by Terry Spear
The tea shop was filled with she-wolves from the pack, everyone pretending it was just another day of dropping in to have lunch. Kayla opened the door to the tea shop so Nicole could enter carrying the tea set on a silver platter.
Lelandi was distracting Silva in the back of the tea shop, and then she turned to see Nicole with her tea set and cried out with joy. “You found it!”
The MacTire sisters came in after that, and everyone got up from their seats and called out happy birthday. Silva wiped away tears and hugged everyone.
Nicole said, “I found your tea set. You would never believe where it’s been.”
Silva smiled.
“The MacTire sisters were having it refurbished, but I couldn’t tell you because it was for your birthday.”
“You are the best PI ever. Thanks for joining our ranks. And welcome,” Silva said to Roxie, whom she hadn’t met yet. “And thanks so much to the MacTire sisters for your beautiful gift. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
But Nicole was sure everyone did.
Silva loved the Bavarian hot chocolate pot set that Kayla, Roxie, and Nicole had bought for her. Nicole realized just how nice it was to have two sisters like this. She could imagine visits to the tea shop with them in the future and shopping trips too.
Then Lelandi brought out a cake for the occasion. After eating soups and sandwiches, then slices of cake, they visited with the rest of the ladies, and Nicole was truly glad that she’d mated Blake and was staying here with the Silver pack.
After everyone ate, they watched Silva open the rest of her presents, and then Blake met Nicole at the tea shop to take her to the grocery store and then back to the lodge. “While I was watching the cousins before I came to get you, I thought there might be something up.”
“Oh?” she asked.
“Yeah. Eli seemed to be mad at his brother. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, and he stormed off for the slopes. Rhys and his cousin stared after him, and they didn’t look happy.”
“Sounds like they’re getting on each other’s nerves.” Which wasn’t good.
“I think so too.”
After Blake told her about the issues between Rhys and his brother, Nicole didn’t want to delay getting back to the lodge any longer than she had to. They picked up a few things to eat and would drop them off at the house first, then head over to the lodge.
She was afraid the cousins might end up checking out. Maybe only Eli would, but it concerned her that Rhys might be planning to leave. She still couldn’t get used to the idea that Silver Town was now her home and she really belonged with a pack. She couldn’t wait to meet everyone who belonged to the pack.
“Hey, no more goofing off for me. Once we drop off the groceries, I’ve got to stay on these guys the rest of the time they’re here, just to ensure they don’t try to skip out on us.”
“I figured you’d say that. I’m with you on it.”
“Where was Clay when the guys were mad at each other?”
“In the men’s room. I saw him come out about the time Rhys and William took off to ski. Why would the insurance rep who hired him think he could do a good job? He can’t even ski to get close to these guys.”
“When he was first assigned the case, the guys were in Florida, not snow skiing.”
“Okay. Gotcha. We’ll keep on them. No more goofing off.”
“You don’t really mean that.”
He chuckled. “At night, as long as they’re sleeping, we’re being mated wolves.”
Chapter 19
As soon as they dropped off the groceries at the house, Blake wrapped his arm around Nicole and headed for the lodge. “I was looking at house plans. I sent you some blueprints if you want to look them over.”
“Thanks, I will.”
He called Roxie and let her know they were on their way into the lodge. “Where is everyone?”
“Rhys and William are out skiing. Landon and Nate went out to ski too. They’re worried something’s up with these guys. Eli is in his room.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.” Blake said to Nicole, “What do you want to do?”
“If the guys are skiing, let’s head on out.”
“We’ll be in the office grabbing our ski gear in a moment, Roxie. Let us know if anything comes up.”
“I will. See you later.”
They reached the office and found Kayla watching the security monitors.
Kayla glanced at the security monitor. “The cousins are coming in.”
Blake looked at the monitor. “Okay, it looks like they’re getting an early dinner.”
“I guess we are too,” Nicole said, looping her arm through his. “See you, Kayla. We’ll have to skip dinner and a wolf run with you all tonight. Roxie can leave as soon these guys return to their room.”
“Okay.”
Nicole and Blake went to the restaurant and found a seat near the guys so they could listen in on the men’s conversation.
“I can’t believe I took three spills coming down the mountain this afternoon,” Rhys said.
“Hell, I can’t believe I was standing at the base of the mountain and suddenly fell on my ass.”
Rhys laughed at his cousin. Then he ran his hands through his long hair. “Okay, listen. We’ll stay through tomorrow, and the following day we’re leaving. I don’t care what Eli wants. We’ve been here long enough. We need to move on.”
The server came and took Blake and Nicole’s order for ribs, mashed potatoes, and asparagus.
“Good, Rhys. I was feeling the same way. We’ve had fun, but it’s time to go. I already made our reservations for Acapulco, and we can be there in three days’ time,” William said.
“It sounds good to me. I’m ready for some heat. Snorkeling and scuba diving. Yeah, man. Until we leave, I want to get in as much skiing as we can. We probably won’t be able to ski for a long while.”
