Joy to the Wolves (Red Wolf #1) - Terry Spear Page 0,6

She ended the call. “I called it in, but the officer I spoke to thought it was a crank call. The reindeer just walked into my courtyard.”

“I’m Detective Wilding, an investigator with the Portland Police Bureau. I’ve called the ranch, and someone’s coming to pick him up.” He had a nice, manly voice, warm and sexy like one of her favorite narrators of the romance audiobooks that she enjoyed listening to. He took a deep breath of her scent too. She wondered if he’d known her great-aunt.

Brooke realized she was getting so much publicity that the police must have seen the news that the reindeer was at her open house and sent an investigator to investigate.

“I need to get your statement,” he said, all official-like.

As if she were at fault for the reindeer calf being here! Hopefully, the other local wolves were a lot more welcoming than he was. That was all she needed though. To be considered a rogue wolf who committed crimes!

“By the way, you don’t leave anything important in your trash, do you? Like credit-card or bank-account information without shredding it?”

“No, why?”

“Someone was looking at your boxes.”

“Maybe to use for packing boxes?”

“Maybe.”

More people crowded into her shop. Brooke sure hoped people were going to purchase something and not just come to see the reindeer. Though she had to admit the little fellow made for a great marketing tool with all the social network shares that were going on. It was putting her shop on the map. He was adorable, and he seemed to be enjoying all the company.

Several of the customers were still texting about the reindeer and posting about her shop, and a few people had migrated to the drinks and food and begun to enjoy them. Then a couple of customers brought items over to her checkout counter. Yes!

“Sorry, why don’t you do your police-officer duty and take care of the reindeer? I’ll give you a statement when things slow down, Officer,” she told Detective Wilding. She didn’t expect him to do anything with the reindeer, but she hoped he’d leave her alone while she was checking out her customers.

“Detective,” he corrected her. He situated himself right next to the checkout counter, waiting for her to finish ringing up her sales.

How annoying!

The ladies thanked her and smiled at the detective, who smiled back at them with a little lift to one corner of his mouth, giving him a charmingly handsome appearance. The ladies took their packages and left. Brooke glanced in the direction of the other people in her shop, wishing a whole bunch of customers would inundate her with merchandise to ring up so she could ignore the detective further, but nope. That meant she was at the detective’s mercy. Again. Darn it.

“Okay, give me your statement now.” He stood there tall and imposing, his dark hair windswept, his dark-brown eyes capturing her gaze, powerful, demanding. There was no smile for her.

“He was eating holly berries off my shrub. Someone had left the gate open.”

“Not you, of course.”

“Of course not. I always close it.” Brooke folded her arms across her chest. She knew that was a defensive posture when she had nothing to be defensive about. She had nothing to do with stealing the reindeer!

“But you didn’t lock it.”

“Usually, I do.” She let out her breath. “I must have forgotten.”

“But you didn’t forget to close the gate.”

He might be gorgeous to look at, but he was annoying her to pieces. She was a law-abiding citizen, and she wasn’t in the market for a reindeer calf. How could he make her feel like she was guilty of a crime just because she must not have locked her gate last night?

“The latch needs to be replaced.” She hated having to concede that to the detective.

“Faulty latch, hmm,” he said, writing it down.

Oh, for heaven’s sake. You’d think she’d committed the crime of the century!

Brooke got another two sales and thankfully could take a break from the inquisitor. Once her customers left with their packages, she figured she’d need to make more hot chocolate before manning the register again. She didn’t bother telling the detective what she was going to do. It was none of his business. He needed to figure out how the reindeer had left the ranch and ended up at her place—not hassle her.

But his focus remained on her as he followed her into the kitchen. “Why don’t you watch the customers and make sure no one takes off with anything of value? Since