Chapter 7
Daniel wanted to do everything Selena wanted, though he would have been happy to just go to bed with her after a wild day at the shop. He was afraid she would find another skeleton if they went to a cemetery and want to identify it before they went to bed.
They searched for about half an hour when she found a skeleton. “Ohmigod, it’s new, like a month old. It hadn’t been buried, which allowed it to decompose faster than if it had been more protected. And the distinctive odor of those three men is here.”
“Like father, like sons?” This was so not good. Daniel was glad to find it, but worried about their safety. He got on his phone and called Peter. “We just found a skeleton at the Northside Cemetery—a relatively new one. Not ancient like the others. The three men we’re after were here.”
“Don’t tell me that they murdered someone and dumped the body,” Peter said.
“Or they just happened to come here, while the skeleton had been here for some time and had nothing to do with it.” But Daniel wasn’t really feeling it.
He just wanted to collect the skeleton and get out of there before they ran into anyone unsavory who might still be there and not want the skeleton found.
“Come on, let’s go.” He tried to keep the panic out of his voice, but he didn’t want to risk Selena’s safety. He took pictures of the skeleton and its location.
They searched the area, looking for other clues, but didn’t find any. There were no clothes there, just the skeleton, and he was certain the person hadn’t died there. He would have smelled a hint of decomposition in the area.
They collected the bones, put them in a body bag, and headed for the SUV, but heard a noise in the woods.
He dropped the skeleton off in the vehicle and locked the doors.
He turned off his light, and she turned hers off.
The perps shouldn’t be able to see them in the dark, but they might know where his vehicle was parked.
“I’m going to turn into my wolf,” she said.
“What about the bones?” He didn’t want anyone to break into his SUV and grab them while they were off exploring.
“If the men are still here, I want to go after them so we can identify them. We won’t let them return to the bones.”
“All right. Me too.” However, he didn’t want Selena in any danger.
“Are you sure?”
He nodded. “Yeah. We’re safer in our wolf coats. They won’t be expecting anyone moving around in the dark as a wolf.”
“Right.”
They made sure they were in darkness, with no moonlight shining through the trees' branches, and then he and she stripped off their clothes and shifted into their wolves.
He stayed with Selena as they smelled the men's scents and set out to find them. He wanted to tear into them, but they had to be careful that they didn’t turn them into one of their kind.
Then they would have to kill them anyway.
They smelled the men this way and followed their scent until they reached the road.
But their vehicle wasn’t parked on the side road either, and the men were nowhere in sight.
He nudged Selena to go with him, and they returned to their clothes, shifted, and dressed. Then they hurried to his vehicle.
“Had they found the bones at the cemetery, gotten spooked, and then left them there?” she asked, climbing into the vehicle.
“Or they are the ones who left them there. They might have planned to bury them, figuring no one would ever come to the old cemetery and discover them, but they heard us coming and took off in a hurry.” The guys were no good so he wasn’t sure if they had anything to do with the bones or not. He started up the SUV.
“You know what this means?”
“We’re off to the morgue. Do you want me to call Ellie?”
“Of course. She can be indispensable, though she might not appreciate being called on this after helping at the shop for so long.”
“She won’t mind. Not as important as it is to know the identity of the skeleton.” He called Ellie.
“More bones?”
“New ones this time.”
“Oh, not good. Hold on.” Then Ellie got back on the phone. “Brett’s bringing me.”
“Okay, see you there.” Daniel called Dr. Featherston after that.
“Another skeleton?”
“Yeah, at the cemetery, but this one is a new one, not centuries old.”
“Oh, that’s bad news.”
“It sure is. We’ll meet you at the morgue.”
They all arrived at the hospital at about the same time and went down to the morgue in the basement.
Selena laid out the bones and said, “The skeleton’s a female. Her neck was broken due to strangulation. She’s in her twenties and never had children.”
“You can get more than me this time,” Ellie said. “Her spirit has gone. Nothing comes to me at all.”
Selena supposed that was good. To be stuck in this world after being murdered would be awful.
“So we don’t know her name or where she was from.
She’s not a wolf, though DNA would show she was only a human, even if she were a wolf.
” Just like when she was in her wolf form, she would only show wolf DNA.
