Chapter 16
“Andy, Trenton, and Lionel,” Slade said, opening the cabin door before they could knock and he invited them in. He realized Andy, who had been standing behind Trenton and Lionel, was holding a large cellophane-wrapped gift basket of a variety of cheeses, meats, fruits, and nuts, and a bottle of champagne tied with a big red-and-green-plaid Christmas bow. Lionel was also carrying a little Christmas box.
“This doesn’t even begin to express our thanks to you for coming to our aid during the storm that night. We wouldn’t have made it without your help,” Lionel said.
Slade hadn’t expected them to bring them a gift and was really taken aback, but appreciative. He hoped that if Sheri and he hadn’t assisted them, an emergency crew would have reached them in time, but he was glad they’d been the ones there to aid them.
“Thanks so much for the beautiful gift basket. Did you fish at all while you were out here?” Sheri asked them as they came in.
“No, we sure didn’t,” Lionel said. “We planned to do that the next day, but then the storm hit, and you know how it was after that.”
“We’re having chili, if you would like to join us for lunch. We have plenty for everyone, too much for just the two of us, in fact,” Sheri said.
“Yeah, come in and join us since you made the trip all the way out here,” Slade said.
“Are you sure?” Andy asked, though he looked like he would love to stay for lunch.
“Yep. Besides, we have news about the coordinates you gave us to check out,” Slade said.
“We saw all the police cruisers parked by your cabin and wondered what was going on, but were afraid to mention it,” Andy said.
“Not only that,” Lionel said, “but we were afraid you both might have not been here, in trouble yourselves, and that’s why all the police cars were here.” The three men began taking off their outer winter clothes, appearing eager to learn what Sheri and Slade had found.
“What had you thought you had seen in the woods on your hike?” Sheri asked as she served up bowls of chili for the guys.
“We weren’t sure,” Andy said. “Something metal. Possibly a plane, but we didn’t want to call it in case we were totally off base. As for lunch, what can we do to help?”
“If you would like, you could unwrap the gift basket and we could have some of the fruit and cheeses, salami, and pecans with our lunch,” Slade said.
“Are you sure?” Lionel asked. “We got that for you to enjoy.”
“We will. But it’s even better enjoying it with friends,” Sheri said.
The three men all got to work setting out some of the gift basket items while Slade asked, “Would you like an Irish cream cocktail?”
“Yeah, sure,” Lionel said.
Slade made them cocktails. Sheri set out the Christmas napkins.
Andy said, “Now that’s what I call real class.”
“Yeah, she sure makes meals truly exceptional during the holidays,” Slade said, kissing her forehead.
“I love the Christmas tree too,” Lionel said.
“That’s all Sheri’s doing too,” Slade said, proud of her. They’d never expected to have company for a meal, except when their friends and her brother arrived, and her Christmas touches made it even more special.
“The mistletoe?” Trenton asked.
“That was all Slade’s doing,” Sheri said. “We’ve found it very useful.”
The guys all laughed.
“So, about the coordinates we gave you for that item we saw out in the woods… Did you find the piece of metal we saw?” Andy asked as he set out dishes for whatever else they wanted to eat from the fruit basket.
“Well, we don’t know if it was the piece you actually saw, but we found some of the plane, including a door and an ID number. It definitely was a wreck, if that’s what you thought you had seen. But more than that, it was carrying at least one piece of stolen merchandise,” Sheri said.
“No,” Trenton said, pouring everyone glasses of water.
“Yep. Which is why all the police vehicles are out here. And worse, the men who had something to do with it were there searching through the wreckage for the merchandise,” Slade said, “so we were glad you hadn’t come upon them when they were there.”
“But you did?” Trenton asked, taking some green and purple grapes and adding them to his plate as they sat down to eat.
“We saw them, and one of the men fired off shots at us. Then they followed us back to the cabin,” Slade said. “So they’re dangerous. We called the police and they had aircraft accident investigators come to investigate, so they have roped off the area and are looking for the men now. Just a warning, I wouldn’t go hiking through that area, in the event you had the notion to.”
“No.” Lionel paused before he ate another bite, his spoonful of chili suspended midair. “Except for dropping off the gifts, we have no intention of hiking through the woods anytime soon.”
“Yeah, I’m sure all of us are feeling that way,” Andy said.
“Man, you two have had more trouble on your vacation,” Lionel said. “I’m glad they didn’t actually shoot you.”
“Yeah, we were thinking about how it would have been if the four of you had returned to check out the wreckage. How are your ribs?” Sheri asked.
“Awful, but they’ll heal. I’m just glad I didn’t have any fractures.” Lionel ate some more of his chili. “Man, is this good.”
“Thanks. I’m glad you didn’t have any broken ribs. What about Morgan?” Sheri asked.
