Текст книги "A Silver Wolf Christmas"

Автор книги: Spear Terry

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

Chapter 17

Early the next morning, CJ was up fixing coffee and crepes filled with eggs, ham, and cheese, feeling that everything would be right with the world if they could only solve the disappearances of Laurel’s aunt and the other hotel owners. But he also wanted to learn who the white wolf was.

He hoped he had done the right thing last night in not telling Laurel about the human skeletal remains in the pit. He hadn’t thought about it until waking this morning, and then he’d worried. He hadn’t even known if the remains were male or female. And he didn’t want to upset Laurel with what could be when it might not be at all.

Because of the fall he’d suffered, he realized his thoughts hadn’t been focused enough to really examine anything in the pit. Not that he could have seen all that much that night, as dark as it had been. Even after they’d tossed down the glow sticks and he’d seen the human skeleton, all that he’d been aware of was that the skull was a human’s, and that two of the ribs had framed one of the stakes. Which had reminded him of how damned lucky he’d been.

The doorbell rang and he stalked through the living room to see who was visiting at this hour. Normally, anyone coming to see him would call to let him know ahead of time. One good thing about living here: no solicitors, so he knew it wasn’t a salesperson.

What he didn’t expect was to see when he opened the door was Ellie standing on his front porch, looking distraught. “Ellie, come in.”

“You found a body.”

Her words felt like an accusation and hit him hard. Her gaze shifted to a point behind him, and fearing where this would lead, he turned to see Laurel, her expression one of disbelief, lips parted, red brows slightly raised. Then she frowned. “You found a body? Whose? Where? When?”

She looked so pale, he wanted to comfort her, but he suspected she’d be ready to slug him when she learned just when and where they’d found the remains.

“Docs Weber and Mitchell will be examining the area and the skeletal remains. We don’t even know if it’s male or female, one of our kind or strictly human,” he said, speaking the truth.

“Did they find clothes? Remnants of clothes?” Laurel asked.

“I was kind of out of it last night.” CJ hated admitting that.

Laurel narrowed her eyes at CJ. “Wait. Where were the remains found? And when?”

Ellie was wringing her hands, looking like she really wished she hadn’t opened the can of worms.

“In the pit where I fell.”

Tears filled Laurel’s eyes. “You knew and you didn’t tell me last night?” Her words were almost whispered, as if she didn’t have the strength to give them any more power.

CJ took a deep breath. “Laurel, it could be anyone. Nothing to do with your aunt. There wasn’t any reason to upset you when there could be no reason to do so.”

“You were afraid to tell me last night because I might be too distraught and not have agreed to a mating!” Now Laurel’s face was red with anger, her lips pursed.

He wished Ellie wasn’t here to witness all this and that he could deal with it in private with Laurel.

Ellie’s jaw dropped. “You’re mated?”

Ignoring her sister’s comment, Laurel stormed off in the direction of the front door. “I’ll ask Darien to keep Trevor at the hotel to watch our guests. You don’t need to be there.”

CJ stalked after her to stop her. “Wait, Laurel, damn it. There wasn’t any reason for me to mention—”

She gave him a dagger of a look. “Can you tell me honestly that you didn’t consider that it might have upset me so much I wouldn’t have mated you? At least not last night?”

He couldn’t lie about it. “Of course, I considered it. But—”

“Fine. If we can’t share important issues with each other…” She again headed for the door.

He reached out and grasped her arm. “Laurel, wait. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to withhold anything from you so that you’d mate me last night. I swear it.”

She nodded, but he could tell she didn’t believe him. Then she pulled away. “If you need to see us in an official capacity, have Peter send Trevor to talk to me.”

There was no way in hell Laurel was cutting him out of her life. CJ smelled the crepes burning, and smoke started to curl into the air. “Shit. Wait, let me get the pan off the burner before I burn down the house.” He bolted for the kitchen but heard the door slam on the sisters’ way out. “Damn it to hell.”

He turned off the heat on the burner, then moved the pan to the back of the stove top. He yanked out his phone and called Doc Weber. “What did you learn?”

