The mob started to disburse, most going outside. The electrician and a handful of men and women climbed back up the stairs to the main part of the hotel.
“It had to have been the brothers,” she growled to CJ after she checked to make sure no one else was in any of the rooms before she locked the basement door again.
“I agree. Are you going to be all right?”
“Yeah. What are you going to do?”
“Look for them.”
“We don’t have any evidence that they did it. Their scent wasn’t down here, though they could have disobeyed Darien’s orders and worn hunter’s spray again.” Now that she thought about it, she didn’t recall smelling Stanton standing close to her either.
“Or they only unlocked the door to cause problems for you and they didn’t come down here. It won’t hurt to question them or to just emphasize that they aren’t welcome if they don’t mind the rules.”
“What if they say the place is horrible? Terribly haunted. Something to get people to stay away?”
“We’ll end up getting a new crowd staying here.”
“Paranormal seekers.” She shook her head. “Let me know how it goes with talking to them.”
“I will. See you in a bit.”
CJ got on his phone and updated Darien. He also mentioned the picture moving from the hotel to the house.
“Not a ghost’s work.”
“No. I assume someone moved it while Laurel was outside visiting with the partygoers. When she went to unlock the back door, it was already unlocked. Either someone else unlocked it, or she forgot to lock it in the rush to finish last-minute stuff this morning. Too many tracks were left out back because of everyone hauling in food and drink for the celebration to determine if someone in particular had gone that way.”
“So somebody else moved the painting. The Wernicke brothers are there, I take it.”
“They were. Somehow the basement door was also unlocked, and then visitors filed down there to look it over.”
“I looked into the Wernicke brother and sister who ran the hotel,” Darien said. “I couldn’t find any verification that these brothers are related to them. Then again, because of our longevity, we have to hide our ages and the like, so they might have changed their identities at some point. As to their father, it’s just as Stanton said. Their father died a short while ago in Raleigh. We couldn’t learn if he had a brother and sister though. As to whether the Wernickes who ran the hotel were wolves, we don’t keep lists on that sort of thing, but some of our older people that I questioned said they were, that my dad was adamant about the hotel being sold only to wolves and not humans.”
“We wondered if they were even related. The brothers might not be kin of theirs.”
“True.”
“All right. I’m off to look for them and see if they’re the ones who unlocked the basement door, despite Laurel telling them it was off-limits.”
“Breaking and entering, if you can prove it. Just let me know if you want to kick them out of town. They can investigate their aunt and uncle’s disappearance, however they want to, from outside our pack territory.”
“Will do.”
“Oh, and one other thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Brett said you saw a ghost wolf, or what you thought was one, running in that area of the woods where she’s been spotted before. He said Laurel believed the wolf was white. And drove a pickup truck.”
“Yeah.” CJ had meant to tell Darien after speaking with Brett about it, but then he’d forgotten and ended up at Laurel’s place, and there went any thought besides being with her. But Darien didn’t seem to mind. Probably because he thought CJ was making strides with keeping the she-wolves here.
“We’re making a concerted effort to look into it.”
He was surprised. “Don’t you think it was just a gray wolf? One of ours who saw my truck and didn’t recognize it in the snow?”
“We’re checking into it, just in case.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll let Laurel know.” CJ told him that Stanton knew about Laurel’s aunt. “What about the old-timers’ meeting?”
“Scheduled for tomorrow evening so that they can close up their shops for the night and have time this evening and tomorrow to gather anything they might have that helps the case. Let me know if you need me to talk with the brothers.”
“Will do.” Even though CJ was the law, Darien was ultimately in charge whenever it came to wolves in their territory. CJ headed outside and saw that the Wernicke brothers’ van was no longer parked in the lot. He made his way to his own truck, having to stop several times to talk to pack members before he got on the road and started to do a search for their vehicle. It would be easy to spot by the sign on its side that said: Painters by Day, Ghost Busters by Night.
He called the van’s description in to Trevor and Peter, in case they were free to help locate the men.
When he didn’t see any sign of the Wernicke brothers’ blue van, he headed out to the woods where Laurel had seen the ghost wolf. When he reached the spot where the tire tracks had been, he parked the truck and got out to explore a bit. The tire tracks had been right next to the riverbank. What if the wolf hadn’t taken off in the truck? What if it had swum across the river?
He stared across the river, the wind blowing the powdery snow all over, and swore that a white wolf stood watching him in the woods before it turned and vanished.
Chapter 14
At five o’clock, the celebration was winding down and Jacob Summers, the electrician, joined Laurel in the kitchen as she finished cleaning up, though several others had helped her with the job.
“Your finding?” she asked.
“A short in the wiring. I fixed it. No extra charge. Code-wise, everything is fine.”
“Thanks, Jacob.”
“No problem.”
Lelandi came into the kitchen to give her a hug. “Beautiful. Everything went splendidly. I’ll finish up anything else you need done in here. You have some guests ready to check in. Silva was going to do it, but she wasn’t sure what to do.”
“Oh, thanks so much.” Laurel gave Lelandi a big hug back. “I couldn’t have done it all without you and the rest of the pack who helped out.”
“That’s what we’re here for. And about winning the snow sculpture contest…it was an honest choice—and I’ll say unanimous. Everyone voted for it.”
“For…the sculpture,” Laurel said, smiling skeptically.
Lelandi smiled right back.
“Thanks again for everything.” When Laurel hurried to the check-in counter to take care of her guests, she saw the three Wernicke brothers standing there, looking a little miffed that she hadn’t checked them in at once. She stood taller. “Did CJ talk to you about the basement door?”
“No, why?” Stanton asked.
“Because someone unlocked it and let everyone down there.” She wondered where CJ had been all this time if he hadn’t run into the brothers and spoken with them already.
“That’s not good—for your insurance.”
“If you’re not pleased with the accommodations or anything else here, I’ll promptly refund your money.”
Stanton gave her a weak smile. So faked. “We just wondered who was going to check us in. Then again, we figured if we were…make that, when we’re running the hotel, we’ll have the proper staff to manage it. Though we would still be willing to hire you for the job.”
Normally, she and her sisters did hire a manager and more employees to help run their hotels, but this one was so small that they had wanted to take care of it on their own in the beginning. They figured they’d have time to hire additional staff once they knew the pack members better.
“If you do end up owning it, that will be up to you.” Laurel had no intention of running the hotel for these men. But from the sound of it, the brothers couldn’t claim it no matter how much they thought it should be theirs. “How are you paying for your stay?”