The Bear Truth (5 page)

It seemed as if the moment I walked back into Greyelf, almost everything went wrong. I came back for the wrong reason. My brother had passed away. Everything about his death stunk like day-old fish. Then there was the alpha claim that I had to fight for that should've been mine. Everyone around town couldn't seem to put aside the man that I used to be.

I should have forced the issue with Markus years ago to come back for Maren. Last night she had been taken away from me. Luckily, I had gotten her back, but would I be so lucky again? Now with Sheriff Monroe's death, all eyes and fingers would point back in my direction as the cause of it. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Everything was wrong. Everything except what I had somehow managed to repair with Maren.

I thought about what Maren would do in this situation. It was simple. She would stay calm, and she would keep working her leads. She wouldn’t let one bad thing get in the way of finding out what she wanted to know. Now with this latest supposedly natural death on my hands, I felt more anxious than ever about keeping her safe.

I called Billy on the cell phone. "Is she okay?" I didn't even let him get a word out in greeting because Maren’s safety was the only thing on my mind.

"She's fine. Her father just left, though. I don't think that conversation went very well."

I snorted. As if I expected anything differently. Old man Lene hated my guts. It didn’t surprise to hear that he probably pitched a fit that Maren and I were together now, and there was nothing he could do about it. It impressed me and gave me a welcoming feeling of warmth that she had told him what was happening so quickly. Hopefully, that meant she was feeling as good about what had happened between us as I did.

"He’ll get used to it. Look, there's something that I have to tell you," I said. There wasn’t really any point in beating around the bush on the matter. "Sheriff Monroe is dead."

There was nothing but silence on the other end of the line, and I thought that Billy perhaps had hung up on me, and I just didn't hear the click. Then he spoke, "How?"

That was the question of the day. No one expected that Sheriff Monroe would pass away. The man had been in more fights than I was years old. He was a tough son-of-a-bitch. To have fallen victim to the wounds of our bear match seemed impossible.

"This one stinks too, Billy. You can't tell me that it doesn't. I think I saw that guy that Maren saw out at Black Falls Cove coming out of his room when I got here. I didn’t recognize him until it was too late, so I don't think this is an accident. Just like I don't think it's an accident about what happened to my brother. It's time for everybody to come clean with me. How can I be the alpha and make good decisions if I don't have all of the details of what's happening in my town?"

"I can't believe he's dead." Billy was in shock, not that I blamed him. I wasn't sure what kind of relationship he had with the sheriff. He had been on the Greyelf police force for the last five years. I was fairly certain the sheriff had recruited him personally. I know there was a great deal of respect between them.

"We got to keep this thing in the inner circle for the time being. We don't want people in town to start panicking, and this is going to be another thing that's going to send people at the Summit into at an uproar. We have to control the message around what happened here."

"If you think you can contain it, you probably need to start with the people at the hospital. I wouldn’t be surprised if half the town doesn't already know," Billy said.

I cursed myself because he was right. I hadn’t controlled the situation from the moment I found the sheriff's body. No doubt, half the town did already know about what happened to the sheriff. "We need to get a statement out right away. I need you to come back into town I'll meet you at the police station," I said firmly.

"What about Maren?" Billy asked.

"Bring her with you," I said. "I'm not letting her out of my sight again until we figure out what the hell is going on."

I hung up and headed out of the hospital. I heard the twittering of the nurses and the doctors in the lounge, and it quieted immediately when I passed by. The news about Sheriff Monroe's death was already spreading. The reason for his hospital stay had been classified as a car accident, but there were too many people who knew the real truth. Once it started to get around that he was in a bear match with me, the rumor mill would go wild.

I looked at my phone screen and realized that I had missed multiple calls and had messages. As I scrolled through the numbers, some of them were familiar to me and some of them were not. I started to listen to the messages as I walked out to the car. There was a common theme among all of them.

They were all messages were from various members of the clan. They had already heard about what happened with the sheriff. Not only that, the news about me and Maren was already making the rounds as well. I had meant to get out ahead of that too. People were concerned and frightened. There was even several mentions of moving out of White Oaks and joining another clan since things within the Grizzlies seemed so unstable.