“Good morning to you too. Feeling any better after your fall?” Typical Doc. Current medical issues had to be addressed first and foremost. Dead bodies were of secondary concern. Especially when the case was so old.

“Yes, sorry, Doc Weber. Good morning. So what did you learn about the remains?”

“White, male, approximately forty years old, can’t tell if he was one of our kind since we don’t leave any traces of the wolf in us. The stake he fell on gouged at one of the ribs, had to have penetrated the heart and broken another rib. The fabric left behind appears to be of the kind worn around the time that Mr. Wernicke disappeared. I’m sending out what’s left of some of the fabric to a forensics lab to have them date it. It’s deteriorated so much that I’d say the gentleman has been down there for years.”

“Can you prove it was Warren Wernicke?”

“The dead man was wearing a diamond stickpin. It was found attached to a remnant of the clothing. If we go over the photos we have of him, we might see that stickpin. Then we’d be more assured it was him. Unless someone stole it from him and was wearing it. Or he gave it away. Or there was another like it.”

Too many other scenarios. “Can you tell if he was murdered or just came across the pit by accident like I did?”

“If he had been struck, it wasn’t anything that would have killed him or caused severe injury. No sign of blunt force trauma. It looks more like he just fell and the stake piercing his heart killed him.”

“Someone had to have covered the pit over with deadfall. Two other animals had fallen through.”

“A wild boar and an elk. Yes. And someone had to have covered up the hole three times. The boar was off to the side, but one hind leg was beneath the human’s left fibula—shinbone. The elk had landed on the other side, but the hindquarters were resting on top of the human’s pelvic girdle. It’s impossible to tell whether the man just fell in or was lured there on purpose.”

“Who could have dug anything that deep?”

“The movement of groundwater created the natural pothole in the limestone. It’s been there forever, but someone set it up as a natural trap for animals.”

“Or humans. Was the meat carved off the boar? Was someone actually using the pit for hunting purposes at one point?”

“Yes, on the boar. No, on the elk.”

“Then we need to know if someone actually set it up to kill a particular person, or if the one who died met his death there accidentally.”

“Agreed.”

CJ’s cell beeped at the same time that someone began knocking on his door. “Gotta go, Doc. Call you later.”

“I’ll let you and Peter know if I learn anything more.”

“Thanks. Out here.” CJ answered the other call and headed for the front door. “Yeah, Peter? I was just talking to Doc Weber.”

“I have a copy of his initial medical findings and a picture of the stickpin. Are you feeling all right enough to return to the hotel and watch what’s going on over there?”

CJ answered the door, found Eric standing there, and motioned for him to come in.

“There’s been a slight change of plans,” CJ said to Peter as Eric walked into the house and shut the door. “Laurel wants Trevor to stay there instead, if it’s all right with you.”

“Anything…wrong?”

“Hell, yeah. I didn’t tell her about the skeleton we found in the pit last night, and now she’s pissed off at me.”

“We didn’t even know who it was, and it didn’t turn out to be her aunt.” Peter sounded annoyed with her.

“Right, but…well there’s more.” Hell, CJ hated to admit any of this, but he’d rather his boss and his brothers know what happened than for them to think Laurel was being completely unreasonable. “We’re mated.”

Dead silence.

Eric shook his head, but he was smiling. And heading for the kitchen.

“So she’s pissed because… Okay, got it. I’ll have Trevor stay there, and you can try to run down who our dead man is.”

“Thanks. I’ll get right on it.” CJ ended the call and followed his brother into the kitchen.

Eric stared at the blackened pan. “Looks like breakfast didn’t go over too well either.”

“I’ve screwed up everything this time.” CJ poured hot water and dish soap into the plugged sink and shoved the cooled pan into the soapy water to let it soak.

“Hey, it wouldn’t be the first time and it won’t be the last.”

CJ frowned at him. “Thanks. I know that. But how do I fix it?”

“If it were me? I probably would have done the same thing. And been in the same bind the next morning. Have you told Darien that you’re mated to Laurel yet?”

CJ let out his breath. He really didn’t want to do this now. But he made the call to Darien and said, “Okay, Laurel and I are mated wolves. Just needed to let you know.”

