by Meg Ripley
A few minutes later, I found them. They were bear prints, alright.
Boy, were they bloody, too. I imagined the bastard was tracking the red trails from his victims on his paws, which just made things easier for me to be able to find them.
“Still here?” Sophia startled me as she came upon the scene, running up to the bodies to examine them quickly.
“Just found the shifter’s prints and I’m going after them. Have fun with your corpses.” I started walking away without even looking at her, focused on discerning the bear prints from the human ones.
“Oh, you know I will,” she called out after me and I snickered.
It took me about ten minutes to find him. I took in a long, deep whiff of the cool forest air as I spotted him.
Based on his pheromones, the shifter’s most definitely a male.
He was still in bear form and hunched over the water, trying to catch some fish. His fur was coated in blood and I wondered why he hadn’t bothered to jump in the lake and wash himself off.
Why is he still in bear form? Maybe he figured he could blend in with the park’s bear population and not be noticed? Whatever his reasoning, it pissed me off that he had killed three people and was looking for something to eat like nothing had happened.
I walked out from the tree I was hiding behind until the bear could see me clearly.
“My name is Trent Bailey and I’m the Law Enforcement Ranger of this park. I am a shifter as well and ask that you please return to your human form so I can ask you some questions.” I really hoped he didn’t listen. I was holding my anger off for the moment, but I could feel it bubbling underneath the surface.
The bear glared at me and then let out a roar, standing on his two hind legs.
He wasn’t going to come easily. The bear wanted to play hard ball, but I was ready for it. I removed my clothes quickly, not taking my eyes off him; I needed my uniform intact since I didn’t have any spares nearby.
The change ripped through me, shredding my human form and snapping my bones as a towering black bear rose where I had once stood. In my bear form, I was taller than most and brawly, which meant I won almost all the fights people were stupid enough to challenge me to.
The battle awaiting me would be no different.
The beast charged at me with full force, swiping his claws at my head, making me jump back. I dodged a bit too late and the bear’s claws grazed my chest.
I growled and threw my weight onto the bear, crashing down on him and clawing away until his breath was ragged. I unleashed all the pent-up anger that had been building as the day progressed with no pausing and no mercy.
It didn’t take long for the shifter to stop fighting back. He shuddered and sank to the ground, bleeding. He was nowhere near as bad as his victims had been, but I wanted him alive for questioning.
Where was he from? Why had he killed those people?
I guessed it didn’t matter too much, because once the conclave was presented with the overwhelming evidence against him, he would be executed on the spot.
I grimaced as I thought of what had happened the last time they had met. The conclave was the shifters’ counsel and they handled all crimes within the shifter community of the region. Evidence was presented to them and they decided the verdict they felt was best punishment for the crimes committed. With three humans dead, they weren’t going to be lenient in any way, shape or form.
I honestly couldn’t wait to see that.
Due to his injuries, the shifter’s body was no longer able to hold his bear form and he began to morph back to his human state. He had dark brown spiked hair, a lanky frame and was average height for a guy who weighed no more than 200 pounds. He was naked and covered in semi-dried as well as fresh blood; a mix of his victims’ and his own.
I’m going to have to find him some clothes. Quickly. People would most definitely have noticed if I was dragging around a naked man in handcuffs, and I sure as hell I didn’t need the attention.
His breathing was rough, but he was still alive, and that’s all that mattered to me. He didn’t even deserve that much, of course, but we had trials for a reason. I guessed his injuries would be fully healed in about an hour and he would be fine.
I shifted back to human form and began to dress myself, the scratches on my chest already scabbed over.
Good. The last thing I needed was blood on my shirt to make Blanca think I was the culprit. I quickly put the rest of my uniform back on, keeping my eyes on the shifter. I removed the pair of handcuffs I kept clipped to my belt and snapped them around the guy’s wrists; he struggled a little, but obviously didn’t have enough strength to fight me.
Like mine, his wounds were already beginning to heal. They weren’t scabbed over like mine, but he’d stopped bleeding. I needed to hurry if I wanted to take advantage of his weakened state for transport.
“You are in so much trouble. I can’t wait to see what they do with you,” I growled into his ear as I lifted him up. I reached out to Knox with my mind again.
Found him. I started walking toward the lodges to find some clothes for the asshole. Are you guys still at Eagle Lake with the bodies?
Yeah, we just got here a few minutes ago. Take him to the holding area.
What are we going to do with him?
She’s not going to be able to close the case without questioning him, obviously, so we have no choice but to allow Agent Gianni to proceed with her interrogation of the suspect.
But Knox, shouldn’t he be presented to the conclave for—
He should be, seeing as how he’s taken three lives, but remember, Acadia is technically federal property, so we have to let the feds investigate. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make it look like the crime was committed by a human; we have to protect the clan, after all. Take him into holding. I’m going to need you to head over to the fishing lodge and dig up a deep-sea treble hook or two that you can say you found on him; we’re going to go with that as the murder weapon. Oh, and don’t clean him up. It’ll look better if he still has the victims’ blood all over him. It’s evening; I doubt the agent will want to question him now, so I’ll tell her that a suspect has been found and will be kept in our holdings for her to question in the morning. You are to personally keep an eye on him in the meantime.
