The Bear Mountain Secret

by Gayle Siebert

  “She didn’t call back?”

  “Well, you know I don’t leave messages, and my number’s blocked.”

  “Well anyway, to me it seems like a crazy idea, coming all this way when it’s so unlikely she’d be able to find him.”

  “So, she came a long way? Where’s she from?”

  “Well, not that far away, I guess, like not another country or anything. Some little town in Saskatchewan. I can get you her name and address, if you need it.”

  “Oh yeah? Sure, might as well,” Clint says. But he thinks, the probate lawyers, the financiers, and even the project manager Evan Briggs—all from Pillerton, nothing but an obscure little town in Saskatchewan, its only claim to fame being the headquarters of The Children of Noah. Bearon has been there. Kevin was wondering how that woman Bearon is so worried about could have a claim on Hazen’s estate…

  The pieces are starting to come together. If her birth father is Hazen, maybe she has a legitimate claim on the Hazen estate or more important, the Lodge. But like Kevin said, it could take years to go through the courts. Irritating but not a big balls deal. So why is Bearon so secretive about it? There must be more to it. Something even Briggs doesn’t know. Bearon is hiding something. Something he doesn’t even want me, his right hand man, his fixer, to know about.

  Kevin is not the only one who’s tired of Bearon’s ‘need to know’ policy. But everyone has secrets. He groans inwardly when he thinks about what Bearon would do if he found out Clint had her number days ago. That he could have set up a meet at a time and place that would be easy to grab her but didn’t follow through on it. He wouldn’t care that at the time, Clint had no way of knowing she was the target.

  “Do me a favour, baby?”

  “Of course! Anything!”

  “Don’t tell anyone else about, you know, you and me talking about this. Or that you had her number and gave it to me.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  ASTRID COMES OUT the sliding doors and across the patio with a pink camo hoodie. “The kids are finally asleep, little stinkers!” she says. “Well, Kylie’s been out like a light since before we came out here, but Elise! She was building a pillow fort under her bed. When I say little stinker, it’s mostly her I’m talking about.”

  “Hiding from the Bear Man again?” Denver asks.

  “Yeah. I thought she’d forgotten about him.” Astrid hands the hoodie to Kathy and says, “We could go inside.”

  “No, not unless everyone else wants to,” Kathy replies, “it’s nice out here. I love the smell of the forest. So different from where we live. As long as the bears all stay on Bear Mountain.”

  “Well, we got bears around here,” Denver tells them. “They follow the river valley. But don’t worry. They’re diurnal. Asleep by now and if they aren’t, the fire keeps them away. The Bear Man, though…”

  “Denver!” Astrid exclaims, “you’re no help!”

  “It’s a monster?” Kathy asks.

  “Yeah,” Astrid replies, “she started talking about the Bear Man around the same time as she ‘met’ an invisible friend. Funny, but her invisible friend’s name is Heather, like the little girl who drowned here decades ago. Heather’s House is named for her.”

  “Don’t worry, Kathy,” Denver says, “I doubt there’s actually a Bear Man, but if there is, you’ll be fine. Unless you’re the slowest runner. Think you can outrun Wilson?”

  “I wouldn’t bet on it,” Wilson says.

  “Ha ha!” Kathy chuckles humourlessly. “It’s not funny. A Bear Man or Boogeyman can be very real to a five-year-old. Terrifying! I feel for Elise. And I don’t think they’re afraid of fire so that won’t keep them away.”

  “Good thing you’re not still five years old,” Rick tells her. Then he turns to Astrid and says, “by the way, thanks for puttin’ us up or puttin’ up with us. We’ll go back to the motel tomorrow and get them to move us to a second floor room for tomorrow night. After we take a spin on those two geldings of yours, of course.”

  The fire in the pit emits a loud ker-rack! and a shower of sparks flies up. “Guess I better put the screen over that.” Denver gets up, takes the screen from beside the patio and sets it on the fire pit’s perimeter blocks. “Don’t think these small sparks would still be live by the time they landed on something but I don’t wanna take a chance, with everything so dry.”