“Hot damn, CJ. That’s good to hear. I’ll tell Lelandi, and we’ll let the pack know.”

CJ wanted to groan out loud. “Okay, I’ve got to talk to Eric about the case.”

“Good show. Talk to you later.” Darien ended the call with CJ.

“Darien’s glad, I take it,” Eric said.

“Yeah, he is. I just didn’t want to let him in on the latest development.”

“Understand. The two of you will work it out. So what was Doc’s finding?”

CJ showed him the findings Peter sent him over the phone, including the picture of the stickpin.

“Send the picture to my email, will you? I’ll forward it to Brett since he’s digging into all the photos of that period. Maybe he’ll see a man wearing that pin.” Eric frowned as he studied the picture. “Why would a man be wearing something so dressy when he’s running around in the woods?”

“That was one of my thoughts too. Was he chasing after someone? Lured there? I’m guessing he wasn’t just out for a Sunday stroll in the woods when he fell into the pit. It’s too far from any road.”

Eric read through the report. “And since his clothes were there, that meant he hadn’t been in wolf form. Okay, what else did you need me to do? Don’t ask me to fix things between you and Laurel though. You’re on your own there. Oh, and by the way, congratulations.”

CJ snorted. “I think that was the shortest mated relationship in history.”

“You’re mated for life.”

“I know. But I don’t think she’ll have anything further to do with me.”

“She’ll come around. Give her time. First, the skeleton wasn’t her aunt. And second, you didn’t mention it because you didn’t want to worry her unnecessarily. Which was heroic.”

“But then I mated her.”

Eric smiled. “Good move.”

“Hell, Eric, now she doesn’t want to see me again.”

“Learn what happened to her aunt. Then maybe she’ll realize why she wanted you to be her mate in the first place.”

“And if I learn her aunt was murdered?” CJ shook his head. “Somehow I don’t see how that’s going to get me out of hot water with Laurel anytime soon.”

Chapter 18

“Ohmigod, I can’t believe you mated with CJ and didn’t tell us! You can’t seriously be thinking of breaking up with him. You can’t as a wolf. He didn’t tell you about the skeleton because he didn’t know anything about it and didn’t want to unnecessarily upset you,” Ellie said. “He was devastated. I wanted to give him a hug and tell him everything would be all right between you, since you have such a forgiving nature, but I was afraid you’d turn all wolf on me and bite me.”

Laurel fought smiling at her sister. Ellie could always brighten her outlook, even during the darkest moments of their lives.

“Jeesh,” Ellie continued, “he burned the breakfast he was fixing—and just the fact he was cooking breakfast should clue you in that he’s a keeper. It was killing him that he had to run to take care of the dangerous mess before he had a fire on his hands and couldn’t stop you from leaving. You know when he heard us shut the door, he had to have been really shook up. He probably would have carried you off to bed and made it up to you right after that if I hadn’t been there.”

“He didn’t tell me about the skeleton, Ellie! Don’t you get it? He didn’t want me delaying a mating with him last night! He might not have wanted to upset me, sure, but it was the business of the mating that makes the difference.” Laurel’s cell rang and she saw that it was CJ. Her heart skipped a couple of beats. She couldn’t help it. She really did love the wolf.

Ellie glanced at her. “If it’s CJ, answer it.”

Laurel gave her sister a dark look. She wasn’t going to ignore him. She was far too alpha for that. “What?” she snapped at CJ.

Ellie smiled.

“I’m sending the official police report to you, but I’ll give you a brief synopsis.” He told her about the skeleton found in the pit. The skeleton was a male. Instantly, she felt her eyes fill with tears.

She was relieved that it hadn’t been their aunt, but she still felt bad that someone else had come to such a gruesome end. She thought again about CJ and how it could have been him. She quickly wiped away tears. Before her sister got the wrong idea, Laurel held her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. “The skeleton didn’t belong to our aunt.”

“Thank God for that.” Ellie sounded as relieved as Laurel was.

“This is what we’re looking for now. A man who was wearing this diamond stickpin,” CJ said, sending her a photo of the jewelry.