“He sends his thanks,” Andy said. “We should have said that in the beginning. The Christmas box is filled with chocolate fudge topped with walnuts and crushed candy canes. That’s from Morgan’s mom. She was extremely grateful that you helped get him assistance as fast as you did. He wanted to come but couldn’t navigate the snow and icy conditions with a broken leg, besides the fact he’s at home with his three kids and his mom. He’s doing well, considering. But he’s just as grateful as the rest of us are for your help.”
“I’m glad to hear he’s on the mend. We were afraid that moving both of you might have been harder on your injuries,” Slade said. “Thank Morgan’s mom for the fudge for us. We both love it.”
“We will. The doctor said Morgan’s broken bone hadn’t moved and he would have been more worried about us suffering from hypothermia if we had stayed put,” Lionel said.
“And the potential of being struck down by a fallen tree was on our minds,” Andy said. “We did the right thing in moving to the cabin until we could be picked up by emergency services.”
“I agree it worked out for the best. This cheese is really good,” Sheri said, sampling a piece of the provolone from the gift basket.
“Yeah, and I love the muenster cheese too,” Slade said.
Even though the guys ate a little of the food from the gift basket, Slade thought they were trying not to eat too much of it because it was Sheri and Slade’s thank-you gift.
“You asked if we got to go fishing. I felt awful that we didn’t get to because of Morgan’s and my injuries. We all had fishing licenses just for this trip too,” Lionel said.
Slade glanced at Sheri. She smiled and nodded.
“Why don’t we all go fishing, if you’re up to it, Lionel, and you can all spare the time?” Slade asked.
The guys all looked at each other. Andy said, “We wouldn’t want to impose.”
“It’ll be fun,” Sheri said. “Come on. We have the gear, we can take turns fishing, and if you catch anything, you can take it home with you.”
“Let’s do it,” Slade said.
And with that said, the three men looked thrilled they were going to go fishing after all. Sheri and Slade were glad to have them join them.
After they finished their meal, they cleaned up and put the leftover food away. Then they packed up the sled to go fishing and everyone dressed warmly for the trip across the lake.
Once they headed out to a good deep spot on the lake, they set up to fish in the tent—though it was a little crowded and the three guys sat on waterproof pads instead of camp chairs. They all took turns fishing.
“Man, you’ve got the right spot.” Andy caught about a five-pound pike. “My girlfriend will be so thrilled when she sees I brought home fish for dinner when she thought I was just delivering a gift basket to the both of you.”
“She was looking forward to having some, so you’ll have made her day once she gets home from her nursing job tonight,” Trenton said, then caught his own pike. “This is a good spot.”
“The bait works good too,” Lionel said, snagging his own fish. He caught another after that. “That one is for Morgan.”
Andy laughed. “I’m glad you caught a fish for him, or I might have had to give up mine so he wouldn’t have felt left out. If I had given up mine and my girlfriend had learned about it, I would be out on my ear for the night. Or she might have even threatened to return my Christmas gifts.”
“He’s serious,” Lionel said.
Everyone laughed.
Sheri had thrown back a fish that was too small and Slade managed to catch one that was about the size of Sheri’s that she’d caught earlier.
Then they finally packed it up as their friends had caught what they wanted for their dinners while Slade and Sheri had plenty of fish to eat. Besides, they wanted to fish with Hans, Candice, and Owen when they arrived on Friday.
Andy hauled the sled with the fishing equipment on it while they all trudged back to the cabin, and then the guys packed their fish in an ice chest they had cold beers in and thanked them again for everything.
“We enjoyed the company, thanks for the gifts, and Merry Christmas,” Sheri said.
The guys wished them a Merry Christmas too, and then they got into their SUV and drove off.
“Well, that was fun,” Slade said.
“It sure was. Oh, I forgot all about the fudge. We should have offered them some.”
Slade smiled. “As much as I love homemade fudge, I’m all for keeping it to ourselves.”
She laughed. “So you weren’t all that willing to share.”
“I thought about it.”
Loving his honesty, she kissed him. “I think we made their trip out here a little better after all that had gone on. I’m glad Lionel was able to fish even with his bruised ribs. I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to make it.” Sheri grabbed a purple grape and ate it, then snagged Slade’s hand. “It’s time to enjoy some bedtime now.”
“My thoughts exactly!”
Then they made exquisite love and she realized how much she valued making love to him all the way.
***
That night, Tanner and the rest of the police officers dropped by the cabin and told them they were heading out, done for the night, but they would be back tomorrow.
Sheri and Slade made grilled cheese and ham sandwiches for dinner and then went out to make more s’mores at the firepit. But this time, Sheri put some green icing on the top of their s’mores to make them more Christmassy. “I forgot all about the icing I brought for the s’mores. I wasn’t even sure if you would want to have them, but Hans loves them and had packed them with the rest of his stuff, so I figured you would enjoy them too.”
