Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume III)

by Sarah J. Stone

  61. Chapter 5

  Eden listened with half an ear to her grandmother chattering nonstop. “And do me a favor, will you, sweetheart? Don’t let the Labor Pool think you’re totally hopeless. Make them think you have some ambition in life. If they think you’re at loose ends, they’ll give you a menial job. You could be stuck with that for the rest of your life, and you don’t want that.”

  “I wouldn’t care what job they give me,” Eden returned. “I don’t have any ambition. I might as well do a job that needs doing.”

  Tamar pointed across the square. “After we leave the Labor Pool, we’ll go visit the Logistics Academy. I hear they have some new exciting programs starting this year.”

  Eden groaned. “I don’t see how there can be anything exciting about Logistics.”

  Tamar stopped to confront her. “That is exactly what I’m talking about. You can’t take that attitude. You don’t know what you want to do. I understand that, but you don’t have to cast every possibility in the negative. What if you found out you liked Logistics? What if you really wanted to do it?”

  “I can tell you right now I don’t want to do Logistics. I would rather go into the Medical Academy like Serenity. Now, that sounds interesting.”

  “You would have to study for more than twelve years to catch up with Serenity,” Tamar replied. “Your parents neglected your education on the surface. I don’t understand why they didn’t send you downstairs sooner.”

  Eden pursed her lips. “I understand you’re trying to help me, Grandma, but I can’t listen to you saying anything against Mommy and Daddy. They never neglected our education. Look at Luna. She’s been studying for years, and she got into the Engineering Academy, which is even more competitive than the Medical Academy. I didn’t study because I didn’t want to, and I won’t study until I find out what I want to do with my life.”

  Tamar sighed. “I know you’re right, honey. I just don’t want to see you slip through the cracks.”

  “I won’t. That’s what I’m here for.”

  “Then come on. We’ll go to the Labor Pool, and after lunch, we can decide what we want to do next.”

  She turned toward the big building when a bunch of well-dressed people came out. They met Tamar and Eden on the sweeping steps in front of the entrance. Eden recognized Joshua Powers and his two sons.

  Eli’s eyes brightened when he saw her. He trotted down the steps to meet her. “Well, hello there. And to what do we owe the honor of your esteemed presence?”

  Eden blushed, but she couldn’t stop smiling at him. “Cut it out, Eli. I’m just registering for the Labor Pool.”

  “The Labor Pool? I thought we worked that out yesterday. You’re going to enter politics so you can attend the session with us every day. Isn’t that what you’d like to do?”

  Eden burst out laughing. “That’s about the last thing in the world I’d like to do every day. I don’t know how you can stand it.”

  He beamed at her. “Well, to tell you the truth, it’s about the last thing in the world I’d like to do every day, too, but it seems to be my unfortunate destiny.”

  “Why do you keep doing it?” Eden asked. “You must be qualified for all kinds of jobs. Why don’t you do something you enjoy?”

  He jerked his chin over his shoulder at his father. “It’s the family business. Everybody just sort of assumes Damian and I will follow in Daddy’s footsteps whether we want to or not.”

  Eden glanced over at Damian, but he wouldn’t look at her. He glared across the square at a train pulling into the station.

  Eli drew her attention back to himself. “Have you heard the news?”

  “What news?”

  “About Ryder Law being murdered. It’s all over the place.”

  Eden gasped. “What? How?”

  “The Police are investigating. That’s what we’re doing here. Damian and I had to meet them to discuss our activities yesterday. We were the last ones to see Ryder alive after we left your place.”

  Eden couldn’t believe her ears. “How is that possible? Nothing like that ever happens in Arion.”

  “There’s a first time for everything.”

  “That’s terrible!”

  “Yeah. The Police were all over our apartment this morning, asking a bunch of awkward questions. They say someone snuck up behind Ryder and hit him over the head. We all thought maybe he got in a fight with somebody. You know how it is when two guys set their sights on the same girl, but the Police say he didn’t have a scratch on him. They asked Damian all about the Emergent faction and a bunch of other stuff.”

  “What’s the Emergent faction?” Eden asked.

  Eli waved his hand. “You don’t want to know about that. It’s a bunch of Elders business. You would rather do just about anything than hear about that.”

  She couldn’t smile. The whole thing seemed too horrible to be true. “You’re right. I don’t want to hear about it. How are you, Damian? How are you bearing up?”

  He set his shoulders and turned his back on her. “Ignore him,” Eli told her. “He’s wound up about this murder because the Police suspect him of killing Ryder. They think he wanted to stop the Emergent faction from leaving Arion. There. Now you see what you did? You made me tell you when I said I wouldn’t. They think he killed Ryder to stop him and his friends from blowing Arion’s secret wide open to the rest of the world.”

  Eden stared at the two brothers with her mouth hanging open—at least, she looked at Eli and the back of Damian’s head. He showed no sign of hearing their conversation, but he couldn’t have missed it standing right next to them.

  How awful for him to be accused of killing his friend. No wonder he didn’t want to see or talk to anybody. The situation must be consuming him to the exclusion of all else. She would feel the same way if someone accused her of killing an innocent man.