“Mr. Wernicke,” Laurel said, barely getting his name out. “There’s a picture of him standing in front of the hotel with a lot of other folks. It appeared to have been his grand opening.”

“Are you sure?”

“They had a close-up photo of him.”

“Hell, if the pin is his and he was wearing it at the time of his death, then that was him in the pit. I’m on my way over to your place. I spoke with Jacob, and he said he’d meet me there so we could look over your aunt’s furniture.”

Laurel should have suspected that CJ wouldn’t take her at her word. “All right. We’re just pulling up at the house now. Ellie’s going to go to the hotel. Trevor and Meghan are taking care of it for now. I’ll see you in a few—” She raised her brows to see CJ’s truck pull in beside Ellie’s car. “Now.”

Ellie shook her head. “He’s your mate, and you’re his. Looks to me like he’s not letting you go. That’s a good sign. I’ll see you later. Oh, and you’re not planning on keeping your mating secret, are you?”

“I doubt it’s a secret any longer.”

“Good. I’m telling Meghan before she gets pissed off because she’s the last to know. You think you have it rough with CJ. You don’t want to offend Meghan over this.” Ellie hopped out of the car. “Later.” She gave CJ a small smile.

He looked like he was in the doghouse, which was infinitely worse than anything a wolf could imagine. Wolves were not dogs.

Laurel almost took pity on him, but she wanted him to realize how underhanded she felt he’d been last night.

Ellie hurried off, crunching through the snow when CJ shifted his attention to something in the drifts. Laurel glanced down to see what he saw. Wolf prints.

“Who was running around your property as a wolf last night?” he asked, sounding accusatory.

“I was with you last night. How would I know?”

“Someone was. And you have human guests.”

He crouched down and looked closer. “Definitely a wolf’s from the size and shape.” He followed the tracks, while Laurel hurried after him, until they reached the street that had been recently plowed. “Looks like the wolf ran along the road after that. Then the snowplow scraped the rest of the paw prints away.”

“Or the wolf got into a vehicle and drove off.”

“Right.”

Jacob drove up in his electrician’s van and greeted them both. “You needed me to look at some furniture for hidden compartments? Every carpenter has his own method. That’s what makes them truly secret.”

“Thanks, Jacob, for coming over on such short notice,” CJ said.

“No trouble at all for the Silvers and their mates.” Jacob smiled at Laurel.

Great. She so hoped that Meghan hadn’t heard from Trevor that she was mated to CJ.

Before they reached the house, she heard the sunroom door slam and saw Meghan headed her way, red-faced.

“Why don’t the two of you go in and take a look at the furniture? They’re the highboy without any drawers and the blanket chest sitting in the middle of the living room. I’ll be inside in a moment.”

The two men headed inside as Laurel steeled herself for Meghan next.

Meghan frowned at Laurel and stalked right past her!

Laurel hurried after her. “What’s wrong?” She was afraid her sister intended to slug CJ, when Laurel and CJ had to work out their own differences. She didn’t want her sisters’ or anyone else’s interference.

“One of the Wernicke brothers and Trevor are having a disagreement. I thought your mate could help out.”

Just great. All Laurel needed was trouble with the Wernicke brothers right now.

“All right. I’ll tell him. Wait, you tell him and I’ll head over there. You stay here with Jacob and see what he learns about the secret compartments in the furniture.”

Laurel hurried off to the hotel, and when she reached it, she heard the door to the house slam. “Hold up!” CJ called out to her. As if he was going to be her knight when she was perfectly fine on her own. And she had to let him know that right away. She wasn’t some little beta wolf he had gone and mated.

She headed inside but before she shut the door, she heard him racing across the snow to catch up to her. She smiled a little, shut the door, and hurried to reach the main room where Stanton and Trevor were arguing.

Ellie was on the phone, standing behind the check-in counter taking a reservation and typing away at the computer.

“All I said was we wanted our reservations extended because we know there’s more time available and…” Stanton stopped speaking when he saw Laurel enter the room.

“I already told you it was booked,” Laurel said.

“And I already told you that the hotel belongs to us.”

She folded her arms. “Do you have proof?”

