by Terry Spear
“She said Lee was gathering damning evidence against her daddy and he had to go. But I think Lee gathered evidence against her, and that’s why she’s so anxious to get the drive.”
“Who killed Lee?” Josh asked.
Ackerson shrugged. “You got ’em locked up, don’t you? Howie and that other joker? They might have even killed her daddy. They’re both from Phoenix.”
“And you?” Adam asked.
“Me too, but I didn’t do them.”
“What about the jewelry stores?” Adam asked.
“What about them?”
“Did she hire you for those too?” Josh asked.
“Nah. Those were my idea. I’ll testify she hired me for the job at the antique shop. Once you catch her, she said she’d give me up to you, if I hadn’t been caught already, so I might as well do it first and get something out of it. Hell, those other yahoos got themselves arrested right away. You really ought to look at their alibis for the times of Gulliver’s and Lee’s murders.”
“What about yours?” Josh asked.
Ackerson smiled. “I was in jail both times.”
Josh made a note of it. He was damn glad they had Ackerson in custody, and the other men too. Now they had to get that thumb drive and arrest Daisy.
When they were done interrogating Ackerson, they went in to see Howie again.
“Your partner, Matson, says you were the one who was supposed to kill Ms. Cerise.”
Howie didn’t say anything, his arms folded across his chest, his gaze on the floor.
“We know you killed another man, and charges are pending on that.” Adam gave him the date Randall Gulliver was murdered, without context, and asked, “Where were you that day?”
Howie frowned. “In Phoenix. I wasn’t anywhere near here.”
“Where in Phoenix?” Josh asked.
“Hell, that particular day, I don’t know. I didn’t get up here until about two weeks ago though.”
“On this job for Daisy Fern.”
“Yeah.”
Adam gave him the date of the day before the auction and asked him where he was that day.
“In Phoenix still. I told you I didn’t come up here any earlier than that. Yeah, I was incarcerated here before, but that’s been several months back.”
“Where in Phoenix?”
“How would I know?”
“So no alibis for the date and time of the murders of Mr. Gulliver or Mr. Lee, his assistant?” Josh asked.
Howie’s eyes widened.
“We have word you were hired by this same woman to kill them,” Adam said.
“I want a lawyer.”
“That’s your right, but we found the murder weapon used in both murders, and your fingerprints were all over it,” Josh said. “If you want to tell us why Daisy wanted you to murder the two men, then maybe we can ask for a lesser sentence. But we want the one who hired you for the jobs.”
Howie ran his hands through his hair. “I still want a lawyer.”
Unable to get any further with him, they interrogated Matson again.
He was stony-faced and said, “I’m not talking to you without my lawyer.”
“That’s your right,” Adam said, and they left the interview room.
“Did they find the weapons discharged in Brooke’s shop?” Josh asked Adam.
“Did they find the weapons used in the murders of Gulliver and Lee?” Adam asked him.
Josh smiled.
Adam’s expression matched his. “We make a great pair of detectives. I’ll miss you when you retire.” He let out his breath. “I’ve got to get back to work.”
“We can handle everything now. Maybe tomorrow around the time the mail carrier comes, you can drop by and give us some backup in case we have trouble,” Josh said.
Ethan and Mr. Lee joined them. “You call all of us and we’ll be there. I’m going to take Ben to meet with my boss,” Ethan said.
“I’m headed home,” Josh said, then he shook Mr. Lee’s hand. “Good to meet you and hope we wrap this up soon.”
“Same here,” Mr. Lee said.
When Josh returned home, Lucas greeted him. “Did you get the truth out of him?”
“Some of it. We just need to arrest Daisy and find that thumb drive.”
“Can I return tomorrow and help some more?” Lucas asked.
“Yes,” Brooke said. “The shop will be open, and you can help organize more merchandise.”
“If you need me again, don’t hesitate to call on me,” Brad said.
“We will, thanks,” Josh said.
Lucas said, “Same time tomorrow?”
“For breakfast?” Brooke asked.
“That would be great.”
Brooke would have to get more food soon. “See you tomorrow, Lucas.”
After Brad and Lucas left, Brooke was going to check out the value of more of the jewelry, but Josh had other ideas. He grabbed her up, tossed her over his shoulder, and headed back to the bedroom. It was past time to make love to his mate, and she was all for it.
Chapter 28
Early the next morning, the alarm went off, and both Josh and Brooke groaned. No way did he want to open the shop today. All he wanted to do was stay in bed with Brooke.
Josh kissed her. “It’s going to be a long week before the shop is closed for two days after we’re off for Christmas, but with all the help we’ve had, we’re going to spend more time just…doing this.”
“I’m all for it. Shoot.” Brooke released Josh and scrambled to get out of bed. “Lucas is coming for breakfast and Adam, too, and then he’s back to his real work. We’re wearing Christmas sweaters today at the shop.”
“I don’t have one. I’ve never worn a Christmas sweater.” Josh supposed he could wear the red sweater his brother had picked up for him.
“Hold on.” Brooke grabbed a package from under the tree, returned to the bedroom, and handed it to Josh.
