by Terry Spear
“You shouldn’t be there if that maniac is out there too. Just be careful. Are you so sure about Gavin? He’s a wolf, and you just met him.”
“I met him over seven years ago when he was on a case in Alaska, looking for stolen pets. He’s the one who identified the theft ring—Mindy and Asher Michaels?” She figured her dad had to see him as one of the good guys when he’d helped take down a pet theft ring.
“I thought the police were the only ones involved in that.”
“That’s what the newspaper led everyone to believe. In truth, Gavin had to take Asher down, even when the crook was armed with a gun.”
“You never mentioned anything about Gavin to us before. How did you meet him?”
Amelia stacked more kindling on the fire, looking downriver and trying to spy any sign of Gavin. “Oh, you know Mrs. Primrose? She thought because I was fostering dogs, I might be involved in a pet theft ring. Our Samoyeds looked just like the two Gavin was trying to locate, but they were males, and ours were females. Mrs. Primrose apologized afterward to me. Gavin had spoken to her, then came to my door. And you know how I was trying to get someone to fix it? Well, it was partly open and the puppies had gotten out. He caught them and brought them back. Anyway, that’s how I met him. He’s always been the most honorable of men.”
“Hmm. I should have asked if you had a big enough sleeping bag.”
She knew her dad wondered just how close she and Gavin were getting. “He has two single sleeping bags.”
“You just tell me if he gets out of line.”
She chuckled. “I love you, Dad.”
“Love you back, honey. Wait. Gavin Summerfield. Hold on.”
Uh-oh. What were the chances her dad would make the connection between her and Gavin during the jewelry-store heist?
“You knew him six months before that.”
“You mean on the jewelry-store robbery.”
“Yeah. It says here he survived the crash and got a commendation for taking the place of the pregnant clerk.”
“Yes. See? I told you he was honorable.”
“So he knew you were the one piloting the plane? It says in this online newspaper account that he knew the pilot was a woman, but he didn’t know what had happened to her.”
“No. Well, he put two and two together while we were stranded.”
“But he knew you were innocent.”
“Yes. I explained what had happened. You have to know I had my doubts about him too. He was a cop, and so was my boyfriend, supposedly. Gavin said that he’d never been a cop.”
“Clayton lied to you all along, then.”
“He did.”
“I’m sorry, Amelia.”
“It’s not your fault the guy was a bad wolf.”
“I should have known.”
Her father had always felt bad that she could have easily died that day, that he hadn’t read the wolf better. Clayton had been charming, and he’d fooled everyone, including Amelia’s whole family. If she hadn’t ended his miserable life, both her dad and Slade would have done it. Even her mother would have. Amelia could never see her mother in that role, but she knew in a pinch, her mother and her dad had fought wolves off and she’d killed one. If the price was high enough—her mom had been carrying twins—she would have done anything to protect her mate and offspring.
“You let me know if there’s any trouble, and Slade and I will be out there for you.”
“All right, Dad. Thanks.”
Then they ended the call. Her dad had given her a backup solar-powered battery, so they had to be careful not to use it too much unless they really had an emergency. Four hours of talking time, thirty-six hours of standby. She thought they were going to have mostly sunny days for the next few days though.
Amelia could hear people talking across the river. She didn’t have a canoe to paddle over to the other side and do surveillance, but after Gavin had lost the opportunity to work his case two days ago, she wanted to help him with this. It could take him a couple of hours to return, longer if he couldn’t locate Theodore. She didn’t even know if the voices she’d heard belonged to the company’s group.
Swimming across the river as a wolf, she would stay warm and remain unseen as she prowled through the woods and drew close to the camp. And the river wasn’t very wide. Maybe she’d hear something that would give Gavin a clue as to whether Conrad Dylan was having an affair. The one female executive was gone. The only females left were the two sales associates and the CEO.
Amelia hurried to bank the fire, then went inside the tent, stripped off her clothes, and shifted. Leaving the tent as a wolf, she ran across the beach and into the water, then swam across to the other island. Once there, she raced through the woods, smelling the aroma of chili and the smoke of a campfire about a mile and a half ahead. She heard a couple of people talking, and she moved closer.
She saw Mindy practically sitting on Orwell’s lap, smiling up at him as he drank from a coffee mug. He didn’t appear to adore her as much as she seemed to adore him.
Conrad said, “Don’t you think that Theodore should be getting back by now? When Henry White called, he said that he’d picked up Nina late yesterday.”
“It took Theodore several hours to get there,” Lee said. “He’ll be here.”
“He’s not that good with a compass or with navigation,” Orwell warned. “He’s gotten a lot better at paddling, but…”
Cheryl was sitting off by herself. She wasn’t fawning all over Conrad in the least. The CEO was examining a map. If this was the only time Amelia had to consider Conrad’s actions, she’d say he wasn’t doing anything extramarital. At least not here. Or now. Then again, when everyone went to bed that night, who knew?
Paddles splashed in the river, and Amelia heard the water slapping at two approaching canoes. She hoped they were Gavin’s and Theodore’s.
“Oh, oh, there’s Theodore and someone else,” Mindy said.
