Joy to the Wolves (Red Wolf #1) - Terry Spear Page 0,28
know.”
“By the way, Ethan called and said he was coming out to the ranch to run with us tomorrow night. Have you told him we’ve met Brooke? I don’t want to mention her if you’re keeping her secret.”
Josh cleared his throat. “I’m not keeping her secret. He knows about her. We had a situation at her shop this morning.” He told his brother what had happened with the Colombian shipment.
Maverick sat down to hear all of it. “Hell, I would never have thought Ivy would get herself into that kind of trouble. Ethan said Brooke would be all right, correct? Leidolf will have a fit if the DEA thinks she was involved in any of it.”
“Ethan assured me he’d handle it. You know he’s got our backs. Brooke didn’t know anything about it, and apparently her great-aunt must have had some clue something was wrong after placing the order.”
“Poor Brooke. She must have been terrified.”
“She seemed to be in good spirits when I had lunch with her.” Josh sighed. “I’m headed for bed. See you bright and early in the morning.”
Josh couldn’t stop thinking of Brooke and her funny comebacks about him questioning her concerning the calf. And all her requests for lunch. Normally when he went to bed at night, he thought over unsolved cases he was working on, trying to figure out who, what, when, and where.
Tonight, one beautiful red wolf stole all his attention. Much better than thinking about chasing down suspects.
Then he got a call he wasn’t expecting from Ethan. “Brooke said she met with a Mr. Lee who told her that her great-aunt had been dealing with some disreputable people, which probably meant the shipment of cocaine, so I had a contact in Phoenix talk to the man.”
From the tone of Ethan’s voice, Josh knew what he had uncovered wasn’t good.
“I need to talk to Brooke. I figure you’ll be there with her tomorrow?”
“If I can be.”
“I’d prefer if you were there at the same time since you’ve been there for her from the beginning. I’ll let you know when I’m headed over to talk to her.”
“Talk to you tomorrow.” Josh sure hoped he’d be free to be there when Ethan dropped by.
* * *
Brooke was up early, looking forward to eating lunch with Josh and running in Forest Park tonight. He called her before she had finished dressing, and she was afraid he was going to tell her he couldn’t make it for lunch. Not that she was surprised. He had an important job to do.
“Hey, hope you’re up.”
“I am. I’m getting dressed.” She put the phone on speaker and pulled on her boots.
“I’ve got a lot going on with the job today, so I might not make it in time for lunch.”
“Don’t worry about it, Josh. I’ll grab something quick to eat.”
“No, Maverick will bring you your beef Stroganoff if I’m not able to make it.”
“Oh, he doesn’t need to.”
“It’s only if I can’t make it, and he offered. He’ll pick some up for himself too. Maybe also for me, and I can drop by later and warm it up in the microwave. But I wondered about picking you up after six and bringing you out to the ranch to see the reindeer. We can run out here. Then we don’t have to wait until ten to go for a wolf run.”
“Uh, sure.”
“I’ll let you know if I can make it or not.”
“Thanks. See you tonight no matter what.” She was glad Josh had called her to give her a heads-up. She thought it was sweet of him and his brother to bring her lunch even though she really hadn’t needed them to. She suspected nothing would change their minds.
“Before I go, I just need to tell you one more thing. Ethan spoke with a contact he has in Phoenix and wants to talk to you about Mr. Lee. He wants me to be there when he does. I’m hoping I can take off from work to join the two of you as soon as he says he’s dropping by.”
“Why didn’t he call me?”
“Since I’ve been there from the beginning, I think he feels I need to be there to hear what all’s going on.”
“Okay. Do you think it’s good news?” She needed some about now.
“I think he needs to clear things up more.”
She let her breath out on a heavy sigh. “Like you did with your Jingles case.”