  “There’s a dance on at the Social Club tomorrow night,” Eli was saying. “Why don’t you come with me? I could pick you up at your place, say around eight o’clock?”

  She turned back to him, and the cloud lifted from her soul. “Thank you, Eli. I’d like that. I need to get out and meet people.”

  “You can’t spend your life cooped up with a bunch of old people, and I hear your cousin is studying for the medicals. That’s not exactly a recipe for a good time, either, is it?”

  They laughed together. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  He closed his eyes and bowed. “Just doing my duty to law and order. I’ve got a bunch of friends who plan to go, too, so you’ll have plenty of people around. You’ll have no shortage of people to talk to.”

  Eden blushed. He was very nice-looking, and he put her at ease with his casual manner. He talked to her like he’d known her all her life. He wasn’t as big or as distinctive looking as Damian, but any woman would be flattered to win his attention.

  “Great,” she exclaimed. “I’ll see you tomorrow at eight.”

  He flashed her his winning smile. Just before he walked away, he put out his hand and squeezed her arm. “See you then.”

  A quiver of excitement danced through her insides. What if he was the one? What if she just made the date that led to the rest of her life? What if she found her mate and started a family? She wouldn’t have to hear any more about the Logistics Academy. She’d be looking at the next twenty years of her life mapped out for her.

  She turned around to find her grandmother glaring at her. Eden turned pink. “What?”

  Tamar compressed her lips. “Don’t tell me you actually plan to go out with that boy.”

  “He’s hardly a boy, Grandma,” she replied. “He’s a fully grown man, as you can see.”

  “I don’t want you going out with him.”

  Eden halted in her tracks. “You can’t keep me locked up at home all the time, Grandma. I have to get out sometime, and what better way than to spend time with people my own age?”

  “You have Serenity. She’s your own age.”

  “Come on, Grand
ma. She’s got her nose in her studies all the time. She hasn’t left the apartment in a week. She never goes out, and she never has any free time. She’ll be slaving at the medicals for the next five years.”

  “What’s wrong with that? She’s a very driven and successful girl.”

  Eden started walking. “I’m going out with Eli. That’s all there is to it.”

  Tamar fell in at her side striding down the street. “I just worry about you, honey. I want you to focus on your future before you think about mating with anybody.”

  Eden snorted. “If he’s my mate, he is my future. You should understand that, Grandma. Maybe I can’t decide what to do with myself because this is what I’m supposed to be doing. Maybe it’s meant to be.”

  “Don’t even think like that,” Tamar shot back. “You have too much potential to throw it away at your age.”

  “It’s not as though my life will be over. I’ll have a family and children, and then I’ll go to work. It’s the same thing, only the other way around.”

  Tamar shook her head, but she didn’t answer. They set off across the lawn toward the Hoods’ apartment. Just before they turned the corner, Eden succumbed to temptation and looked back. She told herself she wanted to catch one last glimpse of Eli, but when she picked the Powers family out of the crowd, she spotted Damian turning around at the same time.

  For one fleeting instant, they locked their eyes on each other. The next moment, Eli turned around, too. He motioned Damian forward, and the brothers left the square behind their father.

  Eden watched them out of sight. Something about Damian aroused her deepest curiosity. She wanted to ask him about the murder, to discover every detail of his movements, his activities—everything related to his friendship with Ryder.

  She wanted to find out a lot more than that, too. She wanted to study him, to search his soul for any minute crumb she could get. What about him made him so fascinating to her? She couldn’t stop thinking about him, even when he walked away. She listened to her grandmother, but her heart remained behind. Her whole being gazed in the direction of his receding back.

  62. Chapter 6

  The next morning, the Elders’ council building door smashed back, and Damian barreled out. He jumped down the steps two at a time on his long legs and almost collided with Eden on the sidewalk. She leapt clear. “Hey! What’s going on?”

  He spun aside. “Sorry.”

  He started to walk away, but she lunged after him. “Wait a minute! What’s going on? Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

  He whirled around the other way, but he didn’t look at her. His arms flew out from his sides. “This is ridiculous. I’m not putting up with this. I don’t care what they say. I’m not going to live like a slave in my own house. They can do their worst. I won’t put up with it.” He shook his fist at the council building. “Do you hear me? I won’t put up with it!”

  Eden drew back in horror. “What are you talking about? What’s going on? What won’t you put up with?”

  He raised his voice to a thunderous bellow. “You lackeys! Do you think you can do this to me? I’ll show you! I’ll show you if it’s the last thing I do!”

  Eden closed her mouth with a click. What was wrong with him? If he wanted to get away from her, she better stand back and let him go. She didn’t want to hang around a raving lunatic.

  He cast a black look her way. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to lose it, or bump into you. I won’t keep you any longer.”

  She took a deep breath. “Do you want to talk about it? What happened in there?”

  He smacked his lips. “Just the same old claptrap. They want to accuse me of Ryder’s murder. What am I saying? They are accusing me of Ryder’s murder. Can you believe that? Me!” He thumped his fist against his chest.

  “What are they saying you did?”