“Your brother says he doesn’t want to come with us right away. He wants to ski longer, then join us.”
“He doesn’t have a choice. I don’t trust him to clean up after himself.”
“You can’t always look after him,” William said.
“Hell, I know that. Okay? He’s an adult now.” Rhys shook his head. “I just worry he’ll leave something incriminating behind.” Rhys took a sip of water from his bottle. “We’re going to need more money in the near future.”
“You’re not really going to do the same thing again, are you?” William asked.
“Yeah, unless you want to do it to yourself this time.”
“No, you’re good at it, if you’re going to do it again. Besides, no one will miss you this time. Me? We’d have to deal with upsetting my parents.”
Rhys chuckled. “To them, Eli and I are already gone.” He got a call on his phone. “Yeah, brother? I’ll bring some food up. Yeah, and a couple of beers. We’re staying for a couple more days. Don’t worry about it.”
Blake and Nicole cast each other looks, and then their food was served and they began eating.
The cousins’ food was served right after that, but they’d ordered more food and drinks and were waiting on them now.
At least Blake and Nicole knew where the men were headed next if they got away from them before they could get the DNA analysis results. But they still hadn’t said anything concrete that would prove Rhys planned to pretend-off himself for more insurance money.
“Hey, when we get Eli’s food, I’ll run his up to the room. You can wait by the fireplace, and I’ll return and eat my dinner with you,” Rhys said to his cousin.
“He can join us if he wants.”
“Nah, he’s watching football.”
They got Eli’s meal and split up, William taking their meals to the fireplace seating and Rhys going to the elevator with Eli’s meal.
Roxie no
tified Blake in a text that Rhys was in the room telling his brother they were going to Mexico.
Blake: Thanks, we overheard them talking about it.
Roxie: I hope the DNA evidence comes back before they leave.
Blake: We all do.
Roxie: Rhys is leaving again.
Blake: He’s eating his dinner by the fire with his cousin. We’ll probably move next to the fire, have a couple of cups of hot chocolate, and pet Rosco.
Roxie: Good. He’s missed you two.
Blake smiled and finished up his dinner. “Did you want to grab some cocoa and see Rosco?” he asked Nicole.
“I sure do since he’s so close to where the men are.”
They got their cocoas to go, and then Blake paid the tip for their meals and they left the restaurant.
When they reached the dog, Nicole crouched down and gave him a hug. “Hey, Rosco, did you miss me?” He was wagging his tail like crazy.
She’d made a real impression on their dog. Not to mention she seemed to make a great impression on everyone she’d met. Except maybe the men she helped to arrest and the other PI. He wondered what had happened to him.
Blake glanced around the lobby and saw the guy working on a laptop at a table on the other side. Blake wondered if he was working on another case or trying to get more information on these guys like Nicole had done. Did he know they were leaving for Mexico soon?
He thought Nicole would follow them, but it probably wouldn’t work out. Even though having a honeymoon there with her would be fun, these guys might have noticed Blake and Nicole at the ski lodge, and then seeing them in Acapulco could tip the men off.
He suspected this was the last opportunity Nicole had to prove who Rhys was. After that, the insurance rep would have to hire someone else to investigate Rhys. At least she could forward the information to Taggart, and he could take it from there.
“We didn’t get to ski this afternoon,” Nicole said to Blake, making small talk that wouldn’t seem suspicious.
“No, but we can ski tomorrow. We need to figure out when we’re going to have the wedding ceremony and where we’re going for a honeymoon.” Again, Blake figured if the men overheard them, they would sound like a couple who were engaged to be married and not doing any surveillance on these guys.
“Costa Rica? I think that would be a wolf’s paradise.”
“Costa Rica it is.”
That night, they retired to the room, made love, and listened for anything else that might help with the case. But the cousins just watched TV until two in the morning and didn’t reveal anything further.
* * *
The next morning, Blake and Nicole heard blasting up on the mountaintop. Before the lifts opened, the ski resort staff had set charges to clear the unstable snow that could cause avalanches once the skiers were on the slopes. When Blake and Nicole headed downstairs, they saw Landon had brought Rosco to the lodge.
“Does he need his morning walk?” Blake asked his brother.
“I took care of it. Once you two move into the house, we can get back to our regular routine,” Landon said.
“Okay, thanks. We’re headed in to breakfast.”
“Enjoy.”
Blake and Nicole took their seats in the restaurant and ordered sausage and eggs.
“There’s more snow on the way too,” Blake said.
“That’s not good. These guys might decide to head out of here before the snowstorm hits if they worry about getting out in time to make their plane trip.”
“Possibly, but they seem to like the adventure of skiing in the snowstorms too. It hasn’t stopped them before.”
Once they finished breakfast, they saw the other insurance investigator typing away on his laptop at another table. “Do you want to see if we can slip by him and take a peek at what he’s up to?” Blake asked.
“I sure do.” They made sure to stay downwind.
