by Terry Spear
“I will. Night, Roxie.” Blake opened the door into the lobby, and then they made their way to the office. Inside the lodge, he called Peter. “Hey, it’s Blake. We’ve got some more evidence.”
Peter groaned. “Don’t you ever sleep? It’s three in the morning.”
“Nicole and I were on a mission. We had to do it in the middle of the night.”
“Hell, Blake, you’re really getting into this.”
Blake smiled. “Yeah, you know it.”
“Good show. I knew there was a sound reason why I deputized you. I’ll be up there in a few minutes to pick up the evidence. Where will you be?”
“If you don’t mind, meet us in the lobby. It’s empty right now.” Blake figured they shouldn’t be talking in Nicole’s room and possibly wake the suspects.
“Yeah, sure. Be there soon.”
“Let’s get some cocoa from the kitchen, and then we can wait for Peter to show up. After that, we can retire to bed for the rest of the night,” Blake said to Nicole.
Nicole took hold of his hand. “Now that sounds like a winner. And we might end up staying in bed nearly as late as the cousins tomorrow.”
Blake smiled down at her as they went into the kitchen of the restaurant. “That sounds all right to me.”
“Better be more than just all right.”
“It is.” He made them some cocoa topped with whipped cream, and then they went out to the fireplace and waited for Peter.
The sheriff didn’t take long to arrive, and he gathered the evidence. “I sure hope this works,” Nicole said.
“I do too.” Peter shook Nicole’s hand. “Always love to meet one of our kind who does investigations into criminal behavior.”
“Thanks. If I was going to be here longer, I’d help you with your investigations.”
“About that…”
Raising a brow, Nicole smiled.
“Silva owns the Victorian Tea Shop in Silver Town, and she’s missing one of her antique tea sets. Her favorite one. I thought, if it wasn’t too much trouble, you could help us find out how it went missing.”
“You’re serious.”
“We heard you found Mittens for Alicia, Jake, and the kids.”
Nicole smiled. “That was easy. Finding tea sets isn’t your thing, huh?”
Peter smiled at her. “CJ, my deputy, asked around, but he couldn’t figure out what had happened.”
“Sure, I’ll take the case. I’ll need a picture of the tea set, and I’ll have to ask everyone about it and see the video surveillance.”
“She’s good,” Blake said, pulling her into a hug.
“Wait and see if I can find the tea set first,” she said.
Peter asked for her email and then sent her a picture of the tea set.
“Okay, when I can, I’ll run into town and see Silva,” Nicole said.
They said good night to Peter, and he left. After throwing away their empty hot cocoa cups, they returned to Nicole’s room.
As soon as they were inside, door shut and locked, they began removing each other’s clothes. They didn’t have to, and she didn’t plan to ravish Blake again tonight, but it was just more fun this way and a nice ending to a long day spent with him. They were soon naked in bed, snuggling together, and this time sleeping for the rest of the night, and that was really nice too.
* * *
The next morning, Nicole’s phone woke her, and she saw it was Clay. “Sorry, I’m getting a late start this morning. I’ll call you when we can talk.”
“Don’t make it too much later.”
Now that irked her. Clay didn’t tell her what to do. He didn’t need her help. Though she smiled about that. If he had half her resources…but that was partly due to being a nice wolf and kissing Blake in greeting first thing. If she hadn’t been here and Clay had talked to Landon, nicely, he might have been where she was. Wolves usually helped other wolves.
She nuzzled Blake’s chest with her cheek. He kissed the top of her head. Well, Clay wouldn’t be exactly where she was, unless he’d made some courting progress with one of Blake’s sisters. But they weren’t happy with him either. She suspected, because of his arrogance, he wouldn’t have made inroads with either sister if he’d shown up before Nicole had.
“I have a runaway tea set to find. I’m sure you can solve this other case on your own if I don’t first. I’ll call you when we can get together.” She had no sooner ended the call than Roxie called her.
“Hey, um, Landon walked Rosco so Blake and you wouldn’t have to do it, since we were all up so late last night. Did you want me to come up to listen to the cousins’ room a little later?”
Nicole sighed.
Blake smiled at her and got out of bed, motioning to the bathroom. He soon started the shower.
“Yeah, I’ll let you know when to come up. Blake’s just taking his shower now. We’ll run down and have breakfast at the restaurant before the guys get up.” She hoped.
“Okay. See you soon.”
For the first time on an investigative mission, Nicole just wanted to sleep in. With Blake.
“I heard you telling Roxie we were going down to breakfast at the restaurant.” Blake turned off the shower.
“Yeah, Landon walked Rosco for us.”
“Oh, good. I guess Roxie told him we were up late.”
“I’m sure he figured that out because of what we had planned.” She joined him in the bathroom, his towel wrapped around his waist. She gave him a hug. “Good thing we did it instead of skipping it like we wanted to.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, we would have had some explaining to do. Though I still say that they would have understood and given me a hard time for it in a good-natured sibling way.”
“We might need to take a nap sometime today.”