  His shoulders slumped, and his breath shivered between his teeth. He didn’t want to talk to her. He didn’t even want to look at her, but he had to get this out. He had no one else in the world to talk to. He spent every waking minute in his room researching Ryder, the Emergent faction, and everything related to this murder. It obsessed his every thought.

  “I didn’t kill him,” he blurted out. “Whatever you might think of me, I didn’t kill Ryder.”

  “I believe you,” she replied.

  His head shot up. For the first time since they met at Elder Hood’s apartment, he looked right at her. “You do?”

  “Sure. I know you didn’t kill him.”

  He couldn’t breathe. He didn’t want to look at her like this, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her face. She was so intoxicatingly beautiful, and she was the first person who ever came right out and said point blank she believed he was innocent.

  “Just tell me what the Police said,” she went on. “I want to know. Maybe I can help you.”

  “No one can help me,” he grumbled. “They say I snuck up behind him and caved his head in. They say we argued about the Emergent faction. They want to charge me and put me on trial.”

  “On trial!”

  He nodded. Once he started talking, he couldn’t stop. Talking to her soothed his soul.

  “I didn’t know they could put anybody on trial.”

  “They can’t!” he cried. “They don’t. They never have. I’ll be the first person ever to be put on trial in this city. Can you believe that? How am I supposed to walk down the street? How am I supposed to hold my head up after this? Oh, wait. I can’t. They won’t let me walk down the street. They put me under house arrest.”

  She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She stared at him in wide-eyed astonishment.

  “See what I mean?” he told her. “They don’t believe a word I say. They won’t believe Ryder was my friend and that I would never harm him. They don’t believe me, not even when Eli told them we parted as friends. He could tell them until kingdom come that Ryder and I never argued. They won’t listen. They say I snuck out of my apartment at night, met Ryder, and killed him.”

  “What did you tell them?”

  “I said that wasn’t possible. I said the computer system would have tracked me there and back. They say I tampered with the computer. I worked on the central programming team, and I know all the codes to get into the system. They say I made it look like I stayed home when I didn’t, and I covered up the images of killing Ryder.”

  “This is incredible.”

  “Yeah, well, it would be a lot more incredible if it wasn’t happening to me.”

  “What did you say to their claims you tampered with the computer?” she asked.

  He hung his head. “I didn’t say anything. I stormed out. That’s when I just met you here.”

  “I see.”

  He stole a peek at her. “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t be talking to you about this.”

  “Nonsense. You have as much right to talk about it as anybody else. If Eli can jabber away about it in the middle of the street, you sure can. What’s this about being under house arrest? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means I’m not allowed out. Up until today, they let me walk around under supervision. Some other registered adult had to keep me in sight at all times. Now, they won’t even let me do that. I have to stay at home until the trail. They said it’s only out of respect for my father that I wasn’t thrown in their locked cells right then and there.”

  “Oh, no!” she cried. “That’s terrible.”

  “Not as terrible as it’s going to be if they pin this crime on me. My life will be over. I don’t even want to think about what they’ll do to me.”

  “There must be a way to prove you didn’t do it.”

  “I’d like to know how,” he shot back. “I’ve spent the last three days going over every scrap of computer territory from the morning before the murder until yesterday. There’s not one piece of evidence to clear me.”

  “It sounds to me like there’s not one piece of evidence to accuse you, either,” she pointed out. �
��If they don’t have a computer signature showing you killing him, they can’t blame you for it.”

  “There is no signature. There’s no signature for me or anybody else.”

  “Then somebody did tamper with the computer.”

  Just then, the door swung open again and Eli came out. He sauntered down the steps and touched Damian’s arm. “You better come home with me now. You’re not supposed to be out here.” He shot Eden a grin. “Hi.”

  She blushed. “Hi, Eli.”

  “Eight o’clock tonight, right?” he asked.

  Damian whirled around and snarled in his face. “Do you mind?”

  Eden wiped the smile off her lips. “Sorry, Damian.”

  Eli shrugged. “Don’t pay any attention to him. He’s out of his mind.”

  Damian growled through gritted teeth, but Eden interrupted him. “Any of us would be if the Police accused us of murder. You can’t blame him for being tense.”

  Damian cast a startled glance her way, but before he could say anything, Eli spun around. “We’ve got to get this dangerous killer off the streets. I’ll see you later, Eden. Come on, Killer.”

  He tried to take Damian by the arm, but Damian slapped his hand off. The brothers strode away down the sidewalk. Just before they passed out of sight, Eli called back, “Eight o’clock.”

  Damian dared not look back at Eden or he would lose his cool. He didn’t trust himself to confront his brother about the vicious taunts, either. His mind turned on Eden. She believed him! Not only did she say so out loud, but her face and eyes showed it. She wanted to know what was happening to him. She wanted to help him.

  He didn’t stop walking until he got home. He went straight to his room, but he didn’t get on the computer. He paced around the room. Talking to her about the case gave him the only glimmer of hope in this miserable existence of his.

  He never expected one person to throw him a lifeline. He clutched it to his heart for all he was worth. He faced this wretched situation alone these long, weary days. Now he had one person he could count on. One person who trusted him.