He was already wearing a pair of jeans, and he smiled. “Then I need to give you a Christmas present early.”
“Sounds like a great idea.”
He opened his present while she pulled on her own sweater of a Christmas tree with lights that said: Get lit. His was blue and white, with a picture of a reindeer skiing down a slope wearing ski glasses.
“I love this.” Anything reindeer was perfect. Why hadn’t he thought of that before? He gave her a hug.
“Are you sure? We could always give it to Maverick as a Christmas present.”
“No way.” Josh pulled the sweater over his head and sat down to put on his socks and boots. “I’ll get your present in a minute.”
She had just put on her boots when Josh returned to the bedroom with a present for her. She eagerly opened it and laughed. The sweater of a reindeer had a big red nose and Christmas lights tangled in his antlers. “I. Love. This.”
“You’re part of a reindeer family now, besides being part of a wolf family.”
She switched sweaters and hugged and kissed him. “I love my sweater, and I’m so thrilled to be part of the reindeer family.”
“We need to get one for Maverick too.”
“I did. I just didn’t expect you to get me one. I love it.”
* * *
After they had an early breakfast of pancakes and sausage with Lucas and Adam, Josh and Brooke headed over to the shop while Adam went to work and Lucas updated Brooke’s website at the house. She was so excited because she’d received a text saying the men were coming to pick up the imperial vases. Having that done would be such a relief. Once the money cleared, she and Josh would be well off—secure if the shop didn’t do well or the reindeer ranch fell on hard times.
She’d barely opened the shop when the men arrived to pay for the Chinese vases and take possession of them.
“I�
�ve got to handle this transaction,” she told Josh.
“Do you need my help?” He looked like he wanted to be her bodyguard detail, which, after all that had happened, she totally understood.
“Yes, if you’ll watch the shop while I do this.”
“I’ll sure do that.”
“Thanks.” She led the men to her house and served them wassail and tea cakes, then retrieved the imperial vases for them to see. She couldn’t believe this was really happening, and she was thrilled.
Lucas seemed fascinated while he enjoyed the wassail and tea cakes too.
The Chinese antiquities expert verified they were authentic. Yes! Then he paid Brooke the funds in a wire transfer. She was glad to have had the vases for a short while and gladder still to give them to someone who would share them with the world instead of keeping them sealed in a steamer trunk in a dusty attic. And to have all that money! She wanted to dance around the room and howl.
She couldn’t be happier to thank the men and see them leave with the vases in hand. All smiles, she escorted them back through the shop and out through the front door where they strode off with their treasure. She joined Josh behind the counter and hugged him, not caring that he was trying to check out a couple of ladies’ merchandise.
“All done?” he asked, smiling down at her.
“Yeah. I’ll cancel the insurance on them. The buyer will have to insure them now.” That was what she was doing when the door to the shop opened. It was the mail carrier with three boxes.
“I’ll get them,” Josh said, handing over the register to Brooke.
As soon as he signed for them, he nodded to Brooke. They were the ones Daisy had to be after.
Her customers left the shop with their packages in hand.
Josh and Brooke moved the boxes to the office, and Josh immediately called Adam. “The boxes are here. Okay. See you soon.”
She was already opening the first of the boxes and was going through the stuff as quickly as she could. “Ohmigod.” She smiled to see the Steiff mohair Christmas reindeer, the tag saying its name was Renny. He was just adorable.
Josh glanced over at her.
“Nothing. Just…don’t look.” She slipped it into a sack and set it aside for Josh for Christmas. “Looks like all kinds of fun little trinkets to sell. Vintage Christmas ornaments, some new ones, old keys, just a mixture. No thumb drive.”
“Same here. Just more stuff,” Josh said about the box he’d opened.
Brooke frowned at him. “Some of which might be valuable.”
“Of course. Until then?”
“It’s just stuff. You’re right.”
Josh was cutting open the last box when they heard someone come into the shop. He pulled his gun out.
She stilled his hand. “It might be a customer.”
He hid his gun but went out with her to see it was indeed a couple of ladies visiting her shop. She smiled at them. “Is there anything you’re looking for in particular?”
“No, just browsing for now. You don’t have your reindeer calves here today, do you?” one of the ladies asked. “We saw them on the news.”
“No.” Brooke smiled again. “Not today.” She was beginning to think they needed a permanent reindeer resident here.
Then Ethan walked into the shop, to her surprise, but she was glad to see him. “I was in the area, and Adam called and said the boxes had come in. I thought you could use my help if you had any more trouble,” Ethan said.
“Thanks. I’m glad you’re here, just in case.”
The door jingled again, and Brooke looked up, expecting more customers, but it was Adam. “Did you find anything in the last boxes?” he asked.
Josh had just finished with the last one.
“Nothing in them. I’m closing early for Christmas Eve. Most everyone doing last-minute shopping is at the mall or other big stores,” Brooke said.
“Once we get this wrapped up, we need to celebrate,” Adam said.
“I’m with you there.” Brooke hoped they’d catch Daisy before long.
“You call us if you have any trouble,” Adam said.
