“It was, if I remember correctly. I definitely looked at the letter on the wall. And it was still there too. Then again, I don’t specifically recall looking at the painting. Just the wall.”

Feeling disconcerted, she and CJ left the hotel and walked down the stone path to the house, following tons of tracks from the parking area where everyone had been hauling stuff to the hotel. Silva and Bertha had also helped Laurel carry more things from the house. So there was no telling if anyone else had been tramping down the snow here.

When they entered the house, she looked at the fireplace first, half expecting the painting to be hanging over the mantel already. But it was sitting on the floor next to the fireplace.

She didn’t move. No way had she carried it back here and not remembered having done so.

“Are you certain your sisters didn’t move it?”

“No. They had already left, and it was still sitting against the wall perpendicular to the one you repainted so many times.”

“Okay.” He helped her to hang it and stood back while she straightened it. “A ghost didn’t move it,” he said matter-of-factly. “It’s way too heavy.”

She smiled at him.

“Well, I would think it would be way too heavy for a ghost to carry.” He smiled back.

She had to agree. Yet she didn’t smell anyone else in the house who might have done it either.

CJ frowned. “Lots of lupus garous carry lock picks, in case they need to find an unoccupied house to shift in if they can’t stop the shift. Although if you left the hotel door unlocked, you might have also left the house door unlocked.”

“And carried the painting back into the house? How would the person have known that’s where it belonged?” She hated sounding so frustrated, but she couldn’t help it. “Not only that, but we would have smelled somebody else in the hotel and in here. Someone new. And I didn’t. Did you?”

“No. You’re right. I didn’t either. Would anyone be trying to spook you and your sisters? To try to get you to leave the place?”

“Like the Wernicke brothers? But if they prove that they are entitled to the property, they wouldn’t need to do that. And then they wore hunter’s spray.” Damn it. If it was them, she’d kill them. What if they were trying to scare her into wanting to give the place up? What if their aunt or uncle had something to do with her aunt’s disappearance, and the brothers were afraid she and her sisters would learn about it?

“Maybe it was them. I’ll call Darien after the ribbon cutting and let him know what happened.”

“Do you always fill him in on the details of what’s going on?” She was curious about the pack leaders’ involvement in daily affairs.

“Yeah, when it could mean trouble. We want to ensure that you and your sisters don’t have any more of it. Are you ready to do your ribbon cutting?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Okay, good show.”

“Thanks for…for all your help.”

“You’re welcome. We’re all here for you. As a pack, everyone’s willing to help out.”

To discover what really happened to their aunt? She was certain the pack members would be upset to learn that one of them had made her aunt go missing, if that was the case.

As soon as they skirted around to the front of the hotel, everyone standing there turned and smiled expectantly at her.

She wished now, more than ever, that her sisters were here for the big event.

As the alpha mate to Darien, Lelandi gave the speech and then helped cut the ribbon to open the hotel. “You’ve done such a wonderful job on the hotel. We’re really happy to have you here.”

“Thanks. We thought it really turned out well too. And thanks to everyone for such a wonderful welcome.”

Everybody cheered and then Laurel opened the door and welcomed the visitors inside.

Again, it was so much warmer than the openings she and her sisters had had at the other hotels. The people were genuinely friendly, like family, not like outsiders who were visitors to the hotel. She couldn’t help that it swayed her toward wanting to stay.

Everyone began to saunter through the main room, grabbing treats off the long dining room table, slowly taking a look around the place, and commenting on the renovations and decorations. One of the focal points was the Victorian-decorated Christmas tree, with miniature lace fans, embroidered angels, lace-decorated sleighs, burgundy glass-bead garlands and white lights. Visitors were sipping from cups of wassail or mulled wine, and enjoying petit fours and finger sandwiches. Laurel sighed as visitors tromped up and down the stairs. She’d need to clean everything before the guests signed in a little later.

But she loved how everyone smiled and pointed out the refinished hand carvings on the banister, the crown moldings, the wolves’ heads holding up the fireplace mantel, and even the grandfather clock with the wolf carvings on the sides and top. She thought everyone loved those best of all.

This was the first place they had lived where wolves would appreciate her and her sisters’ love of wolves.

“The door to the basement is locked. Can we see what’s down there?” Stanton Wernicke asked.

There was so much noise, she hadn’t even heard him come up behind her. And she felt unnerved that he’d drawn so close without her being aware of it.

“No, sorry. The basement hasn’t been renovated yet. So it’s off-limits to everyone for now.”

“Because of the work we do, you know, for our TV show, can’t we get some special concession? Just to look around. No photographing anything. We’re just curious.”

“I’m afraid not, for insurance reasons.” She noticed CJ was watching her and Stanton, looking ready to step in if Stanton pushed the issue. She wondered if he suspected there was something important down there—since it was not open to the general public.

“We’ll sign a waiver. We often go into more…well, dangerous places to see what we can find. If we find anything, it’ll often be in those kinds of locations.”

“She said no.” CJ joined them, looking hot, authoritative, and perfectly heroic at the moment.

Stanton smiled a little at CJ but not in a friendly way.

Despite so many people milling around, Laurel asked, “How did you know we were looking into our aunt’s disappearance?”

That wiped the smug smile off Stanton’s face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Nobody knew we were looking into her disappearance. How did you know?”

“Lucky guess. Your aunt was involved with our uncle, and then he disappeared and his sister after that. Then your aunt takes off.”

“You’re saying my aunt had something to do with your aunt and uncle’s disappearances?”

Stanton shrugged. “Read into it what you will. You’ve got to admit it sounds highly suspicious.”

“If you know so much, where was she staying?”

“In the house. I thought you already knew that. One big, happy family. Except that our aunt didn’t like yours. She thought she was a gold digger. And now look what happened. Not only were our aunt and uncle removed from the scene, but now her nieces have benefited from their disappearances. Sound like a coincidence?”

“I don’t believe in them, any more than I believe you didn’t know what happened to your aunt and uncle for so long. Or that your dad asked you to look into this before he died.”

“Believe what you will. In the end, we’ll learn I’m right and you’re way off base. Don’t worry. We won’t hold what your aunt did to our family against you. We know you didn’t have anything to do with it. So we’re willing to do what’s right here. We’ll pay for the renovations and even keep you on to run the place, since you seem to do a good job at making a healthy profit, judging by the sales of your other properties.”

“And the back taxes?” she asked, amused. Unless they made up tax receipts, and then there would be duplicate ones, he wasn’t going to win this argument. But she realized the Wernicke brothers had been investigating her business operations. She wondered what else they were looking into. Then again, Darien was investigating the brothers.