“Yeah, with you, they’re perfect. I love how you added the Christmassy touch this time—very creative.”
“Absolutely. I make them like that every year. I wanted to make this a camping trip that still had some Christmas spirit.”
“We’ll have to try the fudge tomorrow.” Slade slathered the green icing on the top of his s’more and managed to drip the frosting on his knee.
She laughed. “Shades of you decorating your cookie at the office party.”
“Yeah. I bet if I used a different color, I wouldn’t have so many problems.”
“You’re cute, you know?”
He smiled and kissed her.
After they finished eating their s’mores, he cleaned his snow pants inside the cabin. Then they stripped and shifted and went for a wolf run. Both of them looked in the direction of the plane crash site, then at each other. They wanted to check out the site. They took off that way down a different trail. As they approached the site, they cautiously drew closer, making sure no one was there for now. They listened for sounds of anyone talking, digging around the area, moving, but they didn’t hear anything.
Finding no one, they began to explore the wreckage. Yellow crime-scene tape roped off the area as they began to smell the scents of the police officers and Fitz and his companions—nothing recent. Then Sheri and Slade began smelling for any sign of more merchandise that might be buried in the snow. Lots of areas had been dug up and piles of snow moved to other spots as officers had searched for plane wreckage and packages. Sheri and Slade might not find anything around this location, so they headed way beyond the taped-off section and started to sniff around, looking for anything else they might find that the investigators and Fitz and his cohorts hadn’t located.
About a quarter mile from the site, Sheri picked up the scent of cardboard boxes, each having a slightly different smell—different people who had handled them, different packaging materials, different items in the packages. It appeared they had found a bunch of merchandise that had been buried under the snow and the area looked so undisturbed that no one would have found the packages until the snow began to melt off. Again, they had the dilemma of what to do. But it was easier this time. They couldn’t dig out the stuff in their wolf coats, but would leave it like it was, buried deep so that if Fitz or the others came across the area, they wouldn’t see it. She woofed at Slade and he nodded, then the two of them bolted for the cabin.
When they finally arrived back there, they hurried inside to shift and dress warmly. “I think we’ve found several boxes of merchandise,” Slade said.
“Yeah, I agree. We don’t want to disturb the area though. We need to call the police and get them out here. They can dig up the merchandise and confiscate it.”
“There’s only one problem with that. How will we be able to tell them we knew it was there? There’s nothing at all there to indicate that anything is buried deep underneath the snow,” Slade said.
“Hmm, you’re right. Do you have any ideas?”
“None that would make it sound as though we just stumbled across the packages.”
“A friend dropped by with his dog, we took it for a walk, and she smelled the packages?” she asked.
“Then the police might want the dog to help them find them. They might ask if the dog is trained for searches.”
“I don’t know what we could do then. I mean, we could say we were searching around the area beyond the taped-off crime scene and saw a corner of a box sticking up, but if we did that, we would have to dig up a box and that would tell a different story,” Sheri said.
They had to report it, had to get the merchandise into the police officers’ hands, but how to do it without making themselves look suspicious?
“Okay, so maybe we return to the area and search around some more. Maybe we can find parts of the plane and then direct the police to that,” Sheri said. “Though if we don’t find any other pieces around where we found the merchandise, it won’t help our case.”
“But they might expand the search to the other areas. Do you want to go as wolves or not?” Slade asked.
“If we go as humans, we can still smell the buried merchandise. But at least we’ll have our satellite phones on us and can call it in if we find anything that is exposed,” Sheri said. “Otherwise, if we’re running as wolves, we’ll have to return to the cabin and call them.”
“All right, but just keep a lookout for Fitz or his men. We need to be sure we don’t get shot at again. As humans, we won’t be able to move as quickly to outrun their gunfire.”
“But we still have the advantage of nightfall. They won’t be able to see us that well, and we’ll hear them moving around a lot sooner than they’ll hear us. Oh, I have another idea.”
“I’m all ears,” Slade said.
“What if we dig up the buried merchandise and…”
Slade raised his brows and smiled a little. “I thought that would lead the police to believe we had something to do with the merchandise being there.”
“Right, but what if we say we saw Fitz and his men out in the woods looking for the merchandise at night, and they had uncovered a couple of boxes—maybe partially—when we spooked them, and they took off?”
“So we’re going to make something up?” Slade smiled at her. “But if the police can verify that they weren’t at the scene of the crime, then they’ll wonder why we lied to them.”
Sheri sighed. “Right. Come on. Let’s look for any other signs of the plane so we can report that. Maybe something will come to us about the buried boxes.”
“Okay, I’ll buy that.” Slade began to put on his outer gear and so did Sheri.