“Ahoy,” Theodore called out. “I brought company. Or I should say, a fellow paddler. Gavin Summerfield found me and brought me here.”
“Well, Theodore, I’m glad you could make it,” Lee said, and she sounded genuinely relieved. She set the map down on a log. “I was just trying to figure out how we were going to go back and try to locate you. Join us for dinner, won’t you?” she asked Gavin.
“I’ve got to get back to…” He paused and looked into the woods for a split second, and though the light was fading, Amelia figured Gavin had seen her glowing wolf eyes. “Well, sure, thanks. I’ll do that.”
“What about your girlfriend?” Theodore asked, sounding surprised Gavin would forget about her.
“She was tired and went to sleep. Long day of paddling and more ahead of us. We’re not far from here. I’ll just grab a bite to eat and then head back to our camp.”
Theodore smiled. “It’s all the workouts at night that are wearing her out.”
Gavin only smiled in her direction.
As if.
“I have to tell you that Henry coming earlier than expected was a godsend. I wouldn’t use any other seaplane service if I came out here again,” Theodore said, greatly relieved.
Lee put down her bowl of chili. “Yes, he called me to say he’d taken her to the hospital, and she was staying overnight. They believe it was food poisoning, but she should be all right.”
“She ate something that no one else ate?” Gavin asked.
Mindy Michaels glowered at Gavin. Amelia guessed she’d recalled who he was, even though they hadn’t seen a lot of each other when she was beating on him before the police arrested her and her husband and when he must have spoken at the trial.
“Yeah,” Mindy said. “I brought sausage my husband made for me, but I didn’t feel like eating any. I keep telling him it isn’t lean enough. Nina wanted to try it. An hour later, she was sick. I figured
the sausage either hadn’t been cooked thoroughly or it had spoiled, not having been refrigerated enough on the trip. I feel terrible about it. That’s all I can think of.”
“Your husband and you are on good terms?” Gavin asked.
Amelia’s wolf jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe what Gavin was thinking, but that had to go back to his cop reasoning. Sure, the plane that had brought Mindy here an hour earlier than scheduled had gone down, and then something intended for Mindy made Nina sick. And here she was hanging all over another man when she was still married to Asher.
“Are…you saying he tried to poison me?” Mindy asked, horrified, her eyes wide.
“The plane that had carried you here earlier crashed,” Theodore said as if he had to explain why Gavin thought there might be foul play.
Damn, so he’d seen enough of what was going on, probably overheard some of it, and knew she’d lost her plane.
“Omigod, no,” Mindy said, tears filled her eyes. “I-I hinted at wanting a divorce. He was angry, even at just a casual mention of it. How would he have known which plane I was going to take?”
“Two of our executives said they couldn’t make it, then at the last minute, they said they could,” Lee said. “Initially, we were scheduled to have one plane take us. Two days before our scheduled arrival, I contacted Henry, and he said he could provide two planes, no problem. Due to storms in the area, they’d had some cancellations. We arrived an hour early because of wanting to get started. And Henry and his son, Slade, were eager to bring us out here earlier.”
“So, Gavin, you had a canoe trip scheduled, and you came at the time Henry was supposed to fly us in,” Theodore said.
“Uh, yeah, and we lost all power. Amelia was able to land it well enough that we got out without too many bruises, but the plane still sank.”
“You’re sure it has nothing to do with the company? Competition?” Lee asked. “When it comes to competition, some companies will do anything to try to sabotage a competitor’s efforts.”
“We’ve considered it could be,” Gavin said.
Lee turned to Mindy. “Your husband wouldn’t have been able to personally sabotage a plane, would he?”
“He has a lot of shady contacts. No telling who he might know to get the job done. He’s still doing illegal stuff. I just didn’t want to take part in it, and I haven’t for years. I’m happy with your company. I don’t want to jeopardize that. I plan to call it quits with him when I return.”
Amelia noticed Orwell had stood, then sat on another log across from where Mindy was still sitting, distancing himself from her, as if associating with her could get him into trouble too. If her husband had anything to do with the plane, they could have all perished.
Gavin ate some of the chili, but Amelia was worried that he might get sick too, if any of the rest of the food had been tampered with. Though wolves had stronger digestive systems, so he could probably deal with it better. And their healing genetics enabled them to overcome injuries and sickness faster.
“Does he have an insurance policy on you?” Gavin asked.
Mindy paled at the mention of an insurance policy. “Yes, with a double indemnity clause. Should I die accidentally, he gets double the face amount of the contract. Of course, I have one on him too. He suggested doing that about six months ago. I’m throwing out any of the food Asher packed for me.” Mindy started going through the food in her backpack.
Gavin glanced at Conrad, but he was looking across the river. Amelia wondered if he was thinking that his wife might want to eliminate him if she learned he was having an affair. Had the Michaelses bought their insurance policies about the time Mindy started to have the affair with Orwell?
“How long did you know that you were going on this trip?” Gavin asked.
“A couple of weeks ago. Lee usually plans them well in advance and gives us fair warning,” Mindy said.
Amelia was dying to know just when Mindy started having the affair.
“Was there a special reason why you got the insurance policies six months ago?” Gavin asked.