“We do. We’ve sent for it.”

She didn’t believe him. She felt CJ draw close to her, smelled his sexy scent, felt the heat of his body, and in that instant, no matter how crazy the thought was, she wanted him to pull her into his arms and give her a hug.

“We heard a body—or skeleton, I should say—was found in the woods. Was it our aunt or uncle? Her aunt? When do we get to ID the body?” Stanton asked.

“That might be kind of difficult, given that only a male skeleton was found. We’re awaiting official verification on who the individual was,” CJ said.

“Where exactly was it found?”

“In the woods. But the area is a crime scene for now. So no access to civilians. You wouldn’t happen to have ever hunted prey using a deadfall trap, would you have? Or your brothers?” CJ asked.

Stanton smiled a little at him. “Like now I’m a suspect? Or my brothers are? Anything to ensure the MacTires keep our rightful property? It won’t work.”

“The hotel has been sitting vacant for years. Why come now and try to lay claim to it? Because it’s newly renovated? Because you couldn’t have managed it on your own? Or because now it has some value?” CJ asked.

“Hell, we could have fixed the place up on our own and cut the cost of renovation in half. First, we didn’t know our aunt and uncle had owned it. And once we learned they had and then disappeared, we were so busy with our successful TV show that we didn’t have time to prove we owned it.”

“And before, it wasn’t worth a whole lot and now it is? Besides, it wouldn’t have been free and clear for you to just take over anyway,” CJ said, bringing both issues up again.

She suspected the same. Maybe they realized that it could be a profitable venture after all, even if they had to pay for the hotel like she and her sisters had.

Stanton shook his head. “Fine. I’ll talk with the sheriff.” He and his brothers stalked out of the hotel.

“He’s got to realize he’s not getting anywhere with Darien running the pack and the town,” Trevor said, “unless it benefits the rest of us.”

“They must not be with a pack. Stanton is used to throwing his weight around with his proverbial TV stardom,” Laurel said. “Prima donna.”

“I had an idea worth exploring if you want to talk about it. But I wanted to see if Jacob made any progress on the furniture.” CJ appeared hopeful that she’d give him a break.

She noticed that Ellie had ended her phone conversation and was waiting expectantly to see how this played out between Laurel and CJ.

“Anything I should know about?” Trevor asked.

“Not really. I just had some notion where we could look next,” CJ said. “Hey, by the way, have you experienced anything ghostly in the attic room?”

Trevor straightened and said, “No, nothing. Why?”

CJ nodded, but he was smiling just a little bit. Laurel took CJ’s hand and pulled him in the direction of the sunroom and the back door. He immediately tightened his hold on her hand, and she appreciated that he wanted to make amends, despite how she had reacted earlier.

“I’m sorry about last night.” CJ looked down at her with such compassion, she knew he was being honest about this.

“You did what you thought best. I’m sorry the skeleton was there, but I’m glad it wasn’t my aunt. What did you have in mind?”

He smiled down at her as they walked outside into the brisk, cold breeze.

“About the investigation,” she reminded him.

His smile broadened.

She chuckled, freed her hand, and wrapped her arm around his waist to get closer. “I think my sisters were mostly irritated with me for being upset with you.”

“Did I mention how much I love your sisters?” CJ wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “All of the boxes containing my dad’s personal effects are stored in Eric’s basement. I’ll call him, and you and I can go through what we can, if you want. None of us ever looked through the stuff. Just boxed it up and stored it down there. I doubt we’ll find anything of importance, but it’s worth taking a look.”

With tears in her eyes, Laurel pulled him to a stop. “This has to be really difficult for you. But yes, even if we can’t find anything among his things, that will be one place we can cross off our list.”

He lifted her face. “I want you to know I only thought of checking through my dad’s things this morning when I was making breakfast. Then other business sidetracked us this morning.”

“I understand completely.” But Laurel knew going through his dad’s stuff had to bother the brothers. They’d just boxed everything up instead of sorting through and getting rid of some of it, while keeping treasured mementos at their homes. CJ’s words spoke volumes. The brothers hadn’t been able to deal with their father’s belongings or his betrayal.