They headed out but went a more direct route to the location of their new find instead of in the direction of the taped-off plane crash site this time. They had flashlights and emergency gear in backpacks, plus their satellite phones, but they weren’t using their lights, just using their wolf sight to navigate by. They were both listening intently to any sounds in the woods. They heard a fox nearby, then saw it peering at them from behind a tree. Then it took off.
When they finally reached the area where they had located the buried packages, they spread out a bit and continued to look for more plane parts or smell any other scents of buried packages. They kept each other in view, but stayed quiet to ensure if anyone else was in the area, they wouldn’t be heard.
Then Sheri found part of a wing and wanted to jump up and down and pump her fist in the air. Instead, she howled. Howling was preferable to trying to use their satellite phones or calling out to each other. Even in their human forms, they could sound like full-fledged wolves.
Slade didn’t howl back but trudged in his snowshoes to where she was. He smiled. “Another find,” he whispered.
Then they heard voices. Great.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this in the dark!”
Sheri couldn’t believe it either and was certain the police or aviation investigators wouldn’t be out here looking for evidence this late at night—unless it had been a rescue mission or a case of finding a murder victim—but would be back at it in the morning. She thought the man who spoke was the guy who had fired his gun at them, Otis.
“Tell the whole world, why don’t you?”
Now that sounded like Fitz. He always sounded annoyed.
The men who were speaking drew closer to Slade and Sheri. They moved farther away from them. She knew Fitz and the others wouldn’t find the packages, not as deeply as they were buried, but they might see snowshoe tracks in the snow and where they led to—the packages and now the location of the airplane wing. If the men followed them in the opposite direction, the tracks would lead them back to Sheri and Slade’s cabin. She was certain if that happened, they would try to break into their cabin again.
Flashlights came from three different parts of the forest, but the men were still moving close together and seemed to be the same three men that Sheri and Slade had encountered before. At least they knew that Fitz and Otis were here.
She really hadn’t believed they would come here at night looking for the merchandise. Then she actually saw them. Yep, the same three men dressed in parkas and snow pants, wearing snowshoes and trudging through the snow using flashlights and, oh great, metal detectors.
“I don’t know why we didn’t try the metal detectors before,” Otis said.
“Because we didn’t realize the merchandise would be buried in the snow,” Danbury said.
“Can you keep it down?” Fitz said.
“Why? There’s no one else out here. The police wouldn’t stay out at night looking for stuff,” Otis said.
Sheri was afraid the men just might find the merchandise after all. She wanted to report them to the police right this minute, before these thieves found what they were looking for and got away with it. She whispered to Slade, “They might find the merchandise. Let’s call the police and alert them.”
He nodded and they made a wide circle around where the men were. When they were far enough away from the men, Sheri got on her satellite phone. “I’m Sheri Whitmore and I need to report that the same three men, one of whom shot at us before, Fitz Connolly and two of his friends, are out near the plane’s crash site at the BWCA and they’re looking for the stolen merchandise that was on the plane. They’ve got metal detectors this time. We were just taking a night hike and ran across them.” She gave the dispatcher the coordinates. “It’s about a quarter of a mile due southwest of the crash site and we found part of the plane’s wing. We’re headed back to our cabin.” She gave them the name of the lodge. “We can take the police out there if they come by the cabin and maybe they can catch these guys in the act this time.”
“Sending a unit now,” the dispatcher said.
“Hey, get the shovel out,” Fitz said. “I’ve detected metal here. Hopefully it’s some of the electronic equipment and not more of the damn aircraft.”
Sheri and Slade continued to move back to their cabin. She figured that if the men found the equipment before the police arrived, she and Slade had done all they could to try to safeguard it. It was up to the police to handle it now.
When they arrived at the cabin, they were surprised to see two patrol cars pull up and park. This time the policemen who had worked with Slade before were first on the scene, plus two more officers.
“You really ought to join the police force,” Conway said to Slade.
Slade smiled. “Are you ready to catch these guys this time?”
“Yeah, let’s get to it. We were coming out to do a security check on the crash site when Sheri made the call, which was why we were so close by.”
Then another police car drove up and parked and two more police officers got out. Good. They needed to catch the three guys. With six police officers, that bettered the odds a bit. But what shocked Sheri—and Slade—the most was that the female officer who arrived in the last car was a wolf. A gray wolf. And none of the members of the white wolf pack had known about her before this.
She looked just as shocked to smell their scents and then she smiled. “Well, I’m Dulcie Wulff and I’m pleased to meet you.” She offered her hand and shook Sheri’s first, then Slade’s.
Sheri smiled broadly at her. “We’re sure glad to meet you too.”
Slade agreed.
“Wulff’s going to stay with Ms. Whitmore while we go track down Fitz and his friends,” Tanner said.
“That sounds good to me,” Dulcie said.
Sheri thought she might have wanted to go with the other officers to help take Fitz and the other men into custody, but then again, meeting fellow wolves and learning more about them? That had to have made Dulcie’s night.