Chapter 21
“So about the sleeping arrangements, Slade and I are amenable to doing anything you want to do. You all could stay upstairs, and we’ll stay downstairs, or—” Sheri said to her brother and Candice and Owen.
“We already discussed it,” Hans said. “We’re staying downstairs. The two of you have been upstairs all this time, right? There are two couches that fold out into double beds. We’ll be good.”
“Yeah, we have. We figured we could take our sheets to a foldout couch, but if you are good with the way things are, then we won’t have to,” Sheri said.
Slade was glad they were having the bedroom to themselves, though from now on, the two of them would be sharing a bedroom of their own when they returned home. That had a great ring to it.
Then they all toasted to a long life and happy mating, drank their champagne, and got ready to take showers and settle down for the night. Sheri and Slade found extra sheets and blankets for the foldout couches while the others were setting up the beds.
Sheri and Slade were making their way upstairs to the bedroom while they heard Owen and Candice head to the downstairs shower. After Sheri and Slade showered together and retired to bed, they snuggled for a while.
“I’m glad my brother, Candice, and Owen are here, not only to fish with us and take a wolf run, but also to help Dulcie with finding all those goods. I’m glad she got the credit for being there for so long to do that, even though she hadn’t been there that long because we’d helped her instead.”
“Yeah, I agree, and you know she appreciated us. Plus, she was glad she was able to meet other wolves in the pack. She would have given us credit for helping her if she could have without outing us.”
“Yes. It was better that we let on we hadn’t been out there too. That might have looked a bit suspicious, don’t you think?” Sheri asked.
“Possibly. It was best we played it low-key this time.”
“No more searching for merchandise though. It’s up to the police to take care of it. Should we go for a wolf run in the morning and then go for a snowshoe hike through the woods?” Sheri kissed Slade’s bare chest.
“Yeah, that sounds good if everyone likes the idea.”
Then they made love, and before they were fully awake the next morning, they heard their companions downstairs, laughing while making breakfast.
Slade hugged Sheri. “I thought everyone would sleep in a bit.”
She smiled at him. “I guess they want to make the most of their time here. They probably want to run as wolves this morning before sunrise.”
“That’s probably true.” They both got out of bed and dressed, then headed down the stairs.
“Good morning,” Slade and Sheri said to everyone.
Candice and Owen smiled brightly at them. They were both morning people. Hans looked like he could have gotten a little more sleep, but he also loved to get going early when he was on a vacation somewhere.
“Are we going on a run as wolves after breakfast?” Candice asked, making them tea, coffee, eggs, sausage links, and hash browns.
“Yeah, but we’re not heading in the direction of the crash site this time,” Sheri said.
“It’s time for just pure wolf fun,” Candice agreed.
But Slade knew Candice never just had pure wolf fun. She was always gathering information for another story, no matter what she was doing. He’d even seen her writing dialogue down on napkins at a restaurant when she had heard some juicy conversation she wanted to incorporate in a story. Of course, everyone in the pack who was with her enabled her and offered their own unused napkins to help further her cause.
They all sat down to have their breakfast, then cleaned up and got ready to run. Even though they ran at their homes on their own lake, it was always fun to go to new locations, smell new scents, and enjoy the different scenery. It was still dark out, a billion stars lighting the sky, the moon growing fuller, which meant that Candice and Owen would have more trouble fighting the urge to shift when the full moon was here. At least Hans, Slade, and Sheri didn’t have any issue with it.
They all went out to run in a different direction, biting at the snowflakes swept off nearby trees, hearing the howling of a wolf pack off in the distance. Slade howled and so did everyone in their pack. The wild wolves weren’t the only ones to be out here claiming their territory.
Everything was covered in a fresh coating of white. It must have snowed last night after they all went to bed. The cold, crisp air felt great on their faces, their tails held high, their fur fluffed out. They nipped at each other, played chase, and just had fun. Every time Hans tried to take down his sister, Slade thwarted him. It was a natural instinct for Slade to react that way as her mate, though he would have done it before they were mated too. He knew Hans was just play fighting like they all were, but he had to protect Sheri. No one but Sheri went after Candice either, for the same reason. In that case, Owen let the women have their fun. If Hans or Slade had gone after Candice, Owen would have been there to stop them from reaching her. Again, in fun. But Hans was Sheri’s brother, so the dynamics between them were a little different. Still, Hans didn’t stand a chance when Slade was protecting Sheri.
Which seemed to please Hans immensely. He appeared to be much more interested in tackling Slade every time he thwarted him from trying to take down Sheri. Slade was getting a kick out of it. Owen didn’t seem to mind that he was a little left out, though he did tackle Slade once and Hans another time for good measure to show he could. And he played with Candice when Slade, Sheri, and Hans were mixing it up.
Then they happily trotted back to the cabin but saw a vehicle parked there and a man knocking at the door. Now what?
