You Had Me at Wolf

by Terry Spear

  “Sure thing.”

  Nicole slipped her phone in her pocket, and she and Blake went straight to the table where Clay was sitting. He looked up from his meal and smiled at her but frowned at Blake. “You must be related to the guy at the registration desk who said he couldn’t tell me where Nicole was. You look just like him.” He turned his attention to Nicole. “Well, so you’re a wolf too. That’s a surprise.”

  “Yeah, and we’ve got this covered. You can tell Taggart you’re leaving the job to me.” Nicole raised a brow at him. “After all the work I’ve done on it because you were too busy with other obligations.”

  Chapter 10

  His expression amused, Clay motioned for Nicole and Blake to take seats at his table. They did, and Blake asked the server to get them a couple of coffees. “So who’s ‘we’? Larry isn’t on the job any longer, Taggart told me,” Clay said.

  “No. I’ve got friends here who are watching my back.”

  Clay sat back in his chair and turned his attention to Blake. “You? Do you have any investigative training?”

  “Enough.”

  “He’s deputized, in case anyone needs to be taken into custody,” Nicole said. “So is Landon, his brother, the man you talked to at the registration desk. They own the lodge. And the restaurant.”

  Clay’s green eyes widened. Maybe he was finally getting the gist of the matter. Whether Clay got a room or not was up to them. And being wolves like Clay, they made the rules.

  He folded his arms as the server brought Nicole and Blake’s mugs of coffee. Both of them added cream and sugar to their drinks.

  “Did you talk to Taggart about this? Our working together as investigators?” Clay asked.

  Nicole saw William enter the restaurant, and she lowered her voice, “That’s William, Rhys’s cousin. They come in here to get takeout but don’t dump their trash. I haven’t figured out when they’re getting rid of it or where.” She figured she’d let Clay know that much. She didn’t want him giving them away by talking about being PIs and having the cousin overhear them, though as noisy as the restaurant was and as far away as he was sitting, she figured they were good.

  Clay eyed William for a moment, then said, “Okay, so I’ll learn where they’re taking it. Do you have security videos we can look at?”

  “I do.”

  Clay frowned. “I get the impression you mean that you can look at them but I won’t have any access to them. What’s this all about?”

  “Look, I’m working with the Wolff family. You…vanished, and I was assigned to do this job.”

  “With Larry. I know. He went home after being sick, and you’ve got me now.”

  “I don’t have you.” As if Clay would really work with her. “I’ve got the Wolff family watching my back. Thank you very much. You know, everyone thought the cousins did you in. You could have let someone know you were fine.”

  “That’s how I work. You don’t have to like it.”

  She smiled evilly. “You got a higher-paying job after you received this work. I get it. I’ve had that come up, but you know what, unless I can’t get any leads on a case I’m currently working on, I decline the job and let someone else handle the new case. Even if the pay is more lucrative.”

  “I can work on more than one case at a time.”

  “Sometimes I can too. But this case is special. Besides, it wasn’t so much that you were working on another case but that you didn’t let anyone know what had happened to you. Taggart thought the cousins had gotten rid of you and that they were dangerous. That’s why two of us were hired to learn the truth about these guys. Since I know you’re alive and well, I don’t need you.”

  “It was my case first. I’m not giving it up.”

  Nicole shrugged. “Fine. It’s your case. Good luck.”

  “You haven’t told me everything you’ve learned on the case since you started working it. Forget it. I’ll figure it out and be way ahead of you.” Clay sounded as conceited as Nicole thought he would be.

  “You do that.” Nicole rose from the table.

  Blake joined her.

  “Wait.” Clay took a deep breath and let it out. “Listen, I need a room.”

  “Landon told you we are all booked,” Blake said.

  “Right. I still need a room.”

  “Check with the bed-and-breakfast in town or the Silver Town Inn,” Blake said.

  Nicole hoped they didn’t have any vacancies either.

  “Who owns the house next door? Maybe I could rent out a room there. I need to be close by,” Clay said.

  Blake smiled. “The Wolff family.”

  Clay frowned. “I’m not giving up this job.”

  “You shouldn’t have disappeared, and they wouldn’t have called me to work on the case instead,” Nicole said.

  “Taggart won’t go along with this. Either we work together, or you’re off the case,” Clay said.

  Nicole smiled. “That’s just what I told him.” She turned to Blake. “Do you want to go skiing?”

  “Yeah, let’s get some fresh air. Oh, and by the way, don’t do anything illegal in our lodge, Clay. Nicole’s right when she said my brother and I are sworn in as deputy sheriffs. If you didn’t know it, the town is wolf-run, and we belong to the pack. So don’t give Nicole or us any trouble.”

  Clay’s jaw dropped.

  Nicole smiled again, then took Blake’s hand and led him out of the restaurant and into the lobby. William had already left the restaurant and was eating his takeout outside.

  Blake and Nicole went to the office to pick up their skis. Landon joined them. “So what’s the deal with this wolf?”