If someone wanted to leave the clan, I couldn't really stop them. I was supposed to give my blessing. Being part of the clan wasn’t meant to feel like a prison sentence. In all of the time that Markus had been the alpha, though, we had only lost a handful of members. In the span of less than twenty-four hours as alpha, it appeared as if I could lose half of the clan. That was not a great feeling, and I could feel my confidence wavering.

As I got into the truck, I sat there drumming my fingers against the steering wheel. Things felt wildly out of control, and I knew only one thing for certain. I couldn’t wait to hold Maren in my arms again. If things went so badly that I couldn’t fix them, I’d pass the alpha claim to someone else. Then, I’d take Maren away from this place together.

Satisfied that I had a plan of last resort, I started the engine.

I made it to the Greyelf police station in under ten minutes. I knew I drove fast when I was anxious, and I had a lot to be anxious about today. As I walked into the station, I felt the weight of the eyes on me. I walked up to the receptionist. Magda Pern was a fixture in the Greyelf community. I had no idea how old she was, but she frequently boasted that she drank a bottle of whiskey and smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. Despite those claims, she seemed to be ever present behind the desk of the police station.

"Magda, it’s been awhile," I said giving her my biggest grin. Magda also held the honor of being the cornerstone of the town gossip in Greyelf. If you wanted to know anything about anybody or get up in anybody's business, you called Magda.

"You're right. It has been a long time. Seems like ever since you blew back into town everything's gone to shit," she said. She was never one to beat around the bush either. I could get pissed about it, but honestly it was kind of refreshing to know exactly what somebody else was thinking.

"No, it's not me. I think we were all overdue to clear the air a bit."

I wasn't sure what I was expecting when Billy came into the living room and told me that we were going into town. I went upstairs and got dressed wondering what I was going to find there. I felt like my life had been turned upside down and, of course, in just a few hours time it had been. I made my way downstairs and found Billy waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. He looked upset.

"What's wrong?" I wondered if something had happened to Lukas, and my heart started to beat hard inside my chest.

"Sheriff Monroe is dead," Billy said. He saw my expression. "They say he died in his sleep from his injuries. But I don't believe that, and neither does Lukas."

"You think someone killed him?" It had been the core of Lukas's arguments all along over the last week. He believed that some horrible harm had befallen his brother, and now it had taken his brother’s best friend as well. I felt the walls of that unknown danger squeezing down on me. I wondered if perhaps my father was right. I didn't know what I got myself into by being with Lukas. It had seemed like a relatively simple decision at the time. But I told myself it didn't matter. As long as Lukas and I were together we figure it out.

"So where we going?" I asked.

"Lukas wants to meet me up at the police station. He said to bring you along."

The gears in my mind were churning. It wasn't just around my concern for the community of Greyelf. My journalist instincts were on high alert. Getting the news story and getting to the center of the action as quickly as possible was in my DNA. It was what made me a good at my job.

As we walked out to the car, I hated to admit there was a slightly excited bounce in my step. I was finally in the inner circle. I was going to find out what was going on before anyone else. We got into Billy’s squad car, and I looked it with a shrewd grin. "The last time I was one of in one of these was because of Lukas as well."

Billy gave me a look with a raised eyebrow. "What doesn’t that surprise me? Someday, I guess I'll have to have you give me a rundown of everything you and Lukas did when you were kids."

"Oh no, it wasn't me. It really was all Lukas. I might've been his sidekick for some things when we were kids, but when he got older, it was all him." I felt the tingles in my toes. Lukas Kasper had always created a kind of giddiness inside of me that I couldn't quite explain. I shouldn't have been attracted to his good looks or his rash behavior, but that bad boy part of him gave me sent all sorts of thrills through the core of my body.

As if he could read my mind, Billy rolled his eyes.

It only took us about twenty minutes to get into town. As we pulled up to the curb outside the police station, I noticed that there was a crowd gathered out front. I felt a slight pit of dread in my stomach.

"Looks like news about the sheriff has gotten around," Billy remarked. He came around to my side of the car and opened the door. There was a part of me that didn't want to get out.

I saw Lukas emerge through the front door. He stood just outside and was overwhelmed immediately by the small crowd people standing outside. I heard the questions being hurled in his direction.

"What's happening?"

"Who's going to replace the sheriff?"

"It seems like ever since you've come into town, things of just gone to hell."