It kept them safe from experimentation. But as far as scents went, she didn’t smell like a wolf.
“I don’t know her,” Daniel said.
“Neither do I,” Brett said.
“Nor do I,” Ellie said.
“A stranger. If the three men brought her here, she might not have been here when she died.” Selena examined the bones further.
“Why bring her here?” Ellie asked.
“It’s probably far enough out of the way from where they killed her, whoever did so.
A lot of people who come through Silver Town think it’s out in the boonies since we don’t have any towns close by, but we have so many wolves who can discover trouble like this.
How long has she been out in the elements? ” Daniel asked.
Selena rubbed her forehead in thought. “If she had been left out in the elements, warm temperatures, she could have decomposed in a month.”
“We have to catch these men and learn the truth,” Daniel said.
Brett shook his head. “Yes, before we find anything further that these men could have done.”
“We can’t do anything more here tonight,” Selena said.
“Sorry that I couldn’t help further,” Ellie said.
“I’m glad she’s at peace.”
“Me too,” Ellie said.
Then they put the bones in storage and left the hospital to return to their homes.
“I hope we can soon discover who she is and where she belongs.”
“It’s too bad Ellie wasn’t able to help more.” Daniel wished she could have cleared up the mystery.
“I know. I’m glad she found peace, but it would have really helped to know who she was and who killed her if we could get that information.”
“I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”
When they arrived home, they got ready for bed. Then they climbed onto the soft mattress. They soon snuggled together. This felt so right.
He kissed her on the mouth, and she kissed him right back, her lips lingering against his. He made her feel sexy, and she was ready to do more than just hug and kiss soon.
Then they cuddled and finally fell asleep, despite worrying about the possibility of murderers on the loose in Silver Town. When she woke, she glanced at the time and realized she needed to get to the shop and straighten it up before she opened this morning. “I have to get ready to open the shop.”
She didn’t expect to have much business today, but she still needed to be prepared in case anyone dropped by. Though she really would have liked to have snuggled with Daniel longer.
“I’ll take you over there. I’ll be staying with you for the day, pick up some breakfast for us, and help you get your shop back in shape.”
“Thanks. I don’t want to look at the mess it is.”
“We’ll straighten it out. Before long, it will look as good as new,” Daniel said.
“Yeah, but it will be half empty.”
“You’ll fill it up again.”
She loved how positive he always was.
Then they drove over to the shop, and when they arrived, she was right.
The place was a disaster. She began cleaning up the trash while he moved merchandise around to fill in the gaps.
She took a break to buy some more merchandise while he ordered breakfast for them.
He was so cute, helping her out, buying them breakfast. He was the perfect boyfriend.
Silva brought over cups of tea and scones. “I figured you wouldn’t want to leave Selena alone so I brought the food and drink over.”
“Thanks, Silva,” Daniel said.
“Oh, my, your shop is empty, Selena—which is a good thing.” Silva glanced around at the half-empty store.
“Yeah, I’ve been ordering some more merchandise, though I don’t want to order too much and then not sell it before I start decorating for Christmas,” Selena said.
“All the businesses have posted about the new shop in town so you should be able to get some more customers.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful.” Selena looked through her sales records to find which items had been most popular, then ordered more of those.
“You did a great job on ordering items that no one else had,” Silva said. “Well, I’m going back to my shop. Enjoy.”
“Thanks, Silva. Breakfast smells great,” Selena said.
Then Silva left, and Selena and Daniel began eating the scones and drinking the tea.
“This is good,” Daniel said.
“It sure is. It’s wonderful being able to have breakfast from next door if I’m running late.”
“Yeah, because it’s so good.”
“For sure.”
Once they had eaten breakfast, they got back to straightening her shop up. It looked so barren compared to what it had been when it was stocked to the brim for the grand opening. But that was good anyway, that she’d had so much merchandise to choose from.
“It looks great, as long as nobody buys the other half of your store out.”
She laughed. “Then I can start all over again, but with all new merchandise.”
“That’s the way to keep them coming back.” Daniel pulled her into a warm embrace. “Don’t worry about keeping your store going. You don’t have anything to be concerned about.”
But she did worry. What if the big grand opening was it?