“Thank you. You can’t know how much that means to me.”

“We might not find anything. I don’t want to get your hopes up.”

That wasn’t what made the gesture so incredibly important to her. “Thank you.”

They walked into the house, and Jacob shook his head. “I’ve checked both pieces of furniture thoroughly. I couldn’t find any hidden compartments. They don’t have any.”

Disappointed, Laurel thanked him.

“Did you want Jacob and me to move the furniture someplace else?” CJ asked, since the chest and highboy were just sitting in the middle of their living room and in the way.

“The guest room, if you don’t mind.” Laurel hugged Meghan, who gave her a warm embrace back.

“We’ll learn the truth,” Meghan assured her.

“We’re going to Eric’s house to look through some boxes of stuff,” Laurel said.

“Boxes?”

“Sheridan’s personal effects.”

Her expression sympathetic, Meghan glanced at CJ. “Okay. What did you want me to do in the meantime?”

“Look through all those photos again and see if you recognize our aunt in any of them. But show CJ and Jacob where to put the furniture first. I need to pack a couple of bags.”

Meghan smiled brightly. “You’re staying with CJ tonight?”

“That’s usually the way it goes.”

Meghan was still smiling when she went with the men to show them where to take the furniture.

Laurel saw CJ’s pleased expression before she ran up the stairs and entered her bedroom. She had nearly finished packing the second bag when she heard footfalls on the stairs and looked up to see CJ entering her room.

“Can I help you with packing?” The tension in his body gone, he looked relieved that she was packing some of her things so she could stay with him. She had to admit that moving out felt weird when her sisters were staying behind.

“No thanks. I’ve got it. Did you get ahold of Eric?”

“Yeah. He’s going to meet us there and help us sort through the stuff.”

“It’s not going to be too upsetting for you both, is it?”

“No. It’s way past time to do this. Brett and Sarandon will be by a little later. We’re going to discard what no one wants, and if anyone wants any of it, we’ll sort it out.”

“All right.” She finished packing and CJ took the bags.

“Meghan sure seemed glad to see that you are moving out.”

Laurel smiled. “Only because I’m not fighting with you and I’m not going to uproot them again. But I have to say that each of my sisters has always been delighted about moving. Until we settled here. It just feels like home. Like we belong. I don’t know how it could when our aunt went missing from here.”

“It’s the pack.”

“Yes. And the town. But especially you.”

CJ put her bags down and pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry for not telling you about the skeleton last night. I love you, Laurel. I don’t want anything to come between us.”

She hugged him tight. “I just want to learn the truth and put this behind us. Especially if someone in the pack murdered her, and he or she is still here.”

CJ kissed her mouth. “Agreed.”

“After we look through the boxes, would you mind if we visited the pit where you fell?”

“We can do that. We haven’t eaten yet. Did you want to do that first?”

“Okay, we can drop my bags at your place…”

“Our place.”

She smiled a little. “Haven’t gotten used to that idea yet. Or I could make something here.”

“My place.”

She suspected he wanted a little privacy.

“What are you thinking concerning the pit?” He carried her bags downstairs, and she followed him.

“I don’t know how to explain it. But ever since I learned that you’d been injured there, then the skeleton was found, and the white wolf had visited you as if to see if you were all right, I’ve had this compelling urge to go there. What if the white wolf is hanging around the area?”

“If we manage to fall into the pit, he might come check us out. But I seriously doubt, as elusive as he is, that he’ll freely come to us. He didn’t even howl for help.”

“That could be because no one would know his howl. Don’t you think?”

“Could be.”

They found Meghan in the dining room, sifting through the photos. “Did you pay Jacob for his time?” Laurel asked, realizing he’d already left.

“No need. He’s gone, but he said he wished he could have found a false bottom or something to help us. He said if we have any trouble with any electrical wiring, just give him a call and he’ll be right over.”

“Thanks, Meghan. I’ll call you later if we locate anything.”

“Same here.”

Laurel hoped they’d find something in Sheridan’s effects to help them, and yet she hoped they wouldn’t if it proved he had anything to do with their aunt’s disappearance.