  “I’m not working with him. I told Taggart that already. Though I guess I need to update him to tell him for sure that I’m not going to. If Clay nails Rhys first, that’s fine. As long as Rhys gets caught for defrauding the insurance company, that’s all that really matters.” She got on her phone while Blake got on his.

  Blake explained to Darien about the situation with Clay and Nicole. “Can you ensure he doesn’t get a room at the bed-and-breakfast or Silver Town Inn?” Blake smiled at Nicole. “Thanks, we sure appreciate it. That’s all we need, but if we see him breaking into the suspects’ room or doing anything illegal, we’re arresting him and letting you deal with him.” Blake nodded. “Good show. Thanks, talk later.”

  Nicole loved Blake for being on her side. “Thanks.”

  “That’s what wolf boyfriends are for.” Blake put on his ski boots while she was still trying to get ahold of Taggart. Then Blake put her ski boots on.

  Landon was looking over the security monitors. “Clay is on his phone, looking frustrated, running his free hand through his hair, frowning.”

  “Good.” Nicole finally reached Taggart on the phone. “Okay, so I talked to Clay in person, and he’s as bigheaded as I figured he’d be. I’m not working with him. He’s all yours.”

  Taggart didn’t say anything right away.

  She really did want the money for resolving the case. She felt real satisfaction settling a case one way or another, and she’d given up her arson mission just to take this one on. So she really didn’t want to give up this one. Not when she already had a personal connection to Rhys. And she felt she owed it to Roxie. Especially since most of the family had been involved in helping her with the case all this time.

  “All right. There’s nothing in our policies concerning investigations that says the two of you have to work together. If you want to share notes, fine. If you don’t, it’s up to you. I checked with Clay’s PI agency, and his secretary told me he had been on another case. I had to threaten to remove him from this case if I didn’t learn the truth. Since you’ve been diligently working on the case all this time, it’s yours. If he wants to try to get the evidence we need and he gets it before you, more power to him. But you’re both working on
your own.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me. If you worked together, you might get somewhere with this faster. I don’t want to hear that either of you impeded the other in learning what you can about this.”

  Like not allowing Clay to spend the night here on the mountain at the lodge or in Silver Town?

  “So get cracking on it and get some results.”

  “I’m working on it, Taggart. Believe me, I want to get the evidence soonest so I can get on to other business.”

  “Good. Let me know if you have any other developments.”

  “Rhys’s dead younger brother is alive,” Nicole said.

  “What?”

  “He’s staying with Rhys and their cousin. I learned there was a third man in the room, and Rhys called him his brother. So I began researching to see if the brother was another or just something he called him, as in friend.”

  “Okay, keep up the good work. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  “Will do. And thanks.” Smiling, she ended the call.

  Landon and Blake were waiting for her to give them the news.

  “It’s still my case. Clay can work on it too, but we can work separately.”

  “And he’s not staying in your room.” Blake sounded adamant.

  “That’s a given. We’re going to look for these guys on the slopes,” Nicole told Landon.

  “I’m checking the security monitors for the middle of the night when the cousins might have taken out the trash,” Landon said.

  “Oh, good, thanks,” Nicole said.

  She and Blake headed outside to ski and were soon riding a chairlift. They saw the brothers skiing down the intermediate slope together and William waiting at the bottom. Nicole figured he’d want Rhys to ski with him instead, not with his younger brother. She felt sorry for the younger brother for all that he’d been through.

  “Do you want me to stay the night in your room?” Blake asked.

  “Clay doesn’t know what my room number is.”

  “How long do you think it will take him to learn where the brothers and their cousin are staying? And how much longer will it take him to learn where you’re staying?”

  Nicole smiled. “You know you could just say you want to stay with me.”

  “I want to stay with you in the worst way, but this sounded like a really great excuse—a gray wolf who could give you grief.”

  “I wanted you to stay with me in the room this morning, but Roxie was there.”

  Blake chuckled.

  “She’s having so much fun listening in on these guys, I couldn’t tell her I needed some private time with you. And don’t you go telling her that either.”

  “I won’t.” Blake put his arm around Nicole and warmed her up.

  “You better not.”

  “Not if I can stay the night. Did you want to have dinner with the family tonight, go for a wolf run, and then we’ll return to the lodge?”

  “Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. What about taking Rosco for a walk?” They reached the top of the lift, skied off, then headed for the expert slope.

  “Someone else will walk him or bring him to the lodge early and we can walk him.”

  “Okay, that sounds good. I’d miss our chilly morning walk otherwise.”

  Blake stopped at the top edge of the expert run. “I’m glad Clay arrived.”

  She laughed. “So you could be with me for the night.”

  “Works for me.”

  “The truth is, it works for me too. Are you ready?”

  They looked down the slope and witnessed someone crash and burn.

  “From the angle of his leg and the way he’s not getting up right away, that does not look good,” Nicole said.

  “No, I’m alerting the guys in case he needs to be brought down on a sled.”

  Nicole skied off down the mogul-strewn slope, noticing the guy was all alone. No one seemed to be waiting for him at the bottom of the run, and since he hadn’t been in front of them earlier, she suspected he’d cut across the path through the trees that allowed travel from the intermediate run to the expert, or vice versa if someone thought the expert was too difficult.