When the man realized no one was home, he left a card on the door. A salesman? Surely not out here in the wilderness. For a moment, Slade was worried it might be the owner or manager of the lodge and cabins who was upset with them for all the police traffic they’d had at the cabin, wondering if they had caused trouble while they were there.
The man finally had stood out in the cold long enough, really not dressed to be out here for any length of time, so he got into his car and drove off. When he was way down the road, Slade hurried to the cabin, shifted, and unlocked the door, then went inside. The others raced across the snowy field from where they’d been hiding in the woods and entered the cabin. Slade had already pulled on his boxer briefs and pants. Once they were all inside, he shut the door and locked it and the others shifted.
“Who in the world was that?” Sheri asked.
“A reporter,” Slade said as they all got dressed, while he read the business card the man left behind.
“Oh, that’s just what we need. A reporter snooping around while we’re running as wolves,” Candice said.
They all knew the hazards of having reporters trying to learn what they could about the wolves and the wolves trying to keep what they were undercover.
“What does he want?” Hans asked, pulling on a thermal sweatshirt.
“Probably something to do with this case concerning the downed plane,” Slade guessed.
“If that’s all it is, we’re okay,” Sheri said. “What do you want to do until lunchtime? Go for a snowshoe hike—not in the direction of the crash site?”
Everyone laughed.
Slade figured they would want to continue to do outdoor activities since this was the only full day they had here. Tomorrow, checkout was by half past ten so they would need to do something early before they packed up and left.
“Tonight, we have to stay up late and watch the aurora borealis if it appears,” Candice said.
“Absolutely. It’s gorgeous out here. Like at home, but even better here because there are no lights on the lake so the northern lights are even more showy and vibrant,” Sheri said.
They all got dressed warmly to go a different direction for the hike so that they were on a portage for two miles, then crossed the frozen lake and ended up on an island. It looked like the windstorm hadn’t touched the island, but that was the way it was in the BWCA. One place would get hit with a storm while another was left untouched.
They snowshoed around the island and saw a fox take off from behind a tree. A bunny was hiding very still in the underbrush and Slade figured it had been trying to avoid being the fox’s lunch, but now it worried about the humans wandering around on the island.
“We need to schedule a stay at the cabin when we can paddle on the lakes and waterways, though it’s really fun to be able to access the islands and all by crossing the frozen water on skis or snowshoes.” Candice peered down at the ice at the edge of the beach.
“What do you see?” Sheri asked.
“A dead body.”
Sheri frowned and everyone drew closer. Owen laughed. “A story idea, betcha.”
“Yes, can’t you see it?” Candice asked. “I know it’s not a very Christmassy thought for this time of year, but I’m thinking that with the winter freeze coming on, someone had drowned in the lake and then a camper sees the body floating face up.”
Murder mysteries were Candice’s specialty. Slade and all the other wolves loved how her mind worked.
“I was afraid that the person you were seeing in the lake, who obviously isn’t there, was the pilot hired to fly Gerard’s plane,” Sheri said.
Candice laughed. “Sorry, I had forgotten about that.” She looked up at the sky. “Up there, really high in the sky is an eagle soaring in the heavens. What a beautiful sight.”
“For real?” Sheri looked in the direction Candice was talking about it.
“Yes.” Candice smiled. “For real.”
Slade caught sight of it too. It was nice taking a breather and just seeing the wildlife that lived all around them in the wilderness. There wasn’t anyone out here. Not as many people liked to visit the BWCA in the wintertime. It was untouched, beautiful, a white wonderland, quiet and still.
They finally started to walk again, exploring the island, and then headed back to the cabin to have lunch. “Okay, how about we quickly climb to the top of the towering 400-foot cliffs where we can see beautiful views of Canada and beyond after lunch? We haven’t gotten around to doing that yet,” Slade said.
“Yeah, that’s exactly something I would like to do,” Hans said.
So that was the plan. When they returned to the cabin, they made ravioli for lunch that Candice had brought with her, and while she was baking it, Sheri started beef bourguignon in a slow cooker for dinner.
After they had lunch, they packed up to hike on the Border Route Trail, taking a spur and then finally reaching the top of the cliffs.
Man, this was spectacular.
They all took pictures of the view, of each other, of the group, and then finally began to make their way down the cliffs.
When they reached the base, Sheri got a call. She answered it, wondering who would be calling her now. It was Conway. “Hey, you were right. Danbury owns a green Jeep Wagoneer and Otis owns a red Ford pickup, the ones we saw in the video. You do good work.”
“Yes!”
“So we know Otis and Danbury were involved in the actual theft of the merchandise. We just still need to prove Fitz was responsible. When we questioned the two men, they lawyered up.”
“I’ll see what I can learn and let you know.”
“Thanks, that sounds good.”
Then they ended the call and Sheri smiled at her companions. Slade gave her a hug. She told them what had happened, and everyone cheered her for the good news. Yeah, this was great. But she still needed to find evidence to prove Gerard was innocent and learn where he was now.