Chapter 25
When Conway and Tanner arrived at Jessica’s house, they took both Gerard’s and her statements. Now that they had more information, they could investigate further and pursue more charges against Fitz and his friends. They would look into Lincoln’s involvement too, if he had any.
Then Betty arrived and talked to the police, corroborating Gerard’s story. “But you need to put Fitz and the other men behind bars for what they have done.”
“You’ll be glad to know that after his hospital stay, Danbury was put in jail for attempting to kill police officers and Sheri’s boyfriend, Slade. We’ll deal with Fitz and Otis now that we have more of the story,” Tanner said.
“We’re having Christmas here,” Betty said to Gerard, “and, Jessica, I’ve been waiting a long time to get to know you.” She gave Jessica a heartwarming hug.
Sheri smiled as tears shimmered in her eyes and Jessica’s.
Before Sheri left with the officers, Betty gave her a check. “Thanks again for your services. They were well worth it.”
Sheri hadn’t thought Betty would ever have used her services again, but she was glad it all had worked out well in the end. “We’re always there for you anytime you might need our help.”
“Hopefully, we won’t, but if we do, we’ll be sure to give you a call,” Betty said.
Sheri left the house with the officers and Conway shook his head at her. “The White Wolf PIs have been helping us with cases ever since they arrived. But now they have a new investigator, and she’s kicking butt too.”
“Yeah, I totally agree,” Tanner said.
Sheri laughed. She loved working with her PI partners, who made all the difference in the world because they really knew their stuff and taught it all to her and Elizabeth. Then she returned to the office and told everyone what was going on. Case solved. At least as far as she was concerned. The police would take it from there.
As soon as she arrived at the office to tell her partners what she had learned, she saw a Mrs. Claus suit sitting on her desk. It was a beautiful, long, red-velvet Victorian coat trimmed in white faux fur, elegant and perfect for cold weather. And suitable for Sheri to wear as a Mrs. Claus in front of a bunch of joyous kids eagerly waiting for presents from Santa!
All her partners joined her in her office—Elizabeth, David, Cameron, Owen, and Gavin smiled at her. Elizabeth said, “All of us got together and purchased it for you.”
“Aww, this is gorgeous. I love it,” Sheri said, running her hand over the plush material. “I can’t wait to wear it tomorrow on the seaplane toy delivery.”
Slade arrived at the office then. “Are you off for the rest of the day?” Sheri asked, giving him a hug, then showed him the Mrs. Claus costume.
“Oh, now that’s nice. You will make the perfect Mrs. Claus.”
***
Slade hadn’t had any other jobs to do and though he’d had a dog to deliver to his eager new family, Slade had wanted to be there for Sheri when she went to see Gerard. Though he knew when he got busy, he wouldn’t be able to go with her on her cases. He just had been so involved in this one with her, he wanted to…well, protect her, if she had needed it, but also to learn what was going on with Gerard and everything else regarding this case.
“Yeah, I’m off and if you’re done with your case…”
“I am.” Sheri explained as much as she knew about the situation.
“So the daughter was the pilot,” Slade said, surprised.
“Yeah, but the police will investigate claims further and if what she says is true about being forced to fly the plane, they didn’t believe she would be up on any charges. They did tell her to get a lawyer, which I was glad for, just in case. The same for Gerard. That way, they would be better off if Fitz and his friends’ lawyers tried to twist the story around.”
“I’m glad it was resolved,” Cameron said, and everyone agreed with him.
Then Slade and Sheri said goodbye to the other PIs and drove home to their apartment. Slade had planned to make dinner for them, but he knew Sheri would be right there in the kitchen making dinner with him, as much as she liked to cook and assist. He enjoyed being mated to her and all that they did together.
He hoped she wouldn’t be too upset with the mess he’d made while trying to dig out his clothes from the stacked boxes all over her place while he was trying to figure out where to stuff things. If they’d had a bigger house to move into, that would have been easy. But here, they were moving his things from a smaller apartment to hers that wasn’t much bigger, and he would have to do some juggling.
Sheri looked at the disaster of the living room, just sighed, and walked past it, but then saw his Christmas stocking hanging next to hers on the mantel and her expression lit up. “You found your Christmas stocking.”
“Yep. Santa hasn’t filled it yet, but he filled yours.”
She laughed. “I love it. I have my very own Santa Claus all to myself.”
“Absolutely. But I don’t expect Mrs. Claus to mend my socks.”
“Good, because I don’t sew things like that. Buttons, yes.”
He cooked up spaghetti and meatballs, and then Sheri started preparing garlic toast while Slade got a bottle of wine and opened it. They finally finished making the meal and sat down to eat.
“You are a great PI.”
“I got really lucky.”
“If you had been someone else, or had approached Jessica in the wrong way, you might not have solved the case. Or at least helped get some resolution on it as fast as you did.”
“Well, thanks. I was glad to resolve it before Christmas. Hmm, so about tomorrow…Are you ready to play Santa?”
“I sure am.”
***
The next day Slade and Sheri dressed in their Santa and Mrs. Claus costumes at the airport, and she was so excited. She couldn’t help but laugh when Slade ho-ho-hoed on the way to the snow-covered landing field to deliver the presents to the kids. All the wolf pack members were at the landing field to enjoy the fun.
Before they set down a few minutes later, they saw a couple hundred people there, all bundled up—families, kids, police, band members, eight carolers dressed in Victorian clothes singing Christmas songs, a television crew, and news reporters.
They landed on the snowy field and came to a stop. They had ended up with over a hundred presents for as many children. As soon as they landed, Slade and Sheri were having a ball. She gave him the gifts and then he handed them out to the kids while the band was playing Christmas songs.
Cameron and Faith served hot cocoa to warm the families that had shown up. Their triplets, dressed in elves’ outfits, were handing out candy canes to all the kids, provided by a local grocery store, while they waited to receive their presents. The weather was perfect—cold, of course, but sunny and no wind, and that made it feel warmer.
The kids were thrilled to get their presents and the families were just as pleased that Henry and Lolita had set up the Santa Seaplane Toy Drop.
In truth, it was a pack affair since they had all been involved in gathering the toys for Christmas, the candy canes, hot chocolate, the band, and the Christmas carolers and getting the word out about the whole setup to the news media.
Dulcie waved at Slade and Sheri from where she was working to keep the peace. The only ones not there were Amelia, her mate, and the babies.
Once the gift giving was done and Slade and Sheri had some cocoa, they headed back to the plane and took off.
“That was so much fun,” Sheri said, watching out the window as everyone waved at them.
“The kids and families were so happy. I thought that was a total success and I can’t wait to do it again next year,” Slade said.
“Me too. I’m all for it.”
A few minutes later, he landed the seaplane at the airport and parked it. He removed his Santa outfit, while she slipped out of her Mrs. Claus suit and they dressed in their street clothes. Then they got in his SUV and headed back home.
“You know I would love to just go home and crash with you, but—”
“We have to make all my stuff magically disappear,” Slade said. “Sorry, honey.”
“We’ll do it.” At least Sheri sure hoped so. She hadn’t realized how much of a neatnik she was until her apartment looked like a cyclone had hit it.