Dreaming of a White Wolf Christmas

by Terry Spear

  “Not for another day, unless the weather continues to be bad. And then no one would miss me for a couple of days. We weren’t flying anywhere today because of the weather, which means I’d just chill out at home, catching up on the next show in my conspiracy theory series. If the weather continues to be bad tomorrow, the same thing. What about you?”

  “No one will expect me back until I’m ready to return in about nine days or so. Unless I had some news to share.”

  “Well, they’ll miss me before that. Maybe everyone will worry about us because the weather turned so…” She paused. “God, I hope my dad and brother are all right. What if someone actually did sabotage my dad’s plane, and the bastard did the same to all our planes? If not, I hope my brother and dad landed safely before the storm caused problems for them.”

  Gavin ran his hand over her shoulder. “We need to get you out of here.”

  “You’re staying?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I think we’re going to need a private investigator to look into this matter, by the way.” Every time she woke last night, she’d been thinking about it. It would take months for aviation accident investigators to sort this out. They needed results faster. “I didn’t thank you for everything you did. I don’t believe I would have gotten Winston out on my own or into the raft by myself. Certainly, I couldn’t have retrieved everything else out of the plane like you did. If we hadn’t had the raft, we probably wouldn’t have made it. You must have been half-frozen swimming in the water, as cold as it was with the wind chill and rain.”

  “Shifting into the wolf for a while made all the difference.”

  Amelia agreed. “Is work slow, and that’s why you’ve taken a vacation?” She figured it was time to learn the truth about why he was here.

  “I’m…not on vacation. The truth is, I’m on a case.”

  “What if the plane going down had something to do with what you’re investigating?” She’d been thinking it had something to do with her or her family’s company. But what if Gavin was investigating someone and that was the reason for the sabotage? They had to consider all plausible or even seemingly unlikely avenues.

  Gavin raised his brows at her, appearing as though he didn’t think he could have had anything to do with the disaster. “Normally, I never discuss a case I’m on with anyone other than my partners. It’s a matter of ethics. We don’t share what we’re doing with anyone, or clients won’t feel their cases are being handled confidentially. Since we’re in a bit of a quandary over this situation with your plane, in the unlikely event my case has anything to do with what happened to it, if you can keep this a secret—”

  “I can. What if it had everything to do with it? What exactly are you working on? It’s about the other party my brother and dad brought out here yesterday, isn’t it? The ones you were interested in, though you had said you were just concerned there’d be too many people around.” She climbed out of the sleeping bag and began pulling on the sweatpants.

  Gavin was still lying in the sleeping bag, his arms behind his head, looking up at her as she yanked the sweatshirt over her head.

  “Yeah, it’s about them. Or actually a man who’s with the group.”

  “Man?” Amelia had immediately assumed it was about the woman he’d helped to arrest before. She sat on the edge of the sleeping bag and pulled on her socks. “Not Mindy Michaels?”

  “Mindy Michaels? I told you I didn’t know she was out here.”

  “Let me guess. The perp you’re after is cheating, or supposedly cheating, on his wife.”

  “That’s the gist of it. You didn’t hear it from me. It’s possible he isn’t. I just have to learn whether he is or isn’t.” Gavin climbed out of the sleeping bag and fished out a pair of fresh boxer briefs.

  Amelia let out her breath. “Okay, so your case is kind of blown, isn’t it? You’re a whole day late in following them. You’ve lost your paddle, though if I can get picked up, you’re welcome to mine. I imagine you would need a camera to take pictures to have proof of his infidelity. Just your word wouldn’t be good enough.”

  “I have a waterproof camera in a waterproof bag, so I’m good there.”

  “You were going to surreptitiously take pictures of him?”

  “I planned to keep my distance, stay out of sight, and learn what I could. And yes, take compromising pictures, if there are any. It’s amazing what people will do when they’re away from home and think a spouse can’t witness their transgressions.” Gavin pulled on a pair of socks, then a shirt and jeans, hiding his spectacular body.

