by Terry Spear
When George Taylor arrived, Brooke smiled warmly at him and shook his hand. “Thanks so much for coming to do this so quickly.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll have your door fixed in a jiffy.”
“Thanks.” Then she said to Josh, “Why don’t you learn what happened to Jingles? I need to be cleared of that crime.”
Josh smiled at her.
“Did you look at the videos for all the other shops?” she asked.
“That’s what I’m about to do.” He hadn’t seen video security in her shop when he looked yesterday, but maybe he had missed it. “What about yours?”
“The security company is scheduled to come after the holidays.”
“All right then. I’ll let you know what I find, and I’ll check on you and make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m okay, really.”
“Here’s my card if you think of anything further concerning Jingles.”
Brooke looked heavenward, took the card, and slipped it into her pocket.
Josh headed across the street to the bakery and walked inside. The place smelled as sweet as Brooke’s shop, only this one had lemon meringue and coconut pies and other baked goods. The older woman he’d met earlier greeted him with a smile. “Ohmigod, we saw all the commotion across the street. What was going on?”
“I can’t really say. It’s an ongoing investigation.”
“Oh, sure. How may I help you?”
He showed her his badge and asked if she had video security he could take a look at. “I’m trying to solve the mystery of who stole the reindeer calf and left it at the antique shop.”
“I’m Sarah Burns, the co-owner of the bakery. My husband is in the kitchen behind the shop baking. The morning before everything happened, Brooke’s gate was closed, and then she opened it to let people wander around her courtyard and shop. She said she’ll have plants and garden decorations in the spring, more than she does right now, but she has those heated birdbaths and more Christmassy kinds of garden items for sale. I bought one of her heated birdbaths the first week she opened.”
“I’ll have to get one too. Anything to help the wildlife make it through the winter.”
“Right.” Sarah pointed to her monitor. “See, she left the gate open. You can see her lights are on in the store late that night, so she must have been working. She’s been doing that late every night. Then she turned off the lights, and she closed the gate to her courtyard.”
On the screen, Josh saw a black pickup truck pull in front of Brooke’s shop later that night, but he couldn’t see what the driver and passenger were up to. The passenger door opened, the light coming on briefly, but the driver had a hood covering his head and was turned to watch the other person leave the truck so Josh couldn’t see any of their features. The passenger closed the door, opened the back door, and then shut it. He disappeared for a few minutes, but then opened the passenger door, climbed back into the truck, and slammed the door. The driver sped off. From this angle, Josh couldn’t see the license-plate number or what the man had been doing. Maybe the dress shop next to Brooke’s would give a better picture.
“The gate was closed before the truck appeared. Then it parked in front of the gate so you can’t see what’s going on,” she said.
Josh was amused she was guiding him through the scenes.
“The next morning, the gate was open. So I assumed she had already opened it for her customers.”
“She said she had closed it the night before when she went home,” Josh said.
“Right. You can see she did. Whoever that was, they opened her gate—and see how it looks like it’s closed, but a bit of wind blew it open? There!” The woman excitedly pointed to a figure in the backyard. “That’s the reindeer, don’t you think?”
“Yeah.” Though it wasn’t a clear picture and it was shot from the shop across the street, Josh did believe it was Jingles moving toward Brooke’s lighted back porch.
“So then Brooke finds the reindeer the next morning, and people are coming here to have baked goods and telling us the remarkable story about the reindeer. Everyone’s joking about Santa missing one of them, and then you come along to question her,” Sarah said.
“Right.”
“But she didn’t steal it. Whoever was in that black truck did.”
Brooke was in the clear. Not that Josh really had doubts any longer.
They watched more of the video—featuring tons of townspeople, news reporters, and TV station crew who all showed up at Brooke’s shop.
Her arms folded across her chest, the woman smiled. “That made the best business for us too. We can’t have a reindeer over here, but I think the other shop owners in the area agree that we’ll help Brooke rent the reindeer for next year, since we all did so much business from having so much traffic.”
“Can I get a copy of the video?” Josh asked.
“Yes, sure.” She emailed him a copy. “I hope you catch the person who did this.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.” Josh headed to the dress store next to Brooke’s shop to see if they had a security video that showed anything.
He walked inside the store, where a couple of women were perusing the sale racks, and spoke with a middle-aged woman who was making a sign behind her checkout counter. “Hi, I’m Detective Josh Wilding with the Portland Police Bureau.” He showed her his badge. “Are you the manager or the owner?”
“The owner, Polly Whitmore. You’ve come about the reindeer calf? I saw the pictures of it once everyone started posting about him. He is adorable. If I’d had help that day, I would’ve gone over to take some pictures. Or”—her eyes widened—“are you here about that other business today? DEA all over the place. The SWAT team, even. What in the world was going on?”
“It’s an ongoing investigation I can’t talk about. I’m here to learn more about the reindeer theft.”
