Joy to the Wolves (Red Wolf #1) - Terry Spear Page 0,29

I’ve got to go. See you when I see you then.”

“Sure.”

All she needed was to have Ethan harassing her about a case now!

When she arrived at the shop and received a postal delivery, she thought it would be from the Gulliver estate. But it wasn’t. It was another box for her great-aunt. Shivers ran up Brooke’s spine, but the return label said the merchandise was from Michigan. She sighed with relief.

She thanked the substitute mail carrier and brought the box into the shop and locked the door. Then she took the box into her office, logged it in, and carried it up to the second floor. She stacked it on top of other boxes in the first of the bedrooms she used for storage. She really needed to go through these rooms and start unloading these boxes so she could sell the merchandise.

She went downstairs and checked her emails and found she had a potential buyer for some of her vinyl records. She was thrilled. The buyer would be dropping by in a couple of days to look at the records.

Then she got a call from Ethan. “I’m on my way over. I hoped to talk to you before you open the shop.”

“Have you eaten yet? I’ll make some hot cocoa, and I bought cinnamon rolls from the bakery across the street this morning.”

“That sounds good. I called Josh, and he said he’s headed over.”

“Okay.”

She expected Ethan to arrive first, but Josh did instead, and she was glad. She didn’t know what to expect from Ethan. She unlocked the door for Josh and then locked it again. “Would you like a cinnamon roll and coffee or hot chocolate?”

“Yeah, coffee and a cinnamon roll. I’m surprised Ethan isn’t here already.”

“I thought he’d be here first too.” She was pouring a cup of freshly brewed coffee for Josh when there was a ring at the shop’s front door.

“I’ll get it.”

“Thanks,” Brooke said. “I’ll just warm the cinnamon rolls.”

“Hey, man,” Josh said to Ethan as the door jingled while he opened it. “Brooke’s in the kitchen.”

“Coffee or hot chocolate?” she called out.

“Coffee would be good.” Ethan locked the door before he and Josh joined her in the kitchen.

“What did you learn when you spoke to Mr. Lee?” Brooke asked, dying to know. She set the cinnamon rolls out for the guys and brought over Christmas reindeer mugs of coffee. She smiled at the way Josh was eyeing them. “They’re mine.”

He chuckled. “Reindeer always catch my eye.”

Everyone sat at the table, and Brooke ate some of her cinnamon roll.

“I had a friend with the FBI in Arizona check out Mr. Lee, but he was dead.” Ethan drank some of his coffee and watched her reaction.

“No. How? When?” She couldn’t believe he had died since she’d last spoken to him.

“He said it was before an auction they’d held at the estate where Mr. Lee worked.”

“What? No. I know what Mr. Lee looks like.” Brooke knew it had been him. “He gave me his card. I’ve seen him in the news.”

“Do you have his business card?” Ethan asked.

“Somewhere. I’ve cleaned out my purse since I moved, and I’m not sure where I put the card. When I find it, I’ll give it to you.” She so did not want Mr. Lee to be a bad guy. Especially since he was a wolf and he’d been so nice to her.

“Did you know him by scent?” Ethan took a bite of his cinnamon roll.

Brooke opened her mouth to speak, but then closed her mouth. “No. I had never met him in person before.”

“He was murdered, shot to death. My FBI friend went to see his body at the morgue, and it was confirmed that he was Mr. Lee.”

“A wolf? Right?”

“He was a wolf.”

“He knew my parents. He knew my great-aunt. He knew we were red wolves. He…he’d bought items from my parents and from my great-aunt for his sister, he said.”

“Do you have any proof of that?” Ethan ate another bite of his roll.

“No. It might be somewhere in my parents’ files for sales receipts, but I don’t even know when he purchased the items. My parents were as bad as my great-aunt about keeping records on a computer.”

“It’s possible he never met your parents or your great-aunt and never even purchased anything from them. The man you met wasn’t Mr. Gulliver’s assistant. Mr. Gulliver’s son Ralph was.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” She couldn’t believe any of this! “A Daisy Gulliver was giving Mr. Lee a hard time