  “They said that fire over on the far side of Bear Mountain was started by sparks from some guy off-roading,” Wilson tells them. “Hot muffler, I heard. So they closed the Denton Creek Haul Road.”

  “That’s why we’re on early shift for fire season,” Astrid says. “Still see stupid people tossing cigarette butts out their car windows. Started a grass fire right in town. Never thought I’d say it but I miss the rain. Aside from crews not being able to work in the bush, we’re having to feed hay, the pasture’s so poor. I’ll be glad when the fall rains start.”

  “Lucky for you, you know a guy who has lots of hay,” Rick says with a grin. “Maybe we can make a trade for those colts.”

  “Funny, but I met Astrid because I brought that stud horse here. Hazen paid me in hay.” Denver flips the cooler lid open, pulls out a fresh beer, and hands it to Rick. “Wilson?”

  “Nope,” Wilson replies, “I’m headin’ inside. Past my bedtime. Good night, folks.” He gets up and stretches. Everyone says their good-nights as he heads to the house.

  Denver opens a beer for himself. “Lookin’ at the hayfields now, it’s hard to believe Hazen had hay to spare,” he says.

  “So you not only got the girl, but the ranch, too,” Rick observes.

  “Well, Astrid owns it, actually. Inheritance.”

  “Oh yeah, I remember Franny saying something about how lucky you were he left this to you,” Kathy says.

  “I wouldn’t call it luck,” Astrid says. She sees the puzzled expression on Rick’s face, and hurries on in a brighter tone. “You know, I just realized, if Hank Hazen was your father, he would have left you something in his will.”

  “How do you know he didn’t?” Denver asks. “Leave her something, I mean.”

  “Someone would’ve contacted her if she inherited something.”

  “True,” Denver agrees.

  “What if they couldn’t find her? She got married.”

  “Didn’t change my name, though,” Kathy says. “They might not have been able to find me if I was still in Vancouver but I was back in Pillerton when he died. Hey! It proves he wasn’t my father!”

  “Or it just proves he didn’t want to leave you anything,” Rick points out.

  “Well, I think you should get in touch with those lawyers who looked after the will, just to find out for sure,” Astrid suggests. “Put an end to the question once and for all, even if it means you have no more leads about your family. I have contact information for the lawyers somewhere. I’ll dig it out tomorrow.”

  “Sure,” Kathy agrees, “good idea. Meantime, maybe we could check out the guy that creep at Dot’s told me about. He didn’t know the address, but said there’s a big carved bear to mark the driveway. Do you know where Bear Mountain Road is?”

  “Bear Mountain Haul Road. Must be pretty far up,” Denver offers, “at least, I’ve never seen a carved bear, and I’ve gone right to where it peters out into a single lane trail through the bush. That haul road isn’t on one of our properties, and I haven’t been up there in a while.”

  Kathy turns to her husband and asks, “Can we go tomorrow, Rick?”

  “I guess. But I really want to try out those horses, and there’s the youngsters over on that other place we didn’t see yet. Maybe you could go to the motel and get the room thing sorted out while I do that?”

  “We could go after you do that, though.”

  “Don’t forget, you’re supposed to see that cop, too. Dunno how long that might take, and I think we need to get the rooms changed around before eleven o’clock check out time. On top of that, I think it’s about a forty-five minute drive back to town. Ri
ght, Denver?”

  “Yup,” Denver agrees, “and then back out here, because Bear Mountain Haul Road is past our place, off Mill Road. It’s a fair distance off the highway.”

  “I don’t want to put off the horse thing,” Rick says.

  “You don’t have to,” Astrid says. “You stay here again tomorrow night. Tomorrow while you guys do your horse business, I’ll dig out that paperwork and we’ll put in a call to the lawyer, then Kathy and I can zip into town so she can check out. We’ll go see Sergeant Villeneuve, and then from there we can go up the Haul Road and find that carved bear. Then we come back here and we’ll have the rest of the afternoon and Saturday morning, too, for you guys to try any of the horses Rick thinks would be suitable.”

  “That’s a great idea, babe,” Denver says, “as long as you’re okay going out to that guy’s place on your own.”

  “You know Kathy’s been going around by herself all week.”

