Chapter 19
The next morning was another late start for Sheri and Slade. After such a late night, they were happily intertwined in each other’s arms, legs likewise tangled together, kissing and nuzzling.
“I’m so glad we’re moving in together,” Sheri said, “but”—she licked Slade’s aroused nipple—“we might be late to work lots of mornings.”
Slade laughed. “We’ll just have to go to bed right after we’re done with work and have had a quick bite of dinner.”
“Okay, that works for me.” She was glad they were going to have another week where they were just strictly together having a great time, which she was totally looking forward to. Except this time, they wouldn’t have to deal with thieves on the run. Hopefully. In a wolf-run town like Slade said Silver Town was, the local law enforcement could deal with any issues they encountered. She suspected they would have a totally fun vacation skiing, running as wolves among even more wolves, trying out the eateries there, and just enjoying everything Silver Town had to offer. But especially treasuring their time alone together.
She put her arms on his chest and rested her chin on her hands as she looked at him. “Are you ready for breakfast? It’s a little late for running as wolves this morning. Besides, as many times as we’ve gone to run as wolves and had issues, I’m ready to just go cross-country skiing. How does that sound to you?”
“That sounds great. We’ll ski all across the lake,” Slade agreed, and kissed her, but then he was on top of her, and they were making love again—before breakfast.
Once they showered and dressed, they made soft and fluffy skillet cinnamon rolls with homemade cream cheese icing and cinnamon sugar for breakfast. The rolls were sweet, buttery, and exquisite, perfect. They had some ham and eggs over easy to go with them, and mugs of coffee. Afterward, they called Faith to let her know that they were going to have a new wolf pack member, only she was a gray wolf, and she was on the police force.
“Oh, that’s terrific. Cameron’s in the middle of a case right now, but I’ll let everyone else know.”
“She’s eager to meet everyone and I asked her to join us for the pizza party after we move Slade’s things to my place,” Sheri said.
“Oh, that will be perfect. Too bad we didn’t know about her sooner. She could have come to our Christmas party,” Faith said.
“I agree. Her name is Dulcie Wulff and she’s from Minneapolis, no other family, and she’s a royal, so she’ll be a big help to the rest of the pack members.”
“Wonderful. She’ll be part of the family for sure,” Faith said.
“We meant to tell you last night, but we got in so late. We’ll have to tell you all about that later. We’re going skiing now.”
“Oh, fun. Enjoy skiing.”
“Thanks! We will.”
Then they ended the call and got all bundled up to ski, grabbed their skis, and put them on at the lake. They raced each other across the ice, avoiding the fishermen catching fish, though they all called out greetings to one another.
They slowed their pace, taking it leisurely after that, just enjoying the late morning, the blue sky, a few wisps of clouds, the pristine snow-covered lake, and the exercise. A steady breeze was blowing, sweeping a dusting of snow with it and making it appear as though they were skiing through a low screen of powdery mist. She thoroughly enjoyed this.
They skied over a couple of ice fishing holes dug the previous day and saw a number of blue, yellow, and red tents set up while fishermen were sitting inside fishing. She and Slade even waved at a Boy Scout troop, the scoutmasters and kids setting up to fish. They saw a fisherman pull a northern pike out of his fishing hole and hold it up to show it off to them. They waved and congratulated him.
This was so much fun.
The lake was 907 acres long, so they skied to the end of it and returned, traversing the lake back and forth. They skied for about three hours and then finally headed back to the cabin to have lunch and warm up.
“How about grilling hamburgers for lunch?” Slade unlocked the door, and they carried their skis inside.
“Ooh, yeah and we could have cranberries and blue cheese sauce on top of the burgers for a Christmassy touch,” Sheri said.
“Now that sounds really good. Do you want to take a drive to the trail that leads to Magnetic Rock in Minnesota’s Superior National Forest after lunch? It’s about a forty-minute drive to the trailhead and a one-and-a-half-hour hike.”
“That sounds perfect.”
“We need to take the compass so you can see why the rock is called Magnetic Rock.”
“That sounds like fun.”