When they walked behind him and on past him, Blake saw he was making flight reservations and hotel reservations for Acapulco for that afternoon.
So he planned to skip out on them and arrive in Mexico before the cousins did. Was Clay going to tell Nicole he was leaving?
Blake glanced at Nicole as they slipped out the door. She smiled back at him. “The million-dollar question is will he tell you he’s leaving, or will he just sneak out?”
“Maybe he’s changed. Maybe he’ll be man enough to tell me he’s leaving to try to catch up to them in Mexico. I haven’t told him I know that’s where they’re going, but I would have once they were on their way out of here. He must believe he’ll have the advantage of learning what he needs to when they arrive in Acapulco. He certainly doesn’t have it here.”
“Are you upset that he could catch them in Mexico?” Blake didn’t think she appeared to be.
“Nah. I mean, I really wanted to solve the case here. But if I haven’t before they leave for Mexico, maybe Clay can do it if he can get Rhys extradited,” she said as they headed to the office to exchange snow boots for ski boots. “We still have a small window of opportunity. Maybe the DNA evidence will have some hits before they leave.”
“If that happens, we arrest them and Clay’s sitting in Acapulco waiting for these guys to arrive, only they don’t ever show up.”
She chuckled. “Yeah. Now for me, that would be the best scenario ever. Especially if he doesn’t tell us where he’s going and why.”
Kayla walked into the office, all smiles. “Your favorite PI ‘partner’ is checking out.”
“Did he say anything about why?”
“No. He just checked out, and he’s headed outside with his laptop. Did you want to catch up to him and let him know you know?” Kayla asked.
“I could, but what’s the use? Unless he emails me or calls or something, he’s doing his usual vanishing act.” Nicole fastened the buckles on her boots.
Kayla sat down at her work monitor. “The guy’s a jerk of a wolf.”
“I’ll say.” Nicole pulled on her ski jacket and zipped it up.
Blake was glad Nicole didn’t intend to chase after Clay to force him to tell her the truth.
Nicole’s phone dinged, and she pulled it out of her pocket. “A text from Roxie. She said the cousins are leaving the room earlier than usual. Maybe because this is their last day for skiing.” She texted her back. “I bet she’ll be glad when she doesn’t have to stay in the room or hide who she is all the time once these guys leave.”
“No way,” Kayla said. “She’s having a blast being deep undercover. That’s what she told me.”
Nicole laughed. Then she frowned. “Should we have told the pack leaders we were mating and asked if I could join the pack first?”
Blake shook his head and pulled her into his arms. “No way. You know that’s why they were all checking you out while eating at our restaurant? Besides, if one of the youngest Silvers had anything to say about it, she would say you had to stay with the pack after finding her Mittens for her.”
Nicole smiled and hugged Blake back.
“See you later, Kayla,” Nicole said, and she and Blake went outside to ski.
Chapter 20
The snow had been falling as Nicole and Blake skied and sometimes caught sight of the cousins skiing, but then Nicole saw her brother and Landon coming out of the lodge to ski. They wore determined PI kinds of expressions as though they were out here to catch the bad guys, not just skiing for the fun of it. She loved them both for helping her with this.
“Hey, they’re heading up to the chairlift now,” she said to Nate and Landon, the snow swirling around them.
“Did you want a break? You both have been at it for a couple of hours,” Nate said.
So they thought they would come out to relieve her and Blake. She so appreciated them for it.
“Since they’re leaving tomorrow, I figure th
is is my last day to keep up surveillance on them,” Nicole said.
“I understand. You don’t think there will be too many of us keeping an eye on them?” Nate asked.
“No, I think you’ll just appear to be two other skiers out here, enjoying the snowfall before they shut down the resort because of the worsening weather.”
“Okay, good. Because we want to help you nail these guys,” Landon said, looking like a wolf on a hunt, ready to take down some prey.
“Let’s go then.” Nicole would have liked to stop and warm up with a hot cup of cocoa, but when a mission was winding down like this, she really wanted to spend every minute on surveillance in case something was said that could give her the ammunition she needed to take the guys in.
Landon got a call, and everyone waited to see what it was about.
“Okay, Kayla, I’ll take care of it.” Landon pocketed his phone. “Sorry, duty calls. I’ll be back out here as soon as I take care of a little guest issue.”
“See you soon,” Nicole said, wanting to get back on the slopes.
“I’ll meet up with you when you’re able to join us,” Nate said, as if Landon was his ski partner.
“Okay, good show.” Landon slapped him on the back and then skied back to the lodge.
She was glad Blake’s family seemed to really like Nate too.
Nate followed Nicole and Blake to the chairlift, and they spied William, Rhys, and Eli in the line, maybe two chairlifts ahead of them once they loaded up. They watched first William and Rhys load up, and then Eli on the next chair. Two more riders per chair followed them before Nicole and Blake climbed onto theirs. As they were swept up into the air, Nate made the next chair.
The higher they rose, the higher the winds and the more the cold was cutting through her clothes. She definitely needed to get warmed up soon.