Wine Astray: Spirit of the Soul Wine Shop Mystery (A Rysen Morris Mystery Book 1) by K.J. Emrick Read Free Book Online Page A

set up alarm systems and such, and then I leave.  I don't get involved."
    "Oh, really?  Because this seems like getting involved to me.  You drove us all the way out here to tail a truck delivering wine to my sister's shop.  Isn't that a little bit more service than you usually give your clients?  What gives?"
    He tapped his fingers on the dash for a few seconds, staring out the windshield.  "Maybe," he said, "I found something to interest me."
    Rysen tried to see his face but he kept himself turned away from her.  Thoughts filled her mind, but before she could say anything he pointed at the factory.  "There.  Truck number forty-two-C.  Driver's name is Franklin DeBoers.  He's starting out on his run now."
    "Um.  Okay.  So what are we going to do?"
    “Stay far enough back so you can blend into traffic.  Don't go too fast, don't go too slow—"
    "You sure you don't want to do this part?"  Rysen wasn't a spy.  This wasn't one of those movies where the plucky heroine took down the bad guys.  She was just a girl from California trying to put her life back together.
    He reached over, putting his hand on her knee, and for a second she forgot to breathe.  "Miss Rysen, you can do this.  I trust you."
    When she blinked, the world started up again.  His hand was warm on her leg where he touched her, and his eyes were that same deep color that drew her in every time he looked at her.  "Okay, I'll try.  On one condition."
    "Sure.  What is it?"
    "Stop calling me Miss Rysen."
    "What should I call you?"
    "Rysen.  Just Rysen."
    He leaned in closer, his voice a whisper.  "Then Rysen it is."
    She was still leaning into him when he took his hand away.  Oh, damn, she wished she could keep herself out of his orbit.  He was just so…him.
    The truck they were going to follow pulled out of the gate behind two others, turning left up the road in the other direction.  When he told her to, she pulled out in a wide U-turn and followed.
    Rysen stayed on the truck’s tail, doing just like Brandon said, speeding up and then slowing down, driving right past the truck when it made its first two stops to unload cargo, then waiting for the big rig to go by her again before taking up a position several cars back.  It was kind of fun, actually.  Exciting in a way.
    As the day went on, though, it got boring.
    "What if nothing happens?" she asked.  "What if we follow him all day long and nothing happens."
    "Then your sister gets her wine shipment.  Sounds like a win to me."
    "Sure, until the next time something goes missing."  Suddenly she wasn't liking this plan anymore.  There just wasn't any other choice.
    So she stayed with the truck for another hour until it turned off the highway they had been on and took a surface street for a while until it turned off again onto a paved road with no lane markings.  There were trees everywhere she looked, and no houses, and definitely no businesses.  "Brandon, where are we?"
    "I'm pretty sure," he said, craning his neck to look around, "that we're in the middle of nowhere."
    "Thanks a lot.  So where's the truck going?"
    "I don't know.  None of the deliveries he's scheduled to make today are anywhere near here."
    The truck started slowing down, pulling over to the side of the road in front of a black panel van.  Rysen’s heart started to race.  This was it.  It had to be.  Didn't it?
    "Is this what I think it is?" she asked, slowing down and stopping the car a ways back from the truck and the van. 
    "Yes.  Looks like.  Independent drivers do this sometimes.  They sell off merchandise from the back of the truck for some extra cash.  If the company doesn't look too hard at where their shipments go they can get away with it for years and rake in quite a bit of cash."
    "But from the same shop three times in a row?" 
    "I guess they figured your sister's shop is so small that no one would say anything."  Brandon nodded, like it was all making sense.  "I wouldn't be a bit