After lunch, they took the trip out to the trailhead and parked. They got out and hiked along the two miles on Magnetic Rock Trail, seeing the rolling tree-covered hills and northern lakes covered by a white blanket of snow. Pristine, beautiful.
They finally reached the monolith of Magnetic Rock—a sixty-foot rock standing on end, towering over the trees in the forest surrounding it. It was interesting to see the remnant of the rock, as if it was a standing stone erected by early inhabitants of the area. Other stones lay scattered around it. She wondered what the area would have looked like before the glacial period and how one standing stone remained.
“This was originally from the glacial period,” Slade said.
“It’s amazing that only one glacial stone would remain standing all on its own.” Sheri tested her magnetic compass with the rock composed of magnetite, and the arrow was spinning slightly around.
“If we had a magnet with us, we could actually stick it on there.”
“This is so cool. It really would mess up where you’re going, though, if you were trying to use your compass and you were close enough to the rock. This is great fun though.” Sheri pulled out her phone and took pictures of her and Slade smiling in front of the rock and then each of them hugging it between them though it was so large, they were far apart from each other.
“You can actually climb it to the top,” Slade said.
“No, thank you.”
He laughed and gave her a real hug. “Yeah, the rock could be icy.”
“You want to climb up there. I can see in your expression that you want to.”
He smiled. “That would be a sixty-foot drop if I fell. Yeah, I would love to climb to the top, but not when it’s icy.”
“Okay, if we come back to the area to stay at the cabin in the summer, we’ll come here, and I can video record you climbing it.”
“You’re not going to give it a go?”
“No way.”
He laughed. “Okay, we’ve got a deal.”
They made their way back on the snow-covered trail to the trailhead where they had parked his SUV.
“You know, I keep thinking about the blond guy who was with Fitz,” Sheri said.
“Danbury, the shooter who got shot and ended up in the hospital?” Slade said.
“Yes. You remember that earlier case I had with the stolen delivery truck and merchandise?”
“Right. And the police officer told you that the one laptop we had dug out was from that heist.”
“Exactly. The guy who was driving a green Jeep Wagoneer had stolen the truck—”
“Hell, that was Danbury?”
“I think so. I just need to confirm that Danbury owns the Jeep. Of course, he could have been driving someone else’s vehicle. But if Danbury does own the Jeep, it could be evidence that he actually stole the delivery truck and the merchandise from the warehouse.”
“I would say that was a good bet.”
“Okay, then I’ll call it in to Conway.” Sheri pulled out her satellite phone and called Conway and told him what she believed.
“Thanks, Sheri, I’m going to sure look into it. We’ll investigate the security videos from the businesses in the area again too and use his phone records to see if they correspond with him being in the area at the time and maybe nail him for the stolen goods.”
“You’re welcome. I couldn’t identify who the other person was that had driven the man to his vehicle, but he was driving a red Ford pickup.”
“I’ll check into that also. I’ll see if either Fitz or Otis owns a red pickup,” Conway said.
“Great. I hope you find that they do and that will help to prove that case.”
“Believe me, we do too and want to wrap this up.”
“If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know,” Sheri said.
“You have done a great job on all this. If you ever need help with a case, just call Tanner or me.”
Or Dulcie , Sheri was thinking. Though she had called Conway because he had been working on this case from the beginning. “Absolutely. Thanks so much.”
“Enjoy the rest of your vacation.”
“Oh, we are.” Then they ended the call. “Conway’s going to check out what vehicles Fitz and his cohorts have.”
“Good. I sure hope they can get even more evidence on that to help really get these guys,” Slade said.
“Me too.” Sheri got a call then from her brother.
“Hey, Sis, Candice, Owen, and I will be arriving tomorrow about ten. Is there anything we need to bring?”
“If Candice and Owen have another fishing tent, or if you want to bring yours, that would be great. We just have Slade’s tent, so we’ll need another. Fishing equipment, of course. I have your fishing pole that you can use.”
“Okay, done. We’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“See you then!” Sheri was excited to have them come at the end and enjoy spending some time with them.
“They’re all coming tomorrow then,” Slade said.
“Yep. We’re going to have fun.”