Understood. After the day we had, I didn’t have the energy to argue with Knox anymore. He was irritated enough, with the worst crime in our recorded history taking place on his day off.
When we finally reached the holding lodge, I grabbed a shirt and sweatpants from my office for the shifter, then removed his handcuffs and pushed him into the cell. He still hadn’t said a word, but his wounds were almost completely healed, so I knew he would be conscious enough to talk in a short while.
“Guess who you get to spend the night with?” I sneered. “And don’t bother trying to change again. These bars are specially made to withstand bear strength. You’re not going anywhere.”
5
Blanca
This case is turning into a handful.
I was staring down at the bodies of Danielle’s camera crew, which Sophia was examining.
“Do you guys usually have this many deaths in one day?” I raised an eyebrow at Knox, who was also studying the bodies with a serious expression.
“I can assure you, this is the first time anything of this magnitude has happened and I am just as eager as you are to find the culprit.”
He didn’t look at me when he spoke, but it was then that I decided to trust him. He seemed shook up by the whole ordeal; I was good at reading people and I could tell he wasn’t behind the killings.
So that made one of them I felt I could trust.
I wasn’t too sure about Sophia yet; she was so nonchalant about the bodies and something about that bugged me. Maybe she had so many years in practice, she was immune to it. I could relate, though; some would say the same about me and I’d only been with the FBI for three years.
I thought back to the pilot�
�s words and wished I was there on vacation as I looked out at Eagle Lake. Man, this lake is beautiful. It was at least fifteen miles wide and I could only see mountains in the distance. The view was amazing.
Or at least, it would have been, if it weren’t for the pair of corpses and the flies they were beginning to attract.
Sophia stood up. “Alright, I’m not finding a pulse or heartbeat on either. Definitely dead. Judging by the injuries, I’d say these two line up completely with Danielle’s death. Whatever killed her got these guys, too.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
So not only did I have to deal with Danielle’s death, I had two more on my hands. “So, either we’re dealing with a rogue bear on a killing streak, or a murderer trying to make his kills look like bear attacks.”
I wasn’t used to murder cases in nature. Usually, homicides occurred in buildings or parking lots and there was a weapon close by, fingerprints on the bodies or some other kind of surface. But there were no fingerprints on any of the corpses other than Sophia’s. I checked myself and dusted Danielle’s entire crime scene. There was nothing else to get fingerprints on that millions of other people hadn’t touched before. We were surrounded by nothing but lakes and the Atlantic, wet rocks, mountains, trees, flowers, grass and dirt.
I had nothing to go on and it irked the hell out of me.
“So, what do you think the story is so far, Sophia?”
She was looking at the bodies and then glanced back in the direction of Danielle’s remains, trying to piece it together with me.
“Well, I do think you were right about a couple of things, for sure. Whoever killed Danielle also murdered these two guys. Your hypothesis about it killing Danielle first and the camera guys running away seems to line up as well. Based on the blood trail we found leading up to this point, it’s safe to say, whatever it was, chased these men to this point and did them in, too.”
So, I knew the ‘what,’ ‘when,’ and ‘where’ of the story. There were two possible ‘hows.’ ‘Who’ and ‘why’ were still left to be uncovered, and I had no idea where to start.
For the first time ever, I was completely stumped, but I refused to accept it. There was always a clue, somewhere, somehow. If it was a wild animal, there would be clues to lead us to it. If the killer was human, surely, he or she wasn’t skilled enough not to leave any shred of evidence behind.
Right?
I looked at Alex and Gerard who were still studying the bodies. Alex had his hand to his chin like he was thinking very hard. He glanced up at me and shrugged.
“Ughhhhh!”
I cried out my frustration before I even realized it and stomped my foot. It was a childish move, but I hated when things weren’t going according to plan. Things always went my way. When they didn’t, I made them go my way.
“It’s getting a bit late; the sun is setting,” Sophia said as she looked into the distance. When my gaze followed her, I saw that she was right.
6pm already? I was shocked when I looked at my watch. It felt like we had only been there for a couple of hours.
“Maybe we should pick up the search tomorrow, Blanca, and just get these bodies taken care of for today?”
Gerard appeared concerned and tired. Alex looked exhausted as well; we all were.
“I’m sorry, guys, but you know I can’t do that. Tracks could be covered, evidence could be moved. This is nature, where animals roam free. They could bury the murder weapon themselves if there is one. The killer, whether human or bear, could be long gone by now. We have to keep looking.” I gave them both pleading expressions and they nodded.
“Sophia, will you help me take care of the bodies?” She nodded. “Alex and Gerard, I want you guys to scout the area. I know Trent is out there, but having three people looking is better than one. Call me if you find anything.”
Frankly, I still didn’t trust Trent. He was probably out brooding about someone taking over and making him feel like less of man.
Although I can’t imagine why with looks like that…
I shook my head. Business, Blanca. Besides, what would I want with a guy like that? It wasn’t like he was devastatingly handsome with a strong jaw and—
Focus!