It felt like panic and anarchy were about to take over. But the amazing thing to me wasn't that at all once I thought about it. It was that people were looking to Lukas for the answers to the questions at all. When had that happened? He'd only been the alpha for a little more than a day. But suddenly people were looking up to him. People wanted answers from him. It was funny how quickly things could change.

Lukas's eyes met mine across the tops of the people's heads in between us. I could see something there that signaled home to me. Strength. He might not know what was going on, but Lukas was demonstrating that he was in charge. He might not know the answers, but he would find them out. I drew on that quiet strength and held back to listen to what he was going to say.

“Folks, I know this is distressing news to everyone, including me. But I need you all to remain calm and go home. What has happened has nothing to do with the safety or community of Greyelf. The sheriff passed away in his sleep. It has nothing to do with the Summit. It was simply an unfortunate accident. Now y'all skedaddle home and let us do what we need to do here. I can assure you his replacement will be named soon."

It was fascinating to me when I thought about it. It shouldn't have been Lukas making the statement to the public. It should've been whoever Sheriff Monroe's replacement was going to be, or, better yet, the mayor of Greyelf. But Greyelf was now synonymous with the Greyelf Grizzly Clan. That meant that by default whoever led the clan led the town. It was amazing how quickly people had adapted to seeing Lukas as that leader, and I was pleased by it.

Unbelievably, his words seem to have a calming effect on the crowd. They started to disperse murmuring amongst themselves. Lukas stood and waited for me and Billy to make our way to him. As I walked up to him, he slipped his hand into mine. I could tell that he wanted to hug me or hold me close. I wouldn't have minded that at all, but Lukas wasn't the type for public displays of affection either. There was an awkwardness to it as well considering Billy was standing right next to me. This whole relationship with still new to me, and I wanted to soak it in.

"How you feeling, babe?" His soft question was for my ears only. I'm sure Billy heard nonetheless, given his enhanced physical abilities that came from being a shifter.

"Better now that I’m here with you." The sentiment was genuine. I did feel better now that I was with Lukas. "Seems you've got quite a mess on your hands. How can I help?"

"Keep yourself out of trouble. Let's start there." Lukas smiled down at me. It was nice to see that he hadn't lost his sense of humor despite all of the chaos going on around him.

"Any news about Mr. Reddon?" Billy asked. He seemed eager to change the subject.

"Not yet. But I can only deal with one thing at a time. Let's start with figuring out who's trying to cause all the trouble around the Summit first." Lukas held the door open for me, and I stepped through. I saw the two men exchange a look over my head. There was something going on, an undercurrent of something that Lukas didn't want me to know. That bothered me, but I would get to the bottom of it.

As I stepped into the police station, I looked around. I saw Magda Pern perched behind her desk watching me with great interest. She probably couldn't wait to get on the phone and tell everyone what it just happened outside the station. Around Greyelf, if you wanted the town to know something, you just had to tell Magda. She’d make sure that everybody was up in speed in just a couple of hours. I walked up to her. "How's it going, Magda?"

"Shit storm since everybody found out about the sheriff. Your dad’s been in here already causing a ruckus about wanting an official statement. Lukas sent him packing." I could just imagine that exchange. I gave her a serene smile and turned to find out what Lukas and Billy were up to.

They moved almost in unison toward the sheriff's office. I was one step behind them, but Lukas turned and shook his head. "Can you give me and Billy a minute, Maren?"

I crossed my arms. I knew I had a pissed off look on my face, and he should know why. This wasn't the time for secrets. "Actually, I do mind."

The look on his face was priceless.

"I'm here because you want me here, yes. But I'm also here because I'm still a reporter. Something is going on, and I see things that you and Billy might miss. You can trust me. I can help." I had value, and he had to see that.

Lukas sighed. For a minute, I thought that he was going to still tell me to stay put. Then he motioned his head and indicated that I should join him and Billy in the office. I stepped inside before he could change his mind. Billy was already sitting behind the sheriff's desk, looking at the desktop as if in search of something.

"So are you going to let me in on the big secret?" I asked as soon as Lukas closed the door behind me.

"It isn't a secret, Maren. You know that I think that there was something about Markus's death that suspicious. I am pretty sure I saw Joshua at the hospital right before the sheriff passed away. I don’t believe in coincidences. We need to get to the bottom of all of this as soon as possible.”