“Yeah, we will.” They reached the SUV and Slade said, “Do you want to go to a pub near here for dinner? I was going to fix beef stew, but I thought it would be fun to go out to dinner since we’re close to the pub now.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“It has great reviews for food. And chocolate malts you have to eat with a spoon.”
“Oh, I’m totally sold on it. No cleanup afterward and we can go running as wolves when we return to the cabin.”
“That will work.”
They soon reached the restaurant, which was decorated with white Christmas lights and a small Christmas tree sparkling in one of the windows. They went inside and got a booth and ditched their coats. The menu had a little of everything, and Sheri ordered the Swedish meatballs. Slade got a hot brisket sandwich and fries. And both ordered chocolate malts.
“Wow, everything is so good,” Sheri said. “I’m glad we took off the night to just order a meal.”
“I agree. This has been nice.”
“We’ll have to really run off all this when we go out as wolves.”
Slade laughed. “Yeah, we will. Though we could go back to the Magnetic Rock and climb it.”
Sheri smiled and shook her head. “You said yourself it’s too icy.”
“Yeah, but climbing it would burn off a few calories.”
“We’ll keep our feet on the ground and run off our calories that way.”
He sighed.
She chuckled.
After dinner, they headed out to his vehicle and drove back to the cabin. Then they were in a hurry to strip and run as wolves. They needed to straighten up the place before everyone arrived tomorrow too.
***
Late the next morning, Owen and Candice arrived, and then Hans showed up, caravanning together, all bearing treats and well-wishes. They’d brought Christmas cookies the triplets, Faith, and Cameron had made for them, bottles of champagne, and more food.
Slade and Sheri were thrilled to see them and spend some time having fun in the wilderness with them with hugs all around. They went outside to bring in their bags for the next couple of days.
“We have to warn you, when we go home, the whole pack is going to celebrate, so just expect it,” Hans said, pulling off his parka.
Sheri and Slade laughed. “I love this pack,” Sheri said and squeezed Slade’s hand.
“Yeah, the pack celebrates everything,” Slade said. “I’m not surprised they would do it for us for this special occasion. Before my parents and sister and I arrived here, we weren’t part of a pack, just had our own small family unit. So being with the white wolf pack has been a real treat for us. Not to mention that because of David’s mission to rescue Elizabeth from the Yellowknife Arctic wolf pack, I ended up with a mate and another whole family to love.” He pulled Sheri into a hug and kissed her soundly.
“For sure. I know we’re doing the pizza party after we move you to Sheri’s place, but we still have to have a real celebration of your mating.” Candice hung up her parka on the coatrack.
“Then we can help you move from Sheri’s apartment to the big house when it’s done.” Owen removed his parka and hung it up.
Slade smiled. “That would be great. We’ll have to have another celebration there.”
“Everyone will be at your apartment to help you pack,” Hans assured him.
“I don’t have that much stuff at my apartment,” Slade said.
“That won’t deter everyone from showing up for pizza and solidarity,” Hans said.
Slade was more concerned about having room for everyone to show up at his place.
Hans had brought more steaks and Candice carried a cream corn casserole into the kitchen. “I brought more s’mores ingredients and hot chocolate, whipped cream, and chocolate sprinkles in case you were getting a little low,” Candice said.
“Oh, that’s wonderful. We’ve been serving up a lot of hot cocoa, especially because of all the excitement we’ve had since we’ve been here,” Sheri said. “What do you all want to do today after lunch?”
“Fish,” Candice said.
“Yeah, I’m all for that,” Hans said. Owen agreed.
Then they got busy making a lunch of steaks and the casserole Candice had brought and once they were ready, they sat down to eat.
“I love your Christmas touches,” Candice said, waving her Santa napkin at the Christmas tree in the center of the table.
Hans laughed. “If I’d gone with you, Slade, I wouldn’t have given it a thought.”
“I know. Me neither,” Slade said. “But Sheri knows how to do things right.”
“Thanks, Slade. But Slade was the one to hang the mistletoe,” Sheri said.
Candice smiled. “Perfect for a romantic retreat.”
