Chapter 15
One of the officers who had come to join the others stayed with Sheri. She was glad that he had, just in case Fitz or his friends turned up. She watched the officer call in the information on the laptop from the plane wreckage.
“Yeah.” The police officer read off the serial number and, after a couple of minutes, nodded. When he ended the call, he said to Sheri, “A delivery truck and its contents were stolen, and the truck was ditched on some farm road. When the police looked into it, the truck was empty. But this was one of the packages on that truck.”
“What about the driver?” Stolen packages were one thing, but what if they had killed the driver?
“The delivery truck had been stolen.”
“From which place? I was investigating a case of stolen merchandise from a warehouse and a missing delivery truck.”
The officer confirmed the delivery truck was from the same place.
“Okay, so no one was hurt while they were stealing the merchandise. But any of the packages you recover will have to go into evidence and the people who were supposed to get them won’t be getting them,” she said.
“The customer can file a claim and get a replacement. We’ll notify the buyer that we’ve found his laptop and it is evidence in a criminal case.”
“Oh, good. These guys could have ruined Christmas for a lot of people,” Sheri said.
“Yeah, I agree.”
More police cars pulled up and parked, and an aviation investigating agent from the National Transportation Safety Board also arrived. About that time, Slade and the police officer escorting him returned to the cabin.
“It looks like this is out of our hands now,” Slade said, pulling Sheri into his arms and kissing her.
“Now that is more like it.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. “More after we’re alone.”
“Do you feel like you need protection?” the police officer asked. “We can check with our supervisor and see if one of us can stay here with you until these men are picked up for questioning.”
“We’re good.” Sheri figured they could turn into their wolves and deal with it. Though they couldn’t bite the men or chance turning them into one of their kind. There was no way they wanted to turn men who were a menace to society into lupus garous . But she really wanted to have this alone time with Slade, and they couldn’t turn into their wolves if a police officer was staying at the cabin. It was too cold for an officer to stay outside.
Then the officer left with the laptop and put it inside one of the cruisers. The two other officers left to join the others at the crash site.
“I hope they find Fitz and the other men before long,” Sheri said.
“Yeah, I do too. I doubt they’ll return here, but we’ll keep a watch out and make sure we don’t smell their scents more recently in the area.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“Do you believe Mr. Lincoln knew about Gerard’s plane crash? About the stolen merchandise?” Slade asked.
“They’re family, but he might not have known about the theft. And I suspect Gerard’s wife didn’t know about it either, or she wouldn’t have called the police or hired me to look into it.” She sighed. “I wish we had internet out here.”
Slade smiled at her.
“Okay, I know. We’re supposed to be enjoying the wilderness and not be distracted by other things.”
“Like work.”
“Right. But don’t you want to know what’s going on?” Sheri asked.
“I do. You could call Cameron and see if he could check into it.”
“No way. He and Owen are already doing the bulk of the investigative cases. Besides, this isn’t a paid case any longer,” she said.
“True.”
“I’ll just have to think it over. For now, let’s have some lunch. What appeals to you?” she asked.
“How about that chili I planned to make?” he asked.
“That would really be good for a cold day.”
“Do you want to have a cocktail to go with that and then we can play some games?”
“Absolutely, what are you going to make us?”
“A winter snowflake cocktail made of Irish cream topped with whipped cream and scented with cinnamon.”
“Hmm, now that sounds delicious.”
“I wasn’t going to bring the ingredients when Hans was coming with me, but I figured as much as you like sweet drinks that you would enjoy it.”
“Oh, sure. You guys probably were going to just drink beer. I love Irish cream.” Sheri opened the cans of tomato sauce and chili beans and chopped up onions for the chili. “I guess we’ll know when these law enforcement officers finish with their work because their vehicles are all parked here.”
“Right. We could ask them if they found any more items then.” Slade started cooking the hamburger.
“Unless they think we were involved.”
“How so?”
“It’s just us saying we saw these men and that one shot at us. The police never saw any sign of them. And we found the wreckage.”
“Aww, like someone finding a dead body.” Slade added onions to the pot.
She set the table. “Like that. And then if we’re questioning the police about the items they recovered—”
“They could believe we want to know what evidence they gathered because sometimes the person who perpetrates the crime comes back to see how the investigation is going.”
“And they want to help the police find the ‘real’ bad guys.”
“Like us saying that Fitz and his friends were involved.” Once the onions were cooked through, he added the tomato sauce and chili beans. He seasoned the chili with chili powder and continued cooking it. She threw away the empty cans and wiped off the counter.
Slade made their cocktails and handed her a glass. He clinked his glass with hers.
She took a sip of her drink. “Mmm, this is so good.”
Slade drank some of his. “I agree. So we’re not going to ask them what they found?”
“Sure we are.”
He laughed.
When the chili was done, Sheri dished it up and spooned some sour cream on top. Then he sprinkled on some shredded cheese and crowned the chili with corn chips. Slade set the bowls on the table and they sat down to eat.
But then they heard a vehicle drive to the cabin and park.
Slade went to look out the window to see who it was. Immediately, Sheri worried Fitz and his men had returned to interrogate them about the plane wreck merchandise.
Then again, maybe it was just the police and she and Slade could interrogate them.