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Story: The Wolf of My Eye

“Yeah, we’ll have to grab a bag of our stuff from the house. Why don’t we have dinner with your mom and dad when they arrive here? After dinner, we can return home, let them in, and grab a bag,” Robert said.

“That sounds good,” Maisie said. “William should say on his new Facebook page that his hobbies are weaving wool, reading books about oil painting, and his greatest fear is—”

“Spiders,” William said.

Edward laughed. “Thathasto be on your Facebook page. William always makes me kill spiders of the venomous variety.”

William began building his Facebook page on Maisie’s laptop and Anne’s. He used one of the photos that Maisie had taken of scenery all over Scotland to create his Facebook header.

“Okay, everyone can start friending you,” Robert said. “I’ll send the links to the rest of the pack, letting them know what you’re up to, and you’ll have the whole pack as friends before you know it so that it appears that you are real people.”

“I’m going to make some posts that I haven’t ever met a woman I care about like I do Chelsea,” William said. “Woohoo, got ten friend requests already. Though I’ve set my profile to private for nonfriends so that Jack will just see Chelsea’s dating a guy who works at the inn.”

“Okay, I’m going to post pictures of both of you kissing me on my Facebook page after everyone’s settled down. Ican’t wait. If we can catch this bastard and put him down, I’m all for it,” Chelsea said.

After they had the Facebook pages set up, they posted about a bunch of different things—accounting stuff—and things about being an administrative manager, also making it appear to be boring. Neither sounded like wolves who would put up a good fight with another wolf who might try to take their girlfriend away from them.

Chelsea suddenly looked really sad, and Maisie gave her a hug. “We’ll get him,” Maisie said.

“I sure hope so. It’s better to do that instead of just worrying about Jack coming after me when I’m defenseless or going after anyone else that I might even try to date,” Chelsea said. “I just feel bad that Gus died.”

“Me too,” Maisie said.

Janet and Frederick arrived, and they met Chelsea, greeting her with hugs and heartfelt condolences. Afterward, they packed a couple of bags, and Maisie changed the sheets so she and Robert could sleep in there. Edward and William changed out the sheets on the guest room bed for Chelsea to use now.

The guys all went out to grill steaks on the barbecue while the women made salads and mashed potatoes.

“You girls stay safe,” Janet said as she set the table.

“I’ve been thinking of how we can work this,” Maisie said. “Once our parents are at our house, we’ll do the Facebook posts. Of course, Chelsea will be posting all this stuff too, because if Jack sees anyone’s posts, it will be Chelsea’s. If our plan succeeds,” Maisie said.

“Do you think it will?” Janet asked.

“It might take time,” Maisie said. “We have to be patient. We have Iverson coming to join us. We have a cot we’ll set up in the living room near the sofa bed for him. We’ll have a full house at the inn.” Then she asked her mom and dad, “How are things going on finding a place of your own?”

“We’re still looking, though we’ve found a couple of places we like,” Janet said.

“Oh, that’s wonderful. If you want my opinion on a place you’re interested in, just let me know and I’ll go with you to check it out.”

“Thanks, Maisie. We might just do that.”

Then the guys came in with the steaks, and they all sat down to eat and had red wine with their dinner.

“I never expected to stay here like this when all I thought I would be doing was a photo shoot.” Chelsea frowned. “Oh, what an idiot I’ve been. The contest wasn’t even real, was it?”

“No, sorry, but Anne and I do own the inn, and I am a professional photographer. The pictures I’m having printed are yours for free. You just didn’t win a contest for the package deal. We had to learn if you might know who had killed Gus.”

“Did you think I had anything to do with it?” Chelsea’s eyes filled with tears, but she looked angry at the same time.

“Stuart said you were seeing both Gus and Jack and both were perturbed about it. We figured that was your involvement. But a man strangled Gus, and we knew you hadn’t done that,” Maisie said. “As to your staying with us, we genuinely want to keep you safe. Since you don’t have any clotheshere or personal items, we have complimentary toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, and bodywash that you can have.”

“You can borrow some of my clothes,” Anne said. “You’re the same size as I am, so they should fit you, and you can wash your things here.”

“I want to wear one of your shirts, William. Nothing is sexier than wearing a boyfriend’s clothes.” Chelsea cheered up a bit despite the circumstances.

They laughed.

“If Jack is the one who killed Gus, he’s going to want to kill you for sure,” Edward said. “Let him come for you, and we’ll show him what we’ve got.”