“We were going to share our fish with you, and still can, unless we catch more, and then we can have fresh fish tonight for dinner?” Sheri asked.
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Hans said.
They all ate their lunch and afterward they cleaned up and dressed warmly to go fishing. Owen and Candice had brought more gear, including another fishing tent and another sled. They headed out across the lake and found a nice deep location to fish at. Owen and Hans began drilling holes in the ice, while Slade helped Candice and Sheri to set up the tents. Then they set up chairs in each of the tents and got the fishing poles ready to go fishing.
***
They had been sitting on the ice for some time, waiting for the fish to bite, when Sheri thought it would be enjoyable and festive to have some hot chocolate to warm everyone up and make the experience more fun. “I’m going to get some thermoses of hot cocoa for everyone.” No one was catching anything right now anyway.
“Yeah, I’m all for it,” Slade said. “Do you want me to help you?”
“No, you catch us some more fish. If Hans takes over your fishing pole while he’s fishing with his own, he’ll claim the fish is his,” Sheri said.
Hans laughed. “You know me too well, Sis.”
Sheri smiled at him, loving that he was always playing along with her. Then she left their shelter and poked her head into Candice and Owen’s tent. “Hey, are you both up for some hot cocoa?”
“Yeah, do you want me to help you get it?” Candice asked.
Owen didn’t look like he was going to offer because he was too intent on catching a fish.
“No, I’ve got it. Be back in a little bit.” Sheri wanted Candice to enjoy fishing too, though in retrospect, she wondered if Candice had wanted to get out of the cold for a bit.
She walked across the lake, back to the cabin. When she reached the door, she heard a vehicle pull up behind it in the parking area, not a car she recognized. Immediately, after all the trouble they’d already had, she worried that Fitz and his friends had been bailed out and that they’d come back to get revenge. But what she hadn’t expected was to see Betty coming around the end of the cabin.
“I’m so sorry for coming here while you’re on vacation, but I need your help,” Betty said, looking totally frazzled again.
“Where is Gerard?” Sheri wanted to know the truth this time. Was he even alive?
“That’s why I had to come and see you. I–I… Can we sit inside and talk?”
Sheri hesitated. Now what did Betty want? She couldn’t believe she would come here to their cabin to seek her out. Had she called Cameron and he sent her here?
“Yeah, sure.” Then they went inside, and Sheri said, “I’m making cocoa for my fishing companions. What did you need to talk to me about?”
“I need you to find Gerard for me.”
Sheri had just begun to pour milk into a saucepan and turned to look at her. “You said he had returned, then we found his plane in bits out here in the BWCA with merchandise from a stolen delivery truck. Gerard’s brother and two of his friends were involved in all of it. How did Gerard survive the crash? Did he survive the crash?” She began pulling thermoses out of the kitchen cabinet. “Why not go to the police?”
Betty wiped away tears. “I–I didn’t know about any of it. But Gerard wasn’t flying the plane. His plane.” She didn’t say anything about going to see the police.
“What?” Suspicious about what was going on, Sheri set the last thermos on the kitchen counter and turned to face her. “Who was flying it then?”
“I don’t know. But after I learned Gerard’s plane had crashed, I knew he hadn’t been flying it.”
“Because you said he had returned home.” Sheri stirred cocoa into the milk in the saucepan.
“Right.”
That meant Betty hadn’t lied about Gerard returning home and Sheri was glad for it. “So where had he been the first time he disappeared if he hadn’t flown the plane?”
“Seeing a woman. I had been sure of it. He finally came home and said he’d made a mistake.”
“But now he’s disappeared again?” Sheri asked, and poured cocoa into the thermoses, then topped them with whipped cream.
“Yes. Then I learned all about this business with the plane and I’m afraid he’s on the run from his brother.”
“Gerard is running from Fitz?”
“Yes.”
Sheri secured the tops on the thermoses. “Okay, so why is he afraid of him?” Sheri turned and folded her arms, observing her.
“Fitz planned this whole thing. He was blackmailing Gerard to fly for him. Gerard refused to fly the plane that night. He actually had hidden from his brother, not ever believing Fitz would get someone else to fly his plane. Gerard hadn’t wanted to get caught with the goods and play Fitz’s game.”