Yes! Amelia felt like she was really a PI-in-training, and Gavin was asking all the right questions. She would have just jumped in and asked what she wanted to know without being careful to learn the truth in the most judicious manner. Did Asher know his wife was having an affair?
Mindy glanced at Orwell. He was poking at the fire with a stick, not looking at anyone. All eyes were on Mindy, waiting to hear the truth.
When she didn’t offer anything, Lee spoke up. “Unless Mindy started it earlier and we were unaware of it, she was having an affair with Orwell at that time.”
Mindy let her breath out in a huff. “Orwell was separated. I planned to divorce Asher when the time was right.”
“So he could have learned you were having an affair six months ago?” Gavin said, not truly as a question, but more of an observation.
Again, Mindy didn’t reply.
“They weren’t being discreet about it, if that’s what you mean,” Lee said. “They were having long lunches away from work. Asher could have had a private eye following them at any time and learned what they were up to, if they had been up to anything.”
“If you were going to divorce Asher, why did you get the life insurance policy?” Gavin asked.
“That’s what I wondered,” Theodore said.
“Are you a cop?” Mindy suddenly asked Gavin.
“No. Former police officer with the Seattle Police Department.”
“I should have known you were a cop.”
“Why did you agree to the life insurance policy?” Gavin asked.
“Maybe Asher would have an accident. It could happen, you know. Then I wouldn’t have had to divorce him, and I would have been well off.” Mindy folded her arms and looked like she was pouting. She was too old for it to look cute on her.
Greed was the reason Mindy had gone along with purchasing the policy, Amelia thought. She also watched the dynamics between Conrad and Cheryl. Unless they were being extremely cautious, nothing seemed to be going on between them. No glances at each other. Just nothing. She wondered if Gavin was seeing this like she was. If he was watching all the dynamics like she was. It helped to be here in the woods as a wolf. No one would know another pair of eyes was observing all.
“Of course, it could have to do with anyone in the group too. For any reason,” Gavin said.
“Hmm,” Lee said. “You ought to be a private investigator yourself.”
Gavin just smiled, waiting for anyone to offer other reasons, but when they didn’t, he finished eating his chili. “This was really great. It hit the spot. Thanks so much for dinner.”
“Thanks for bringing Theodore safely to us.” Lee spooned some of the chili into a plastic container. “This is for Amelia.”
“Thanks. She’ll love it.” Gavin took the plastic container from Lee.
“Yeah, thanks, Gavin. I owe you big time,” Theodore said.
Amelia wished Theodore hadn’t overheard about the plane going down and then shared it, but she supposed that if whoever sabotaged it wanted to kill someone who took the earlier flight, it was best they were alerted.
“No one else in the group has any reason to sabotage the plane, do they?” Gavin asked, before sliding his canoe into the water.
“I have powerful enemies, my competition,” Lee said.
“Have you ever had anyone try to eliminate you permanently?”
Lee smiled. “Not that I know of. Business practices can be brutal sometimes, but they don’t go as far as murder.”
Everyone else just shook their heads, indicating they hadn’t made anyone mad enough to be on someone’s hit list.
Amelia wondered about Orwell though. Even though they were separated, what if his wife wanted to exact revenge against both Orwell and Mindy?
“What about you
?” Lee asked Gavin shrewdly.
“If someone set a timer, it would have been set to go off when your people took the plane trip,” Gavin said. “Whoever did this had to have known the schedule and set the timer before the plane was in service the next day.”
“That means someone who works for Amelia’s company,” Lee said.
“Possibly a pilot who worked for Amelia’s dad and was fired from his job.”
“So it could be just a case of revenge against him,” Lee said.
“It could be.” Gavin shoved his canoe off and climbed into it. “Night, all. And good luck with your training.” He started to paddle downriver but heard a splash and looked back to see Amelia swimming after him. He smiled at her and shook his head.
He paused and helped her into the canoe. She shook water all over him. “I’m sorry you couldn’t have joined us. I hadn’t planned to stay until I saw you in the woods. I had to hang around in case anyone saw you, so I could assure them the wild wolf was just curious about them, not a threat. At least they gave me some of the chili for you, and it’s great.”
She gave him a little woof.
When they arrived back at their campsite, Amelia jumped out of the canoe. She wasn’t sure how Gavin would view her conducting surveillance on her own, without making sure it was the right thing to do. She was a take-action kind of girl, and sitting around waiting for hours for Gavin to return wasn’t something she had any interest in doing. Besides, it all worked out.
She ran into the tent to shift and dress while he got the fire started again.
“We make one hell of a team,” Gavin said, and she knew he wasn’t upset with her.
Then again, if he had any chance of dating her, he had to play his cards right. She smiled and slipped into a pair of fresh jeans, socks, and boots. Then she put on her sweatshirt and headed out of the tent.
He smiled at her as he dumped more kindling on the fire. “I hadn’t expected you to do the surveillance without me, but thank you for getting a head start on it. Did you learn anything?”
“They were worried about Theodore.” Amelia took the container of chili Gavin offered her. “While you were doing all the questioning, I was watching everyone’s reactions. Orwell seemed concerned.”