“Okay. I couldn’t sleep that night—insomnia, you know. I kept thinking about all the merchandise I wanted to tag, the stuff I wanted to put on the sale rack, the new posters I wanted to make. I have a home behind the shop like Brooke does, so I just walked across my garden and entered my shop. I have big picture windows, as you can see, and we have hardly any traffic at night because all the shops are closed early. I saw this truck drive past real slow. That grabbed my interest.
“He parked in front of Brooke’s gate. Not like he would have done if he’d been visiting her store, but parallel parked.
“I heard a truck door open, and another open, then one slammed. I was watching the security monitor by then because I couldn’t see what was happening out my windows. I had to run back to my office and check the security video. My camera is set to capture things that happen in front of my shop or at the gate, and that means it catches what’s going on in the direction of Brooke’s gate too. I thought they were going to steal something in her courtyard, but then the one guy returned to the truck, and he wasn’t holding onto anything. He climbed into the truck, slammed the door, and the driver took off.”
“You didn’t see him moving something out of the truck and into the courtyard?”
“No. I had moved from the window to my office to see the security video. By then, he was returning to the truck empty-handed. So I figured the guy had been drinking and went to the bathroom in her courtyard. A guy did that in my courtyard once. I kept it locked after that. I didn’t even think to check out what had happened earlier. People steal stuff. They don’t usually leave stuff behind.”
Josh immediately thought about discarding dead bodies, but he didn’t mention that. “Did you catch the license-plate number?”
“Come into my office and watch the video. I couldn’t make it out, but maybe you can.”
When he reviewed the video, Josh couldn’t make the license number out with the naked eye. He had high hopes the techs could. “If I could have a copy of this, I’
d really appreciate it. I’ll share it with some of our tech people and see if they can get anything more from it.”
Then he got a call from the police bureau. An armed robbery had just taken place at a local jewelry store. Armed perp down. They needed Josh to investigate.
“Got to run, and thanks,” he said to the shop owner. He got into his car and glanced at Brooke’s shop.
She was smiling and talking to George while he replaced the glass in her door. Josh was glad she wasn’t too upset about everything that had gone on earlier and seemed to be in relatively good spirits.
He sent the video to the police bureau so they could figure out the truck’s license plate number. He hoped to talk to the owner of the truck and solve the case of the tampering with their security video and the theft of the reindeer calf.
So why was he thinking of making sure Brooke had something more than a granola bar for lunch today?
* * *
As soon as George finished replacing the glass in her window, Brooke had a few customers waiting to enter the shop. She paid George, thanking him for doing such a great job. “If I ever need to replace more windows, I’ll be sure to call you.”
The gray-haired man smiled at her. “Always good doing business with others like us. You look so much like Ivy that you must be her great-niece. She was always talking about how much fun she had with you when you stayed with her.”
Brooke smiled. In Phoenix, they only had a small pack of wolves, and they didn’t have so many wolves that had different skills to call on. She was glad she could get help from the wolves in the area. It was nice her great-aunt had a good reputation and Brooke was able to benefit from it.
She sure hoped Josh would solve the theft of the reindeer calf, she thought as she let potential customers into the shop to look around.
“Did a vandal do that?” one of her customers asked, motioning to the door.
“Someone who wanted to get into the shop before I was open for business.”
“What is the world coming to?” the woman asked. “I wanted to see if you had any old-time Santas. The kind that have the long cloak, rather than the newer style of Santa costume.”
“I do. Antique and replicas.” Brooke took her to a cabinet full of Santas. “Is this what you’re looking for?”
“Oh yes. My daughter collects the vintage ones.”
“I’ll let you look at them then. I need to warm the baked goods and fix a pot of hot chocolate while you’re looking them over.” Brooke headed for the kitchen and said to another customer, “Are you searching for anything special?”
“Just browsing, thanks.”
“If you need anything, just let me know.” Brooke set out the cinnamon rolls she’d bought from the bakery and the hot chocolate, finally having a moment to come to grips with what had happened to her that morning. She couldn’t believe her great-aunt had bought several boxes of pottery filled with drugs! Brooke still felt a little shaky over the whole matter. She was grateful the DEA special agent in charge was one of their kind, because she was sure that would help keep her great-aunt’s name in the clear. Although her great-aunt would most probably be in the news as an older woman duped into buying merchandise filled with drugs.
Brooke just hoped there wasn’t any more of it on its way.
Chapter 6
As soon as Josh arrived at the scene of the crime, he spoke to everyone at the jewelry store. He recognized the man who had been shot as a repeat offender—armed robbery being his specialty. His partner in crime had gotten away. The EMTs stabilized and loaded the wounded robber into the ambulance.
“Did he say anything?” Josh asked one of the first police officers who had arrived at the scene.
“He was mumbling about Ackerson always getting away and that he had all the luck.”