  “But it’s a company excursion, right? Wouldn’t it be difficult for him to be inconspicuous about seeing a woman in front of the others?”

  “I would think so. Supposedly, the guy I’m placing under surveillance could be having an affair with one of the sales associates. Sounds to me like the perfect way to have an extramarital affair. If I weren’t a wolf, of course. Maybe he doesn’t feel any need to hide an affair in front of his coworkers. One of the executives is apparently openly having an affair with one of the sales associates, so maybe on these trips, the guy I plan to investigate can do the same. Maybe everyone already knows about the affair, so he does what he wants.”

  “That could be. Which guy and which woman?”

  Gavin shook his head. “I wasn’t supposed to say this much.”

  She had to admire him for that. “Well, call me your PI assistant, then.”

  He gave her a dark smile.

  But she was serious. If someone had tampered with her dad’s plane, and she’d wrecked it because of that, she had every right to help investigate why and who was involved. “When they were getting ready to leave, a man of about forty to forty-five seemed ultra-friendly with a young woman in her midtwenties, and he wasn’t her father. The dark-haired guy was Conrad Dylan, and she was a blond, Cheryl, not sure of her last name. A man named Theodore was joking with them. I didn’t catch his last name either. The woman who seemed to be giving all the orders was Lee Struthers, a blond of about thirty. My brother took them up.”

  “Conrad’s my client.”

  “Okay, well, it’s definitely possible they’re having an affair. Cheryl tugged on his sleeve in a playful manner. I didn’t see what happened after that because I was busy with other things. The other man, Orwell Johnston, was dark-haired too, graying temples, and the woman who appeared to be with him was Mindy Michaels. There was also a redheaded woman named Nina Cavendish. My dad flew them up.”

  “Nina must be the other executive. I can’t believe Mindy’s a sales associate with the firm.” Gavin still couldn’t believe the woman who had been involved in the pet theft ring in Alaska was here. He kept meaning to leave and grab firewood for a fire, but he wanted to hear what else Amelia had observed about the company’s party.

  “Yeah. Shocker, isn’t it? But they didn’t get much time in jail for any of it. Typical, when it comes to pet theft. She was out on probation in a flash.”

  “What about her husband? Did he come on this trip too?” Gavin asked. “I guess not if she’s working as a sales associate for the company, and he’s not one of the executives.”

  “They’re still together, as far as I know. I mean, they moved out of my neighborhood. I never heard where they ended up. He served six months in jail; she did a month. Back to the guy that you’re here about. It’s possible Conrad could be having an affair with any of them—Cheryl, the CEO, or the female executive. I doubt he was having an affair with Mindy. She appeared to be with Orwell.”

  Gavin nodded. “It’s possible. Or he’s not having an affair with any of them.”

  Amelia frowned a little at him. “When you’ve looked into cases of infidelity, how often do you find the client was right about his or her suspicions?”

  “More often than not. Usually something the spouse does tips the husband or wife off. On occasion, the spouse is
wrong and nothing is going on. Sometimes the spouse who hires me is really having the affair and is projecting on his wife or her husband. You meet all kinds in this business. Did you see anything going on between Conrad and the other women that might have indicated he was having an illicit affair with one of them?” He tugged on his boots.

  Amelia tied on her boots. “No. They just seemed excited to be going on the trip, eager to get all their stuff loaded. They wanted to set up camp after paddling to their first location yesterday. I heard them talking about planning some work sessions for a couple of days while the storm passed through. I wondered how well that would go during a storm. Then again, it wasn’t supposed to be coming in until today. I thought it was an interesting way to conduct training.

  “If I had known to look for something more, I might have seen some indication that Conrad had something going on with one of the other women. I really was more concerned with getting everything loaded, and making sure my brother and dad didn’t leave anything or anyone behind.” She eyed him and sighed. “I’m so sorry you had another plane crash experience. And that I was the one piloting the plane this time.”