  She could hear Blake behind her, keeping enough distance from her in case she took a spill so he wouldn’t collide with her. And then she finally reached the skier. He was groaning, holding his leg, and she was afraid he’d broken it.

  Blake reached the skier right after her.

  “We’re getting medical assistance,” Blake told him, getting on his phone again and calling the injury in.

  The guy looked young, and Nicole asked him how old he was.

  “Fifteen.”

  “Isn’t there someone skiing with you?” Nicole asked.

  “My dad, but he got tired.”

  Nicole held his hand. “Okay, we need to let your dad know you’re injured. What’s your name?”

  “Tommy Jacobs. My dad is Wendell.”

  “Okay, Tommy, just hang in there. Help’s coming. Were you staying at the lodge?” Nicole asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Nicole got on the phone to Landon. “We’re with an injured skier who he says his dad is Wendell Jacobs. Can you see if you can locate him? He returned to the lodge.”

  Tommy patted his ski jacket pocket. “Phone.”

  Blake reached into his pocket and pulled out the teen’s phone.

  “His number is listed under contacts as Dad,” Tommy said.

  Emergency personnel were already riding up on snowmobiles, bringing a sled.

  Blake called the dad. “Sir, this is Blake Wolff, part owner of the Timberline Ski Lodge. I was skiing when I witnessed your son take a bad spill on the expert slope. Uh, yeah. Looks like a broken leg. Emergency personnel are on their way. They’ll have him down to the infirmary to evacuate him to the hospital in a few minutes. Here’s your son.”

  “Sorry, Dad. I thought I could cut across and just get the tail end of the expert run, but you were right. It’s too much.” The boy chuckled. “Yeah, see you.”

  Blake took his phone from him and tucked it in his pocket.

  Medics arrived and began to splint the teen’s leg.

  “What did Dad say to you?” Tommy asked Blake.

  “He’s taking a video of you for your mom and sister and girlfriend.” Blake smiled at him.

  Nicole appreciated Blake’s humor, setting the teen at ease while the emergency staff worked on him.

  The boy groaned. “My sister will show it off to everyone at school.”

  “You’ve got a camera that took a video of the spill. That will be a winner on YouTube, I bet,” Blake said.

  The kid laughed and groaned again. “Yeah. Now that will be worth showing off.”

  The rescue team members were smiling. “We’re taking you down now, all right, bud?” one of the men asked.

  “Yeah, sure. Thanks.”

  Then the rescue team took the boy down the slope, and Nicole asked Blake, “How did the dad sound?”

  “He laughed. I suspect the boy got his recklessness from the dad.”

  Nicole smiled, and they headed the rest of the way down the slope.

  “You might have a room cancellation at the lodge,” Nicole said to Blake as they watched the boy being taken to the first-aid hut, thinking that maybe they should just let Clay have a room. She normally thought of herself as a nice person, and she was feeling mean about not allowing him a room to stay there to do his investigation, even if the guy was being a jerk.

  “True. The boy’s dad will probably pack up and drive his son home once they take care of his leg at the bigger hospital in Green Valley. Is this about having the room available for Clay?”

  “Yeah. I was thinking about it and figured he can do his own research, and maybe he will find the eviden
ce we need to solve the case. What would it hurt? If Larry had, I would have been happy. What difference does it make if Clay solves the case instead? I just want to make sure Rhys doesn’t get away with the fraud, and we need to expose him for what he is.”

  “It’s up to you whether you want to allow the wolf to stay at the lodge and work on his own.”

  “I still think he’s an ass for worrying all of us when he went missing to do another job, but we need to get these guys, so if he gets the evidence before we do, mission accomplished, and we’ll just have some fun.”

  “All right. If you’re sure—”

  “Yeah, I am.”

  Blake got on his phone and made a call. “Hey, Landon, the call I made to you a few minutes ago? It looks like the boy broke a leg on the slope. I’m sure his dad will be taking him home, and we could have a vacancy soon. If so, Nicole said Clay could have the room.” Blake glanced at Nicole and rubbed her back. “Yeah, she’s sure. Okay, I’ll tell her.” He ended the call. “He’s got a room for him already. The couple who were here during the snowstorm got a rental car and are leaving, but Landon was waiting for us to give him the okay.”

  “All right, that works.”

  “Clay asked what room the cousins were staying in. He’s got to realize we’re not here to help him with the investigation. Landon told him he couldn’t give out guests’ room numbers. Standard privacy policy. Even if he is a wolf and investigating these guys.”

  “Good thing that you were all right with giving me the room number and the room next to their place.”

  “You bet. You’re my girlfriend. Clay asked my brother if you knew the cousins’ room number.”

  Nicole raised a brow.

  Blake smiled. “He told him you were a top-notch investigator, and you probably knew just about everything there was to know about the cousins.”

  “I sure lucked out when I met you all.”

  “The kiss you gave me to seal the bargain didn’t hurt at all. He better not bug you.”

  “I’m sure he’ll think he’s too good at the job to ask me anything.” At least that was what Nicole believed.