Billy held up a vanilla file folder. Even across the room, I could read the name on the tab. Markus Kasper. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. This had all started because of Markus's death. It had been the event that had brought Lukas home to me. I hoped that was that whatever was inside the file was not something that would rip Lukas apart. He wanted to know the truth so badly, and he believed there was something more to Markus’s death than had been reported. What would it do to him if he found out that it wasn't true, that it was an accident after all?

I sat down heavily in the chair across the desk from Billy. Lukas paced the floor behind me. I could tell that he was anxious, and I didn't blame him. I felt as if we were on the cusp of something big.

Billy set the folder back down on the desk. He flipped it open. As he began to spread the documents out on the desk, I saw the pictures from the crime scene. Even though I was a fairly hardened reporter these days, I didn't think I was prepared to see anything around Markus's death. He had been someone I’d known almost my whole life. It would make it too real.

I felt Lukas pause behind me. Billy looked up at him. "Are you sure you want to do this? I can look over the files alone and let you know if I find anything suspicious."

"No way in hell. I need to see this. If nothing else to prove my suspicion. This is what I've been waiting to see since I got back. It’s the whole reason that I'm here. Sheriff Monroe should've showed me this file on day one. I deserve to know the truth," Lukas said. His tone let me know that there was not going to be any argument about the matter.

Billy shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "I looked over parts of this file already. Several times actually. There wasn't anything suspicious. Remember, I'm the one who found his body. Although, of course, he wasn't quite dead yet." Billy grimaced realizing the impact of what he had just said.

"You said you've only reviewed some of it," I said, catching the nuance in Billy’s words. "What about the rest?"

"The sheriff was the one who was going to put the finishing remarks on the report. I gave him what I had written up as my statement. I know he spoke to the ambulance drivers as well as the hospital staff and coroner. So it was just a matter of typing those things up and closing the file," Billy said. He picked up different pieces of paper and pictures, looked at them, and then set them down again. I sensed he didn’t know what he was looking for.

"Walk me through what happened that night. Maybe something will shake your memory and give us a clue,” Lukas said.

Billy sighed. "It was pretty straightforward. I was patrolling out on Shulman’s Trail, and I thought I saw something in the headlights of the car. So I pulled off to the side of the road. As I got out of the squad car, I heard the moans of pain. I knew that someone or something was hurt pretty badly. Of course, my first thought was that it was someone or something from one of the neighboring clans. You know that trail borders three different territories, including the Loper territory. It wasn't uncommon to pick that as a spot to settle disputes away from the eyes and ears of the clans. So I expected to find somebody bloody and beat up. It wouldn’t have been the first time."

Lukas slowly approached the desk. He picked up one of the pictures. I saw him study it. His face was passive, but I knew that his mind was whirling at a million miles a minute. I wasn't sure how he could be so calm.

"You have to have known it was Markus once you found him," Lukas said.

That made me think of something that I remembered from that night. "I heard you make the call to Magna on the radio. You said you weren't sure, but you thought it might be Markus Kasper." As I saw Billy's eyes raised toward me, I thought about what I just said. Then the realization dawned in my mind. "You did know that it was Markus. But you didn't say that because no one here knows that you're part of the clan. Nobody knows you’re a shifter."

"Markus thought that it was best, and the sheriff agreed. They needed eyes and ears inside the department, so he gave me the task."

"Why would the sheriff think that he needed someone on the inside that nobody knew about?" Lukas asked.

"Apparently a couple years ago there were some things that were leaked from the department to the press," Billy said. "I didn't really ask a lot about it. To be honest, I was looking to get out of my clan. This seemed like the right fit."

Lukas seemed satisfied with Billy’s response. "Okay, so tell me the rest," Lukas said.

Billy hesitated. "I went around to the front of the car, and I saw Markus lying there on the side of the road. Somehow he had managed to drag himself from wherever he got caught in the trap to the road. I don't know how I didn't feel him there to be honest. It was as if he was so close to death that he couldn't make the connection anymore. He should've been able to call out for someone. He should've been able to let someone know where he was. But all of that was gone. It could have been because he hit his head when he went down, or because he had almost bled out by that point. In any case, I could tell that he was in a lot of pain. I didn't try to move him, and so I put the call for help."