“Ackerson,” Josh said, writing the name down. “No first name?”
“No, sir. Once he mentioned his partner’s name, he wouldn’t say anything more about him as if he realized he shouldn’t have said that much. I think he was pissed off and in so much pain it just slipped out.”
“Did you get a description of the guy that got away?”
“The clerk said Ackerson had blue eyes and was wearing a black ski mask. The clerk said he saw a dark-brown mustache above the guy’s lip. He was dressed in blue jeans, heavy black boots, black ski gloves, and a dark-gray parka.”
“Thanks.” Josh spoke with the store clerk, two customers, and the owner, took all their statements, and looked over the security video. The shop owner had only been defending himself when the two men broke into his shop and raised loaded guns at him. Ackerson shot the security camera and fired a round at the shop owner, but he missed, hitting the wall behind the man. The shop owner grabbed his 9mm hidden underneath the counter and fired back, hitting Ackerson’s accomplice, a man named Curly Buckner, in the chest. At least Josh knew Ackerson’s scent now, and he hoped they could find the robber in the database. And they knew he had a mustache, maybe a beard, and probably brown hair.
Josh went back to his office and filled out paperwork for the rest of the morning. He didn’t find anything on the name Ackerson in the database though.
Adam Holmes, a red wolf and fellow police detective, Josh’s partner, joined him. “Hey, if you’re caught up, do you want to grab a bite to eat?”
“I can’t. I’m still checking into the business with the stolen reindeer calf.”
“I hope you get that resolved soon. If you need my help, just let me know. I had another call come in about the time the DEA agents stormed the shop, so I couldn’t get there and help out or meet Brooke Cerise, but I checked later with Ethan, and he said you’re already laying claim to the she-wolf.”
Josh shook his head. “I was there questioning her further about the reindeer calf when the boxes were delivered from Colombia.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard that story before. We can catch up later, man.”
“Sure.” Josh headed out to his car and called Brooke on Bluetooth.
“Did you learn who calf-napped Jingles so you can take me off your suspect list?” Brooke asked.
“Still working on it. Since I have to be in your area”—checking out more security videos, sure, but Josh had it in mind to have lunch with her—“what do you want me to bring you for lunch?” He assumed anything he brought her would be infinitely more satisfying than a granola bar.
“Do you think bribing me with food will convince me to confess all about the reindeer calf?”
He smiled at her tenacity. “What do you want?”
“Chicken marsala.”
He headed toward the restaurant he had in mind that made the perfect chicken marsala. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”
Soon he arrived at the antique shop with the meals in a sack, hoping he could talk to Brooke about where he was at in the reindeer case, but she was busy taking care of customers, trying to find something one of the customers was looking for. He hadn’t considered that part of the equation. She motioned to him to take the food into the kitchen. “Go ahead and eat.”
That certainly wasn’t the plan he had in mind. He really wanted to eat with and talk to her. Had she seen the black pickup truck parked in front of her garden gate before? Was there a reason the truck stopped at her place in particular?
He set the food out on the kitchen table, and Brooke hurried into the kitchen as the shop door closed. Then she smiled, and her smile stirred his loins. Hell. He was thinking about a kiss.
“I might have more customers anytime now.”
“Take a seat and enjoy your meal then.”
She grabbed a cup of water for each of them and sat down to eat. “Hmm. This smells so good. Thanks.”
“I imagine it’ll also be your dinner.”
“Of course. Thanks for bringing me lunch and dinner today. What I want to know is, what will you
bring me tomorrow?”
Josh chuckled. He hadn’t expected that. He’d ended up getting the chicken marsala for himself, too, and started to cut into the chicken and mushrooms topped with cheese and wine sauce. “About the Jingles case…”
Brooke made a long-suffering sigh and scooped up some of her mashed potatoes covered in gravy. “I am still a suspect.” She ate the mashed potatoes and pointed her fork at him. “You remember what I said about my rights.”
He smiled and explained what he had learned.
She was about to spear a piece of chicken with her fork when he told her she had closed the gate to her courtyard that night. She pointed her empty fork at him again. “See? I told you the gate was closed!”
“It was. You were right.”
“So?”
“I need to speak to the owner of the pickup to learn where he was when the truck was parked in front of your place and around the time the reindeer calf was stolen.” Josh showed her the video of the truck. “Have you ever seen that truck before?”
“Are you kidding? As many black pickups as there are? No. I don’t make it a habit of watching out the shop windows for black pickup trucks.”
“Did you hear anything that night? A truck door slamming? Your gate opening?”
She sighed and began working on her meal again.
He supposed he should leave off with all the questions so she could eat before anyone else entered her shop.
“No,” he said for her.
“I. Was. Sleeping. I think I already gave you my statement, Detective Wilding.”
“Right, but I thought you might have forgotten something or heard something and just dismissed it as nothing important.”
“Like a reindeer being dropped off in my courtyard.”