Ethan agreed. “All of us. Mr. Lee included.”
When the men left the shop, Josh pulled her over to the arch where she’d hung mistletoe, having forgotten it was up there, and then he kissed her. “I’ve wanted to do that since I first saw the mistletoe hanging over the archway.”
She eagerly kissed him back when they didn’t have any customers to watch them. “It’s past lunchtime. Did you want to get something to eat? Something light because we’ll be having baked pomegranate-glazed salmon for Christmas Eve dinner with Maverick.”
“Sure. Do you want me to order something?”
“No, that’s okay. Why don’t we just grab a sandwich at the bakery across the street? I could never do it when it was just me here, but I’ve always wanted to try her holiday sandwiches. She’s closing her shop early too. She’s got braised short rib with melted mozzarella and roasted red pepper sandwiches that I want to have.”
Josh smiled down at her, rubbing her arms. “And you had me go out and get you regular meals for lunch?”
“Sure, because I’d have lunch and dinner on you that way.”
He laughed. “You got it. Why don’t you come with me? You don’t have any customers right now. We’ll get our sandwiches and bring them right back. Or we can just order them, and I’ll run over and pick them up.”
“Order them, and we can run over to get them. I can wish Sarah and her husband a Merry Christmas before we both close our shops.”
Josh got on the phone and placed the order.
They didn’t have any more customers, and they still had two hours before the shop closed. She might close earlier next year, if business was this dead. The bakery had at least a few customers, probably getting lunches or treats to go.
Brooke began to really sort through the last of the boxes Mr. Lee’s brother wanted her to have.
“What do you want me to do?” Josh asked.
“Can you move the Christmas items to one of the shelf units? Then when we open after Christmas, I can make that our Christmas sale shelf.”
“Sure.” Josh got busy on that.
She loved how helpful he could be.
Inside the box, she discovered a smaller box, and when she opened it, she found thirty marbles—vintage and probably worth a fortune. She whooped!
Josh turned and smiled at her. “Good, huh?”
“I’ll say. Mr. Lee had told me the items in the box wouldn’t be worth much to collectors, but they could be worth something to me. They are worth lots to both collectors and me!”
Josh came over and checked out the box, then kissed her.
She smiled. “I should have asked Mr. Lee about not being charged for the wolf statues when he was here.”
“Give him a call now.” Josh went back to moving things from one shelf to another.
She called Mr. Lee, and he answered right away. “Any trouble?”
“Uh, no. I just found vintage marbles in one of the boxes. Did your brother know I collected them?”
“Yes. Several times over the years during the summers when you were gone, your parents had him over for dinner. He enjoyed the wolf camaraderie. He didn’t join the pack, but he thought the world of your family. They often mentioned you and how proud of you they were.”
Brooke wiped away tears.
“Whenever I had a chance to visit with my brother during the summer, they’d have both of us over. As Mr. Gulliver’s assistant, my brother didn’t have much time to himself, but when he had the opportunity to visit with your parents, he did.”
“But I didn’t pay for the wolf statues.”
“He was cleaning house, knowing when he had enough evidence against Mr. Gulliver, he’d be leaving. He wanted to tell you himsel
f the story behind the treasures he left for you. He wanted you to have them. When I found out he had been murdered, I wanted you to have the statues as a gift from our family to yours.”
Josh’s phone rang, and he answered it. “Our sandwiches are ready. I’ll just run and get them.”
Brooke nodded to Josh. “The man who took my credit card number wasn’t a real cashier,” she said to Mr. Lee.
“No. He was another federal agent, a friend of mine, there as backup.”
“I wish I could have given your brother a hug for his kindness. Thanks for carrying out his wishes. If you don’t have any plans, would you like to have Christmas Eve dinner with us?”
“I would be delighted.”
“We’ll have dinner at—” She noticed that the mechanic, Randy Winters, who had been taking care of her great-uncle’s cars and truck had parked the Ferrari in front of the shop. She’d meant for him to drive it around to the house and hide it in the garage. She hoped she could reach Randy in time and tell him to move it to the garage before Josh saw it. Then Maverick pulled into the parking space next to it. Smiling, he looked thrilled to be driving the vintage Corvette.
The door jingled open, and Brooke saw the woman from the auction, her hair long and black, her spiky heels clicking on the wooden floor, her gaze shifting from Brooke to the boxes from the Gulliver estate. It was Daisy Gulliver.
“She’s here,” Brooke whispered to Mr. Lee on the phone.
“Where’s Josh?”
“Across the street getting our sandwiches.”
“Do you have a gun you can easily get to without arousing suspicion?”
The shelf! “Yes.” She loved her great-aunt for being prepared. Brooke knew how to shoot a gun at cans. People were a different story.
“If you can safely get to it, do so. We’re headed back to your place. Don’t hang up! Adam’s calling Josh to tell him the trouble you’re in. He’s closest to your location for now.”
Daisy pulled out a gun and pointed it at Brooke. “Hand over the thumb drive.”
“I have the FBI on the line, and they’ve just notified the police detective across the street you’re here. The thumb drive wasn’t in any of the boxes.”
