing her great-aunt, though, Brooke thought Ivy had probably put them in the trunk years ago, maybe when the vases weren’t fetching as much of a price, and had forgotten about them. Maybe she never knew they were that valuable. As far as Brooke knew, the value for the emperor’s china had only gone up in the last decade or so.

  She glanced at the other vase. Different painting, yet it was very similar in age and artwork. And on the bottom of the vase, the Chinese emperor Kangxi’s family rose. She couldn’t wait to tell Josh, even if it wasn’t for sure. That was something she hadn’t had for a long time—someone to share something important with.

  She took numerous pictures of the details.

  Her door opened, the bells jingling, and having been engrossed in the business of the vases, Brooke jumped, startled. “Hi, welcome to Cerise’s Antiques and Gift Shop. Let me know if you need anything.”

  The two women smiled, nodded, and began browsing the merchandise on the shelves.

  “We hadn’t known about your cute little shop until we saw the news about the reindeer and just had to check it out,” one of them said.

  “That’s great. I have hot cocoa and scones in there if you’d like some.” She was thrilled the reindeer had helped to spread the word about the shop.

  “Thanks,” both women said.

  Brooke carefully took one of the vases and set it in a box filled with packing peanuts behind the counter, and then did the same with the other. Her skin prickled with excitement. What if they were the real deal? She would be in heaven. But she wasn’t about to start counting her chickens yet. Though she did need to secure the vases in the safe if they turned out to be the genuine item.

  She texted an appraiser she trusted to give her an accurate idea of the value and sent him the pictures.

  Only a few minutes later, he texted back: If they’re not replicas, you’ve got a mint on your hands. They could be worth up to $35 million—or more!—apiece if they’re authentic.

  That was just what she’d hoped! It would be the find of a lifetime, and if so, she suspected her great-aunt had listed them on the treasure list. She would love to know where her great-aunt had picked them up. Brooke had been looking for Ivy’s diaries but hadn’t found them yet.

  Brooke’s phone rang, and she about jumped out of her skin. She had to get her jumpiness under control. It was just Josh. “Hey, did you learn anything?” she asked.

  “I’ve finally got the license plate for the black truck involved in the reindeer case. The tech department just figured out what it was from another shop’s security video I sent them.”

  “That’s wonderful! I’m going to need to put a couple of items in the safe,” she said, feeling a little anxious with the Chinese vases sitting behind the counter with her.

  “High dollar value?” Josh asked.

  “If they’re authentic. Yes. Really high dollar value.”

  “Could they be what the men were looking for?” Josh sounded concerned.

  “I really don’t think so. They were in the trunk.”

  “The vases?”

  “Yeah. I’ll tell you more about it later,” she said.

  A couple more women entered her shop, and Brooke greeted them.

  “More customers in the shop?” Josh asked.

  “Yeah. I could use a security detail. Truly.”

  “I’m your man.”

  She smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  “I’m on my way back.”

  They ended the call, and one of the ladies came to the counter with a couple of chocolate pots. “I saw some jingle bells in another part of the store the other day, but I couldn’t find them. It pays to get the item you want right then and there and not waffle about it. Did they sell?”

  Brooke smiled, glad Josh had her set the antique ones aside when he found them. “Yes, those sold. I do have the set hanging on the door if you’d like it. It’s a replica of antique sleigh bells.” She liked having her jingle bells on the door for the holidays, but she could always order another set for next year.

  “Yes, I’ll take them.”

  Brooke grabbed her footstool and carried it to the door. She was about to pull down the sleigh bells when Josh filled the door with his tall presence. She smiled and pulled the footstool back. He was tall enough to get the sleigh bells without using it.

  He came in out of the cold and said, “What did you need?”

  “The sleigh bells for a customer.”

/>   He smiled. “Good. You didn’t sell mine.”

  “I wouldn’t dare. I still need police protection.”

  “You’d get it anyway.” He handed her the sleigh bells.

  “Thanks.” She took them and hurried back to the checkout counter and finished the sale.

  When the customer left, Brooke whispered to Josh, “The two vases could be imperial porcelain worth millions of dollars.”

  His jaw dropped.

  She laughed.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. That’s if they’re authentic.” She sure hoped they were. She didn’t even want to speculate further about the price they might fetch.

  “Hot damn.”

  The other customer came out of another room with a handful of merchandise.

  “Here, let me help you with that.” Brooke carried the merchandise to the counter. “Are you all set for Christmas?”

  “Oh, never. It will be here whether I’m ready or not,” the customer said, laughing.

  “I hear you.” Then Brooke wished her a Merry Christmas, and when the shop was empty, she showed the vases to Josh again.

  He looked them over and shook his head. “I can’t believe it. The emperor’s fine china.”

  “Yes.”

  “Speaking of Chinese, I ordered our meals for lunch.”

  “Oh good. I can’t wait to see what my fortune cookie has to say.”

  * * *

  Josh couldn’t believe Brooke could be in possession of vases worth that much money. Here he thought all this stuff was just a bunch of junk worth only something to a collector, but never that much. He was thrilled for her and hoped it was true. “Where did they come from?”

  “My great-aunt had been collecting things forever. She always had a nose for knowing when something could be valuable. I can’t believe she hadn’t sold any of this stuff yet though.”

  “They might not have been as valuable years ago.”

  “That’s true.” Brooke smiled and hugged him. “I couldn’t wait to tell you. They still might not be the real thing.”