Riley, Parker, Paisley and Ryder slipped into Eve’s old bedroom while Ethan scrubbed dishes after dinner.

They were supposed to be brushing their teeth and getting ready for bed, but they knew their father would be distracted long enough for them to try and sneak in some investigating.

In all honesty, their efforts had hit a few stumbling blocks in the last few days. As badly as they wanted to clear Jane’s good name, they couldn’t very well do that when they were staying at Linda’s. And even now that they were back home, the police had been through the apartment, so they assumed they wouldn’t find anything at all.

Eve’s room was at the end of the hall next to Petra’s, and while the huge penthouse had so much space that they’d all managed to move in without clearing out any of the previously occupied rooms, they had to figure the adults had been through almost everything before them. Slipping into her former living space, they blinked around at the gaudy decor and tacky furnishings.

“This is really ugly:” Riley declared, staring at the overabundance of neon pink leopard print and fake gold crown molding.

“Tell me ’bout it” Paisley answered in reply. She and her siblings had been on somewhat wobbly footing lately. They loved each other dearly and always had fun playing, but she couldn’t get past the fact that they couldn’t forgive Daddy for what he did to Mommy. Lt hurt her too, but she’d grown up without a mother, and after discovering she was alive and well, she’d started to realize how complicated adult matters were in a way her siblings had not.

“Do you know where she might hide bad things?”

Parker asked, wrapping an arm around Paisley as if he could sense how uneasy Eve’s rooms made her.

“Uh-huh,” Paisley confirmed, “She didn’ think I knew, but she has a safe under the bed.”

“She probly cleaned that out when she left.” Ryder frowned.

1 dunno.” Riley countered, “Daddy was really mad, I bet he didn’ let her outta his sight.”

“That’s true” Paisley agreed, “she’d have to be pretty dumb to open it in front a him.”

The four pups crawled under the mattress and box springs, gasping in excited unison when they laid eyes on the silver cube. It took both Ryder and Parker working together to pull it out into the open, and then the young wolves were faced with a new problem. “And ideas about the comb’nation?” Ryder asked.

“How ’bout her birthday?” Riley suggested.

“or Daddy’s.” Parker added.

hers,” Paisley grimaced, “l do know Daddy’s… but she really wasn’ smart. It might a been something

instructed, watching as her brother entered the numbers into the keypad and shaking her head in defeat when it made an angry buzzing sound and flashed red. Next they tried Ethan’s birthday, but when that didn’t work, they entered a

think we should

number, and we can’t do much without

dunno.” Parker scowled. “1

great. And I know what bad looks like.” She reminded them. Unlike their sister, the other pups had

Riley agreed, reaching out and squeezing her sister’s hand. “If you

finished the dishes and realized the pups weren’t actually getting ready for bed, Ethan appeared in the doorway at that very moment. “What are you guys doing in here?” He asked, his

happily, drawing

trying to open it.” Ryder added, scooting over so that Ethan could kneel down in front of

miss this?” Ethan mused

bed” Paisley explained, climbing into his la*p before

daughter could settle, and pleasantly surprised when Ryder climbed onto his folded knee next to his

off the answers, leaning against Ethan’s side without

wanted to try her birthday, but Paisley didn’

l can solve that problem.” Ethan announced, leaning forward and punching in the numbers. All five of them gaps when the keypad chirped and blinked green, shortly followed by

for the first time in weeks, Ethan had all four of his pups snuggling close.

his body so the pups would have to stay close, scanning the contents so quickly

which included musings about how to frame Jane for the rogue attack

it,

would understand, “lt’s just something bad she did a

“Why not?” Ryder inquired.

in order to force her to do her bidding. Unfortunately for him, her notes indicated that Petra had been in on it all along. In fact, she was the one who paid for the gag spell they placed on Jane afterwards, which might explain why Jane had suddenly been able to speak about the events after her

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