have anything to do with purchasing pottery from Colombia.”
Ethan jotted down the information. “I’ll check into it and see if he knows anything else. I’ll be discreet.”
“Thank you. My great-aunt didn’t want Mr. Lee to tell anyone about it, but he worried the dealers might contact me about purchasing more stuff. Still, he didn’t seem to know anything more than that, or I’m sure he would have told me.”
“Thanks. We’ll be clearing out. I’ve got to help take this stuff out of here. I’m afraid you won’t get the clay sculptures back. They’ll have to be broken to get to the contents.”
“That’s no problem. If it helps put these guys in jail and keeps this off the street, that’s all that matters.”
“We’ll wrap up things here then.” Ethan shook her hand, gave Josh an evil smile for being there first to protect the she-wolf, and headed down the stairs. “Let’s get this wrapped up and get out of here,” he said to his men.
“Are you ready to go downstairs?” Josh asked.
“Yeah. We need to lock up the house and set the alarm if everyone’s vacated the place.”
“Let’s do that, and then we can open the shop for business. Are you going to be okay?” he asked her.
“Sure. I just hope that was the last of it and there aren’t any more boxes of the stuff coming this way.” She shook her head. “It’s a good thing my great-aunt wasn’t here to deal with this on her own. Thanks for being there for me. I’m not sure I would have handled it as well as you did. Even if I had called the police, I suspect they wouldn’t have gotten here as fast as they did when you called them.”
“With a potentially volatile situation on your hands and the promise of making a big drug bust, I’m sure they would have.”
“If they’d thought I knew what I was talking about. You have more credibility.”
Brooke and Josh checked over the house and found it was empty. She set her security alarm and locked it, and they returned to the shop.
Ethan had waited for them before he left, and Josh was glad about it, since glass had been broken out of one of the panels. “I knew Josh would get right on it when he had a moment, but in case he didn’t have a chance, I called to have one of our people come out and replace the glass in your door,” Ethan said. “He should be here within the hour, about the time you open the shop. I sent George a picture of the glass, and he said he’ll match it the best he can.”
“Thanks so much, Ethan.”
He inclined his head, smiled at her, saluted Josh, then left the store.
“Do you have a broom and dustpan? I’ll sweep up the glass,” Josh offered. He thought Brooke seemed a little dazed.
“Thanks. I’ll get them.” She soon returned with the broom and dustpan and handed them to him.
In the meantime, he examined the door, but the only damage was to the glass panel the man had broken to reach in and unlock the door. Josh cleaned up the mess, and Brooke brought a tall kitchen wastebasket to empty the broken glass into.
“I’m going to wait until George gets here to replace the glass, and then I’ve got to do some investigating concerning Jingles’s case, if you think you’ll be all right.”
“I will be.” She took a deep breath. “I just need to get another cup of peppermint mocha.”
Chapter 5
Josh needed to ask the businesses down the street about their security videos to see what he could learn about the stolen reindeer, though he’d hang around longer if Brooke needed him to. Luckily, he didn’t have any more serious cases this morning, having cleared the last one before he dropped by to see Brooke. He was damn glad he had. He was worried about her and how she was feeling. She fixed him another mug of peppermint mocha, and they took a moment to relax before George arrived to replace the window.
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.”