Sophia and I each started toward a body while Alex and Gerard were about to head into the woods.
“Actually, that won’t be necessary.”
Knox’s voice stopped us in our tracks. I looked over to see him close his phone with an overly emphasized ‘click.’ I had been so preoccupied with what I should do next, I hadn’t been paying much attention to him. He was a couple feet away, so I guessed he must have walked over to take a phone call while we were talking.
“What’s up?” I asked. I was done with the formalities at this point. I was exhausted and there was a lovely hotel room in Bar Harbor waiting for me. It had a pool and that was the first place I was going after my shower.
“Trent found the murderer.”
My mouth dropped. “What?”
“Looks like you were right, Ms. Gianni. He was about to jump into one of our lakes to wash himself off, when Trent was able to tackle and handcuff him. He is covered in blood and Trent found some treble hooks with him. It looks like he cleaned those off already, though.”
“So, where is he? Let’s go to him now. Alex and Gerard can take care of the bodies.” I nodded to my agents and they started toward the corpses.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Gianni, but I’m going to have to call this one. I think you should get some rest. We have the murderer in custody and Trent is perfectly capable of holding him overnight. The suspect will be waiting for you in the holding area in the morning and you can question him then.” Knox’s voice didn’t seem evasive. He looked genuinely concerned.
I thought about it for a moment. I really wanted to talk to the suspect, but even once I figured it all out, I’d have to call a pilot to bring us back to headquarters. I knew the chances of us being picked up tonight would be slim because only the emergency ones were left on duty for the day. And this was hardly an emergency.
I also kind of wanted to enjoy my hotel room for at least one night.
“Okay, fine. I will question him in the morning, but I want my own agents guarding him. No offense or anything. I am very grateful to Trent for finding the guy and I would appreciate if you could tell him that, but I would feel more comfortable with Alex and Gerard guarding the suspect.”
Knox thought about it for a moment and then nodded.
“Okay. I’m sure that can be arranged.”
“Thank you.” I walked over to Alex and Gerard. “I’m sorry, guys. I know you’re exhausted, but I just don’t trust that Trent guy enough to leave him alone with the suspect.”
“It’s okay, we understand. We’ll guard him like a hawk until you get there.” Alex said, and Gerard nodded.
“I’ll be there to relieve you in the morning and then you guys can go rest while I conduct the interrogation. Make sure you take shifts during the night.”
“Sophia, why don’t you drive Ms. Gianni to her hotel? I’ll take the guys over to the holding area and relieve Trent for the night.”
Sophia nodded and smiled at me. Knox motioned for my agents to follow him and they did.
“Come on, Blanca, my Jeep is back at Hunters Beach.”
I followed her as we walked back to where Danielle’s body was found. Sophia seemed friendly and good at her job. After some thought, I decided that I trusted her after all. She was very thorough in her reports to me and I saw a bit of myself in her work ethic.
“Hey, so what’s the story behind this Trent guy? Does he usually have problems with authority?” I asked jokingly to test the waters with the woman. It helped that I also wanted the scoop on the guy and she seemed like the best person to ask.
“Not necessarily. He just doesn’t like people messing with his job. He’s pretty serious about it.” Sophia shrugged.
“He just seems so edgy around me,” I said, moving branches out
of my way while we walked through the trees, the forest thick and lush all around us.
“Oh, he’s edgy around everyone. Don’t take it personally,” Sophia laughed. “He doesn’t like to get close to people; he had a rough childhood. It took me a year and half to even get him to have a normal conversation with me. But, once he gets to know you, he can be a really sweet guy.”
Sophia talked about Trent like they were close. “Are you two…a couple?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
“Me and Trent? No way! More like brother and sister!” Sophia was laughing again, and I felt at ease. She was surprisingly calming to talk to, which was certainly refreshing after the long day we had.
“So, what happened to him? Trent, I mean.” I asked curiously. Part of my question was just small talk, but the other part wanted to know more about him. He was so reserved and seemed so angry all the time—or at least around me. He was like a puzzle that I wanted to solve and tuck away so I would never have to think of it again.
“His dad abandoned him and his mom when he was a kid. When they moved, there was a police officer who was very friendly towards him and seemed to be getting close to his mother very quickly. He basically adopted the kid, but without the paperwork. Trent really liked the guy and wanted to be just like him when he grew up. One day, the officer got gunned down in the line of duty. When Trent and his mother found out, they were devastated. Trent doesn’t seem to have ever gotten over it.” Sophia sounded sad, her voice dropped and she wasn’t smiling anymore. Her pace had slowed as well.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.” I touched her arm and she looked up at me and smiled.
“It’s okay. I just worry about him sometimes…Oh, look! The Jeep is just beyond these trees here.”
Sophia started sprinting toward her vehicle and I followed, sorting out my thoughts at this new revelation.
Maybe I had been a little too hard on Trent. He was obviously good enough at his job that he found the murderer when I didn’t have a clue what to do next. I decided that when I saw him in the morning, I would be a little nicer to him.