“What was Fitz blackmailing Gerard over?”
“Gerard wouldn’t tell me.”
“Okay, so did you go to the police about Gerard’s disappearance again?” Sheri asked again, suspecting Gerard’s wife was telling the truth. Her scent and posture said she wasn’t hiding anything.
“Yes, but they treated me like I was the boy who cried wolf. Then they said they believed Gerard is the mastermind in all this and that he ran away to avoid facing the consequences of his actions. I want you to find him, and I want you to prove that he didn’t have anything to do with the theft of the goods.”
“So you’re hiring me to locate him again.”
“ And to prove he is innocent of all the charges.”
“What if he isn’t innocent?” Sheri didn’t trust that he wasn’t involved in all this. What had he done that his brother could blackmail him over? He was seeing another woman too. Or was that the same issue that his brother had over him? Who was the pilot who had taken over the flight and what had become of him?
“Gerard is innocent, or I wouldn’t hire you to find him. But I’m worried Fitz will find him first and kill him.”
Sheri had to find Gerard first. She knew there was more to this whole case. “All right. Who was the pilot Gerard gave the job to and what happened to him? Did he die in the crash? Make it out alive? Where is he now?” Sheri was just voicing the questions she needed the answers for out loud.
“I don’t know. Gerard didn’t know who Fitz got to fly his plane.”
She hadn’t expected Betty to answer her, but she wished she had more information on all of this. “Why didn’t you just call me? Why did you drive all the way out here?”
“I was afraid you wouldn’t help me if I didn’t speak to you face-to-face. I would do anything to help resolve this.”
“Okay, okay. Yeah. I’ll do it. I want Gerard to be safe. It’ll be the usual retainer and fees.”
“You’ve got it. Thanks.” Then Betty left.
Sheri couldn’t believe it. But then she realized she really didn’t have that much time to locate him. Only a week until Christmas and she was going with Slade on the ski trip at Silver Town two days after that.
She put all the thermoses into a bag and carried them out to the lake. She finally reached Candice and Owen’s tent first, peeked in, and handed them their thermoses. “Did you catch anything?”
“Not yet,” Candice said. “You probably would have heard us scream out with joy if we had.”
Sheri laughed. “Well, I got a job looking for Gerard Connolly again.”
“Oh?” Owen asked. “His wife called you again? I thought she would go through Cameron.”
“Betty Connolly just dropped by the cabin. Maybe she talked to Cameron first and he told her I was here. Or, no, she probably knew from Fitz and his friends getting caught out here, that Slade and I were staying here and helped the police out. I’ll tell you all about it later. I have some more cocoa deliveries to make.”
“Oh, wow, that’s unbelievable. I’m glad she’s got you to help her, but the others will help you with the case too.” Candice sipped from her thermos. “Thanks. This is delicious. I was getting cold.”
“You’re so welcome.” Sheri was glad her fellow investigators would help her with the case if she needed them to. Then she carried the rest of the thermoses to the other tent. “So who caught some fish?”
Slade and Hans laughed.
“We needed you to be here to be our lucky charm.” Hans paused to take a drink of his cocoa. “Your double chocolate is always the greatest.”
“Thanks. I think I need to show you how to fish right.” Sheri reached out for Hans’s fishing pole.
Hans smiled and handed it to her. He was good-natured about it.
Slade drank some of his cocoa. “I heard you tell Candice and Owen about Betty Connolly hiring you again to search for her husband.”
“Yeah, that was a shock. I was worried when I heard the car arrive. I didn’t recognize the vehicle’s engine sound. She wasn’t driving her Jaguar this time.” Then Sheri felt a tug on Hans’s fishing line. “Here, Hans, take your line. I need to take a drink of my cocoa.”
She handed him the line and he said, “Hot damn, there’s a fish on the hook.”
She laughed and drank some of her cocoa. Slade leaned over and kissed her and whispered, “I love you.”
Hans was too busy reeling in his fish to notice the lovebirds kissing.