  Gavin caught her hand and pulled her close. “You weren’t responsible for what happened to the plane.” He might have believed they’d neglected maintenance on it, but she figured he wouldn’t think the plane could have so many issues all at once. “The main thing is you got us down. We’re all alive. Except for some cuts and bruises, we’re okay.”

  “Thanks, Gavin. I really feel bad about it.”

  “All I’ve got to say is that this wolf isn’t meant to fly. I’ve been damn lucky to have survived a plane crash twice now. If the plane was sabotaged, which I believe to be the case, can you think of anyone who could have done it? Any idea?”

  Even though the plane had malfunctioned, Amelia was still thinking about what she could have done differently to keep it from wrecking and sinking. She couldn’t thank Gavin enough for not being sore with her that she’d messed up his mission.

  “I had a couple of thoughts. My dad fired a pilot working for us a couple of weeks ago. He had flown a group of passengers to this area. They complained when they returned, saying the pilot had been drinking alcohol.”

  “Hell.” Gavin’s eyes narrowed as he listened.

  “Yeah. That’s one thing my dad won’t allow. No drinking before takeoff, during the flight, or before returning. If you want to drink, you do it on your time.”

  “I agree with him there.”

  “The pilot is a gray wolf. A loner. At first I thought you were a gray wolf and could be part of his pack, and he’d lied about being a lone wolf. For all I knew, he’d had trouble with his pack over his drinking. Anyway, I’d only dated him twice when my dad canned him. I assumed he’d realize that was the end of anything between us, but he called me, wanting me to help get his job back and go out again. I lectured him about what he’d done, how he’d jeopardized people’s lives and the company’s reputation. I had no intention of dating him further. He wasn’t happy with me. Swore at me. I thought that was the last of it though. I figured he’d leave the area to find work somewhere else.”

  “Revenge is definitely a plausible motive. You said you had another idea about who might have had a reason to sabotage the plane.”

  “When we moved into the area, two seaplane adventure tour companies were already here. We saw they had enough business for the seasons when we fly paddlers in, or we would have found another place to try. They weren’t happy we cut into their business.”

  “Did they threaten your dad? Or you and your brother?”

  “Mostly, there was just competition—everyone trying to outdo each other. Though Slade got into a fight with a pilot who arrived at the same time as my brother at one of the drop-off points. For safety reasons, we coordinate with the other companies to work out schedules so we don’t come in on top of each other. Words were spoken, though they waited until the paddlers had taken off, thankfully. The other company’s pilot was in the wrong, but he wouldn’t admit it. My brother came home with a black eye, but he swore the other pilot looked worse.”

  “Sounds like a possible motive to me.”

  “I agree.” She sighed. “I’m hungry. Other than chasing down something to eat as a wolf, have you got some food in your bags that we could have for breakfast? I don’t want to eat all your provisions, but…anything would be good after all the exercise we had yesterday.”

  “I was going to cook fresh eggs first thing in the morning.”

  “Good thing you rescued the cooler. I couldn’t find Winston’s food in the plane though.”

  “That blue sealed plastic box you stored in back with him near the dog bed?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I didn’t see it in the dark either and wasn’t really thinking of it at the time. Sorry, Winston.”

  Winston lifted his head and wagged his tail.

  “We’ll have to share some of our food with him. I was worried about what we could feed him that would be safe for a dog. As wolves, we can eat so much more than dogs can. I have fire starter logs, a one-burner stove, a lantern, fuel, and a Dutch oven. Though I had figured on wood for the fire. There’s plenty here if we can find some dry kindling beneath the layers of pine needles.” Gavin pulled on the rain jacket.