“With you? I’m ready!”
“To nap.”
He chuckled. “That’s what you say now.”
She agreed with him there. No telling where it would go when they got naked together again.
As soon as they were both dressed, she called Roxie. “We’re heading down to breakfast. Come up anytime you’d like.”
“Thanks, I’m on my way.”
Chapter 14
While Nicole and Blake were waiting on breakfast in the lodge restaurant, she called Silva to learn more about her missing tea set. “Hi, I’m Nicole Grayson. Peter asked me to check into your missing tea set?”
“Yes, thanks. He told me he’d asked you. I’m sure you have better things to do, but if you have any free time to look into it, I’d pay you. I’ve asked everyone, and no one knows a thing. I purchased most of the tea sets from antique shops over the years, but this one was my great-grandmother’s.”
Nicole didn’t blame her for being upset about it. Her parents’ stationery and gift store had been broken into a couple of years back, and they’d felt violated, afraid it would happen again. She’d finally tracked down the thieves, proved they’d done the crime, and they’d gone to prison for that and a string of other break-ins and thefts, but her parents were still afraid they’d open their store some morning and find they’d been robbed again. “I’ll need to talk to everyone who works at your shop concerning the theft. When was the last time you saw the tea set?”
“A couple of days ago. It might have been gone for longer than that. I don’t know. I had it in a glass display case, but someone has moved a similar-looking tea set into its place. We’ve been so busy lately, I only just noticed the switch a couple of days ago.”
“Did it have any special value? I mean, besides that it was your great-grandmother’s? Did it have a high antique value?”
“I never had it valued. Why? I never planned to sell it.”
“Okay. Do you have security cameras monitoring your shop?”
“Outside, not inside. I never thought I�
��d have any need to watch patrons. I’ve never had any trouble, and you know we’re a wolf-run town, right?”
“Yes.” Which Nicole would think would keep wolves from stealing from others, but humans wouldn’t know that the wolves would be looking out for one another. “I’ll need a list of any potential suspects you can think of.”
“No one, really. Peter said you had a serious case you’re investigating, so I don’t want you to feel you have to be tied up with investigating this when you have this other business to take care of.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll see what I can do about your case. I have downtime where I can’t do a whole lot on a case, and the Wolff family is helping me with it. If I could contact your employees first, I’ll talk to them by phone so I won’t have to leave the lodge. If you could send me the outside security video for the couple of days prior to the disappearance and the day it went missing, I can look over that. I’ll drop in to the tea shop when I can.”
“Free lunch on me if you can get away.”
“Uh, yeah, sure, I’ll try to do it this afternoon if I don’t get tied up here with this other case. I’ll let you know one way or the other.”
“The whole pack is talking about you finding Mittens for the Silvers.”
Nicole smiled. She knew finding the missing cat had been important to the family. She just hadn’t realized how much the pack would share and that everyone would think she had done something so heroic.
“I’m glad I could find her so quickly to give them peace of mind. She’s adorable.”
“She is. I’ll let you go, but I’m sending you the information you wanted.”
“Thanks, Silva. I’ll let you know what I come up with.”
When they ended the call, their server brought Nicole and Blake’s waffles and sausages, and they began eating. She got a text and checked her phone to see that Silva had sent the security video and a list of contact numbers for employees. Nicole set her phone aside. Even though she was dying to see the video and get started on this, she was having breakfast with Blake and not about to ignore him.
“Silva sent me the video surveillance and a list of employees to talk to. But she only has a security camera on the outside of her tea shop.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Yeah, she’ll probably have to install one inside. I would think the town was pretty safe,” Nicole said.
“It is. We really do have the advantage of having a great pack, and everyone will keep their eyes and ears open in case they can learn something about it. In the meantime, though, I sure hope you can find it for her.”
“It’s her great-grandmother’s. It has a real sentimental value.”
“It’s not valuable for resale?” Blake asked.
Nicole ate another bite of her maple-syrup-covered waffles. “She didn’t have it appraised. But I’ll try to find one online that has been valued or submit the photo Peter gave me to an online appraisal site and see if I can get a price that way. Oh, and I want to meet with her and see her shop. She said I could have a free lunch, so unless I’m tied up here, I’ll probably run down to town, eat there for lunch, check out where she had the tea set, and sniff around for clues.”
“If you need my help, just let me know.”
“Maybe you can be my ears and eyes on these guys while I’m down there.”
Blake smiled. “You know it.”
A guy who looked similar to Deputy Sheriff CJ Silver came into the restaurant and headed for their table. Nicole suspected he and CJ were related.
Blake introduced them. “This is Eric Silver. He runs another pack with his mate. He’s a forest ranger.”
“Wow, that must be interesting.”
“It can be. Chasing off bears. Saving folks from eating poisonous mushrooms growing in the woods, served up with a nice grilled steak at a campout. Missing persons getting lost on hikes. Rescuing people caught in bad storms. We even had a Bigfoot sighting. You never know whether it will be just a so-so day or a day filled with danger. It’s nice to meet you. I heard all about Mittens. Jake is my cousin.”