  “Yeah, but to places in town. Any visits to remote addresses? Where there were no neighbours?”

  Kathy shakes her head.

  “The bad guys are all dead, remember, Denver?” Astrid says. Pushing away her mounting qualms, she draws a deep breath.

  “Can you really do this, babe? Go out into a remote area of the forest alone?

  “I won’t be alone,” Astrid says, “there’s two of us. Right, Kathy?”

  “Yes! That’s right!”

  “We’ll be fine.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure,” Denver agrees.

  “We’re sure,” Astrid and Kathy say, almost at the same time. They exchange a look, and smile.

  “How about you swing by here before you head up there, though, and pick up the dogs. And be sure and let them out as soon as you’re out of the vehicle.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  CLINT AND KIERSTEN are skin on skin, enjoying the afterglow of a steamy, athletic sexual romp. He pulls her close and kisses her temple. “That was great, baby,” he whispers. “Was it good for you?”

  She nods and murmurs, “More than just good.”

  “It’s a nice thank you for being rescued, eh?”

  “Oh, Clint,” Kiersten pulls away slightly so they can make eye contact. “You know it’s not, er, wasn’t to pay you back!”

  “I know.” He pulls her in close again and nuzzles her hair. After a moment, he says, “You know I love you?”

  “I love you, too. I think I loved you from the first week. My hero. My prince!”

  Clint wonders at the anxiety swirling in his innards, and wishes he didn’t have to go on. More minutes pass and Kiersten is so quiet he wonders if she’s dozed off. He takes a deep breath and says, “Remember I said that in order to get you back from those bad people, I had to make a deal?”

  “Umm, yeah. We can’t tell anyone.”

  “Well, there’s another part to the deal. A part I hate.” He pulls away from her, lays back and throws his forearm over his eyes. “I wouldn’t have agreed to it if it wasn’t… if there was any other way.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t even know how to tell you. You’ll hate me.”

  “I could never hate you, sweetie! How can you think that? I love you!”

  “Well, the guy who put up the money—and it was a lot, believe me, a lot more than I had—fuck! I can’t even say it!”

  “What? You can’t say what?”

  “I, uh… Well, he, uh… He wants to have sex with you.”

  “Oh my god! What a creep!”

  “I know! I’ll tell him that’s not going to happen. I can do that, tell him to take a hike, now that you’re safe. I’ll pay him back somehow. Maybe sell this place. Or my car.”

  “Oh my god! You can’t do that!”

  “I’ll have to. I don’t want some other guy…”

  “But that’s crazy!”

  “I should never have said I’d go along with it. It was just—I didn’t want them to have you for the time it would take for me to get the money and he—”

  “I can’t believe you would do that for me,” Kiersten says. “No one’s ever been so good to me.” Her voice catches in a sob.

  Clint pulls her in close and tucks her head in against his shoulder. “I didn’t have any choice. He’s a powerful man. I wish I hadn’t told him you were missing, that I needed money to get you back, but I didn’t know where else to turn! If I don’t pay him back, there’s no place I could hide that he won’t find me. Er, find us. I’ll have to pay him back, no question of that.”

  “It’s that guy you work for, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah.”

  Kiersten takes several deep breaths, then says quietly, “I’ll do it.”

  “Are you sure, baby? Oh my god, you’re the best!” He covers her face with kisses and then kisses her mouth. “You have no idea how I worried about this!” He gets out of bed and goes out to the living room to his phone. In minutes, he returns.

  “Let’s have a shower, baby. Get you freshened up. He’ll be here in about an hour.”

  “Oh! Tonight? But it’s already so late!”

  “Tonight.” He turns away and heads for the bathroom, where he starts the water in the shower. Kiersten must never doubt he was willing to part with his house and his car, even though that was never going to happen. Bearon already owns the house, and the leasing company owns the car. And there was never any money exchanged in any case. This is just the first step in indoctrinating Kiersten into the fucking pool. The first step in her becoming available to anyone Bearon decides to give her to. Business as usual.