  “As to food, I’ve got ham, bacon, bread, English muffins, oatmeal, brown sugar, peanuts, granola and protein bars, tuna fish, canned hash, mac and cheese, frozen beef stew, and some freeze-dried jerky. And I have a couple of fishing poles. I planned to pretend to be on a vacation in case I got ‘caught’ in the area where they’re staying. I always take two poles, in case somehow I lose one.” He set out his knife, hatchet, first aid kit, water, and purifier tablets.

  “Great on the food. Do you have a gun with you?”

  “Yeah, and a license to carry one and a permit to have it on me in the Boundary Waters.”

  Amelia breathed a sigh of relief. If someone had really taken down the plane, the guy had to realize the accident could have killed everyone. What if he was out here, making sure they hadn’t survived?

  She put on the rain gear, and they headed out to bring in firewood and kindling. Winston immediately came with them. It was only lightly raining now.

  “My dad was supposed to take you.”

  “Yeah?” Gavin had his ax with him, but he found enough dead timber to use for the fire.

  “If someone sabotaged his plane and wasn’t after any of the passengers, he must have been after my dad.” Then she had another thought as she gathered kindling that was drier underneath the wet stuff. “You seemed to dismiss my other theory, but what if whoever did this was after you? What if the man you’re trying to find dirt on knew his wife had hired you? He knew she would have given you his route, and you’d probably have used the same air service that took them there to learn what you could about them.”

  “But how would he know which plane I’d be on?” His arms wrapped around a couple of logs, Gavin began to head back to their camp.

  “Both my brother and I were scheduled to fly a different group of passengers out, and we were taking different routes, if he knew our schedules. That leads me back to the notion that our fired pilot tampered with the plane.” She sniffed at the air and smelled nothing new—no fresh bear scents indicating they’d returned, nor any scent making her believe a person had been in the area.

  “Which means it has nothing to do with the case I’m on.” Gavin set the logs on the drier rocks partly under the tarp cover.

  “Right. Heaton knew our schedule and the planes. So yeah, he’s my number one suspect.” She really believed that if anyone could do it, Heaton could. She handed Gavin the kindling. “Not only that, but he’d been a mechanic in the Air Force. Still, it’s hard to imagine him doing something so awful.”

  “There have been so many cases of workplace violence that it could easi
ly be that. He’s out of a job and will probably have a time getting another one, if anyone looks into his work history with your company. So, good motive. He’s thinking he’s taking down your dad, owner of the company, and wouldn’t know you swapped off with him until it was too late to change anything. I’m going to gather more firewood so it can dry out.” Gavin headed back into the woods.

  Amelia frowned as she and Winston followed him again. “I agree.”

  Gavin stared at something on the ground.

  Not completely giving up on his case, in the event it had anything to do with what had happened, Amelia joined him and glanced down to see what he was looking at. Fresh piles of bear scat. “Conrad’s wife called you how far in advance before you booked with us?”

  Armed with another load of wood, Gavin headed back. “A day and a half. Between packing and driving out to your place, I didn’t have a lot of time. Maybe Conrad had his wife’s phone bugged so he knew who she was calling and learned I was coming up here to follow them. Still, how would he have gotten someone to take care of the plane that quickly? It would have had to be done during the night when none of you were around. And again, how would he have known which plane I’d take?”

  Amelia finished gathering more kindling and rushed after Gavin. “Heaton knew the schedule for the next three weeks from the time he was let go. Then things changed at the last minute. So, he wouldn’t have known about that unless he’d bugged our phones. I can’t imagine he would have done that. Are you sure the wife who hired you isn’t involved in this?”

  Gavin paused and looked back at her. “Why would you suspect that?”

  Amelia caught up to him, and they walked back together. “She hires the pilot, who has an ax to grind, to take down my dad’s plane, and you with it. Maybe she planned to pin the crash on her husband somehow. Maybe she’s not as concerned about proving he is having an affair as she is about giving him real trouble. She doesn’t have to pay him any money if he’s in jail when she divorces him, right?”