She laughed.
Eric smiled. “I just dropped in to grab something quick to eat, so I’ll let you get back to your breakfast. I hear you’re on an assignment here.”
“Thanks, yes.” She got a call from Roxie. “Excuse me for a second. Yeah, Roxie?”
“They’re headed down to breakfast.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Good luck with your case,” Eric told Nicole.
“I’ve got the best of help, between the Wolff family and CJ and Peter.”
“If you need mine, just let me know.” Eric glanced at Rhys and William as they entered the restaurant, and Nicole was certain Eric knew just who they were.
Had Peter told the whole pack that she was investigating these men? She smiled. Unless Clay got really lucky, she did have a whole pack behind her.
Eric took a seat in a booth across the restaurant and ordered his breakfast.
“Has he eaten here before?” Nicole asked Blake.
“Never. To be fair, the restaurant has only been open for a little over a month. And Eric doesn’t even live in Silver Town, so between his work and pack commitments, I’m sure he doesn’t get into Silver Town much, except to check on his brothers.”
Nicole chuckled.
Blake finished his waffles. “I told you. You’re good for business. Your help with Mittens endeared you to the whole Silver family and the rest of the wolf pack.”
She smiled. “I wonder if Clay would have done it if he knew the goodwill it provided.”
“Are you kidding? That guy is in it for the money. Searching for a missing cat when there’s only five dollars in it for him? I doubt it.”
“From the way that Eric was sizing up the cousins, I suspect Peter has sent out word to the whole pack.”
“I imagine so. For your safety and for that of the rest of the pack.”
“I bet your sisters are also drawing more of a bachelor crowd.”
“Not yet. I think Lelandi has told the males to watch their p’s and q’s so my sisters can have time to acclimate, meet with the pack members, and do their jobs here. Lelandi is a psychologist, so she’s good at assessing people’s needs.”
“That’s good then.”
“Yeah, the pack leadership is great. They seem to really know how to lead in a good way.”
“Had you expected that when you first came here to open the lodge?”
“We were hopeful, and we’re doing everything we can to ease tensions resulting from the concerns of some of the business owners in Silver Town that we would steal all their business away. We’re finding lots of acceptance now. And with our sisters’ arrival, I’m sure even more.”
Nicole laughed. “Did you realize that would help influence your acceptance here?”
“Well, not at first. But when we mentioned we had a couple of sisters who would be joining us once the lodge in Vermont sold? Landon and I learned the Silver Town wolf pack had a shortage of females. Good news for our sisters, not so good for us. But we’re happy for them if they find good mates.”
“That’s what my brother always tells me. I need to be somewhere I have some dating possibilities. Denver doesn’t have any.”
“Me? Here?”
She smiled. “Here is a long way from there.”
The cousins left with their takeout meals, and Nicole saw Clay headed her way. She was surprised he wasn’t following the cousins, but maybe he was worried about the other man rooming with them catching on that Clay was after them.
Not asking permission first, Clay took a seat at Nicole and Blake’s table.
A server came and gave them refills on their coffee and asked if Clay needed to see a menu.
“No, I’ve eaten,” Clay said. When the server left, he said to Nicole, “W
ho’s the other man?”
“I don’t know for sure right now.” Which was the truth. Until they got the results back from the lab and only if it was conclusive would she know for certain.
“Have you found the tea set?”
“I’m working on it.” Or she would be, if Clay would get lost.
“They’re hiding their trash,” Clay said.
“Correct. So even though they spilled the beans about where they were going to be, they’re being careful about leaving DNA evidence behind,” Nicole said.
“I know. So how are we going to nail them?”
“Keep watching them until they make a mistake. I’ve skied after them to learn what I could. But that’s pretty iffy. People don’t usually have long conversations on the slope, and we’ve never been close enough to them in the lift line to hear what they’re saying. Mostly, they talk about the next run, when they’re going to stop for lunch, great powder, their great moves, stuff like that.”
“I’ve tried to listen in on them for lunch, same thing.”
“There’s the third guy now. I need to do some work on the missing tea-set case.” Nicole finished her coffee.
Blake had already finished his. “Do you want to go to the office, and you can look at the video of the tea shop there?”
“Yeah, I sure do. And I can call the employees. Good luck,” Nicole said to Clay. Then she and Blake left the restaurant.
When Nicole and Blake entered the office, Kayla was on a computer doing some promo work.
“Clay didn’t look happy that you couldn’t enlighten him further,” Blake said to Nicole.
“What can I say? We don’t know if the third man truly is Eli until we get the DNA report.”
“I saw Clay sat down with you while you were having breakfast,” Kayla said.
“Yep, he was trying to learn if I knew anything further,” Nicole said.
“I had an idea,” Kayla said.
“What?” Nicole asked, all ears.
“What if I got friendly with Eli? I’d tell him my name and he’d have to tell me his, even if it’s a fake. Then you’d have something else to go on.”