  She’s a sweet girl and it’s a shitty thing to do to her. She’s agreed to fuck Bearon once. Wait until she finds out it’s going to be more than once. A lot more. And there will be a lot of other guys. But before that happens, maybe there’s an upside. Maybe if she spends enough time fucking Bearon before the other guys want in, she can find out why he’s so worried about that woman from Saskatchewan. I just hope, after what she’s been through, she can get used to fucking a guy in a balaclava.

  Fifteen

  Briggs

  BEARON PULLS UP to the enterphone stanchion at the Lodge gate and punches the button. As he waits for the gates to open, he notices with approval the landscaping is progressing nicely. Carpenters are working on the deck over the end of the pond and the trenching machine with the crew putting in the irrigation is raising dust. The flatbed truck with Reid Bros. Turf Farm logo is at the far side of what will be lawn, the Hiab offloading the last pallets of rolled turf; already a couple of guys are laying an island of fresh green in the middle of the parched landscape.

  Everything inside the building is complete and the grounds should be finished up by tomorrow, well ahead of the Pillerton people arriving. They should be impressed!

  When the gates open, he drives the half kilometer to the parking lot and parks at the main entrance. He walks around the corner and along the narrow lane that leads to his private entrance. He slides his key card into the slot. When the lock clicks, he opens the door, steps inside and closes it behind him. There’s a short hallway with a bathroom and his office opening off it. When he opens the inner office door, he’s startled to find Evan Briggs in his chair, just closing the bottom drawer of his desk.

  Briggs looks up and says, “good. You’re here. Saves me going to your place.”

  “Didn’t notice your car in the lot, Briggs,” Bearon says. He feels naked without his balaclava, but Briggs is used to what he looks like. Maybe looking frightful works in his favour.

  Still, he hadn’t expected anyone to be here. The transfer was done hours ago. What reason does Briggs have to be in his office once the cash is in the safe? Was he snooping through his private files? He’d love to call him on it, but if he does, will he look suspicious? As if he has something to hide? The second set of books is his home office, so he decides to ignore the intrusion for now. He makes a mental note to lock the desk drawers from now on.

  He narrows his eyes, draws a deep breath, then asks, “Why wer
e you going to my place?”

  “I told you before, I want the Range Rover.”

  “What’s wrong with your car?”

  “I should pick up the top brass in a Camry? You haven’t forgotten who owns the Range Rover, have you?” Evan gives him a questioning frown. He waits for Bearon’s head shake before continuing. “More to the point, what’re you doing here? If you came to get your weasel greased, you’re too late. Unless you want Trent.”

  “No, I don’t want Trent, asshole!”

  “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. It was a joke.”

  Bearon scowls, wondering why Evan thinks he can treat him like he’s one of the guys. Like they’re friends. Must be the familiarity breeds contempt effect. On top of that, the Range Rover technically belongs to The Children of Noah, but he’s the one it was given to. What makes Evan think he can borrow it whenever he wants to?

  Evan makes no move to get out of his chair, so Bearon takes the armchair across from him. He sucks in a deep breath of new building smell. As enjoyable as that is, it still takes all of Bearon’s willpower not to tell this asshole to get the fuck out of his chair. Be nice. Don’t want him getting pissy and putting the brakes on the insurance funds. Maybe taking too close a look at some of the invoices. At least until after the last draw down, you need this guy.

  Evan swivels around to the credenza behind the desk, turns two stubby glasses upright, opens the bottle and pours a splash of Crown Royal into each glass. He swivels back and slides one glass across to Bearon. They clink glasses, and Evan says, “they tell you the transfer went good? Would’ve had room for Kiersten, though.”

  “Yeah. Adding the extra soundproofing didn’t take too much space away, then?”

  “Nope.”

  “Reardon better get his ass in gear. No use sending the truck only partly full.”

  “Like I said, we had room for Kiersten. Maybe didn’t need to do all that pussyfooting around, the drama of that fake kidnap exchange.”

  “Of course we did! You think the cops wouldn’t be looking for her if she hadn’t showed up at work the next day? Pfft!” He blows out a long breath and wonders how someone so smart in some ways can be so stupid in others. Bearon gives his head a slight shake, then says, “we won’t be sending her anywhere. She’s going into the Congregation. At least she’s a decent fuck.”