Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume III)

by Sarah J. Stone

  Jeremiah let out a shaky breath. “This is very serious, very serious, indeed. So after you parted them, you and Damian went home, where you both spent the night.”

  “I spent the night there,” Eli countered. “Damian went out for a walk after dinner, but he was there when I woke up in the morning. What he did in the meantime, I can’t tell you.”

  An even louder cry screeched out of the stands. The crowd exploded in raucous conversation. Jeremiah banged his gavel on the platform. “Order! Order!”

  Damian couldn’t sit still a second longer. He kept all this tension bottled up inside him, and now this. He rocketed out of his chair. He raged and foamed and spat at his brother. “You liar! You stinkin’, lying cur. I’ll skin you for this. I’ll flay your flesh from your bones. You…you rat! You lyin’ rat!”

  He launched himself across the desk. He stretched his fingers toward his brother’s throat. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you for this, you liar!”

  Joshua leapt to his feet just in time. He grabbed a handful of Damian’s jacket to haul him back, but he couldn’t hold a man so much younger and stronger than himself. Damian slipped one arm out of his sleeve, still ranting and fuming. “You bastard! I’ll wring your neck! I’ll rip you to shreds. Let me go. You lying piece of…”

  Joshua lost his grip, and Damian rushed forward in all his power. Constable Griffin got to him before he made it across the table and laid hold of Damian by both arms. Constable Griffin and Joshua wrestled Damian to the floor. They held him down, still kicking and screaming, until three other Police officers arrived. Between the five of them, they dragged Damian out of the council chamber.

  He never stopped struggling and swearing and threatening and spitting. They bumped him down the stairs and flung him in a locked room. He crashed across the cold concrete floor, where he lay still, spent and broken.

  66. Chapter 10

  Elder Hood’s personal hovercraft lifted off the roof of the council building and flew away to the apartment block across the square. Jeremiah closed his eyes and let his head fall against the seat. “Phew! What a catastrophe! I never thought I’d live to see something like this, and now I’ve got to be in charge of it. What’s Arion coming to? What will become of a society where these things can happen?”

  “I, for one, will be glad to stay home from now on,” Tamar returned. “I never should have gone down there to witness a sordid debacle like that. I won’t go again. I can tell you that.”

  “You’re lucky, my dear,” Jeremiah replied. “It does no one any good to engage in trials like this.”

  “At least now we know the truth,” Serenity piped up. “We all know Damian’s guilty now. Did you see the way he threatened his own brother in front of everybody? He’s a raving murderer. I knew it all along. I hope you lock him up, Grandpa.”

  “Unfortunately, my dear,” Jeremiah replied, “I can’t lock him up until we finish the trial. If he isn’t guilty, then some more sinister force went to a lot of trouble to make him look guilty.”

  “Who would do that?” Serenity asked. “It’s bad enough we had a murder in Arion. One murderer is bad enough. You can get rid of him, and the rest of us can go on with your lives. There can’t be anyone in this city worse than Damian Powers.”

  “He was such a nice boy, too,” Tamar lamented. “He had so much promise, and now he’s come to a bad end.”

  Eden listened in silence from her seat, but she couldn’t bring herself to join the conversation. Every NightShade in this city must be having the same conversation right now. Everybody thought Damian was guilty. No one believed him—and why should they? All the evidence stacked against him, and now Eli accused him in front of everybody. How could Damian ever counter that?

  Blowing up in front of the council only made matters worse, but that couldn’t be helped. No one would believe him now. The Elders would rush to decide against him. Then they would have to decide what to do to punish him. This case and everything connected with it would go down in the city’s records. If anybody else got murdered in Arion, the Police and the Elders would look to this case as a precedent.

  God forbid anyone else ever got murdered in Arion! God preserve this city and its people from situations like this. What could compel someone to smash in another NightShade’s head in cold blood? That didn’t happen—not ever.

  The hovercraft landed on the apartment building roof, and the whole family trooped down to their own home. Jeremiah retreated to his office. Tamar sank onto the couch. “You girls can fix yourselves something to eat, can’t you?”

  “Sure, Grandma,” Serenity replied. “I’ll have a sandwich, and then I’ve got to hit the books. I don’t think I’ll go back to the trial, either. I don’t have time for that kind of entertainment.” She laughed at her own joke and tapped the computer on the wall. “What would you like, Eden?

  “I’m not hungry,” Eden told her. “You go ahead.”

  Serenity cocked her head. “Not hungry? You haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

  Eden turned away. “That trial made me sick to my stomach. I don’t think I could hold anything down right now, anyway.”

  Serenity ordered herself a sandwich and took a bite. Tamar let out another moan. “I’m exhausted. I’m going to lie down for a while. You girls keep it quiet for the afternoon so your grandfather can get some work done.”

  “Don’t worry, Grandma,” Serenity called after her.

  Eden wandered around the living room. She didn’t know what to do with herself. She couldn’t stop thinking about the trial. If she could only do something, she could find a way to punch through all this confusion. She could sweep all the cobwebs aside to reveal the bright truth underneath.

  She couldn’t hang around this apartment with the trial looming over her head. She had to act. She had to push herself against this mystery until she crumbled it between her fingers.

  Serenity munched her sandwich and studied her tablet across the room when the doorbell rang. Serenity started to get up, but Eden waved her back into her place. She opened the door to find Eli in the hall. He showed all his bright teeth when he smiled at her. “Hi.”

  Eden couldn’t smile back at him. “Hi.”

  He jerked his head toward the elevator. “I just came by to ask if you want to go out again this afternoon. There’s a carnival over in Q section. They’ve got food and games and rides and stuff. What do you say?”

  “Sorry, Eli,” she replied. “I couldn’t go out right now. I’m too upset about the trial. Maybe another time.”

  He cocked his head. “What better way to get your mind off the trial than to go out with me? You had a good time the other night, didn’t you?”

  “I had a very nice time,” she told him, “and I’m flattered and delighted you want to go out with me again. It’s just not a good time right now. I need to deal with everything that’s happened. You go ahead on over. I’m sure you’ll have a great time.”

  A hint of a frown pinched his forehead. The next instant, he recovered his usual composure. “Will I see you again?”

  “I’m sure you will.” She put her hand on the panel by the door. “Thanks for coming around. See you later.”

  She hit the button to close the door without waiting for a reply. The door slid shut in his face.

  Eden turned around to find Serenity staring at her in wonder. “What’s wrong with you? Can’t you see he’s sweet on you?”

  Eden made a face. “Mind your own business.”

  Eden set off for her room, but Serenity hurried after her. “I mean it. That’s the second time he’s asked you out. Don’t you know how successful and influential he is? You couldn’t find a better match if you made a list of the most eligible bachelors in town. You should be groveling at his feet to go out with him.”

  Eden growled over her shoulder at her cousin. “I’m not groveling at his feet, and I’m not making a list of the most eligible bachelors in town. You might do that, but not me.”

  Serenity laughed. “Co
me on, Eden. Where’s your spirit? He likes you. He’s pursuing you. Why don’t you go for it?”

  “You heard what I said,” Eden shot back. “I’m still too tense from the trial. I couldn’t enjoy myself now if I tried. I don’t want to go on rides and eat and play games and stuff. I just want to be by myself. In fact, I think I’ll go out for a walk—alone. That’s all right with you, isn’t it? Does that meet with your approval for my social schedule?”

  “Don’t give me that about being too tense from the trial,” Serenity told her. “If Eli was your real mate, you would still go out with him. You’d be too excited even to think about the trial.”

  Eden rounded on her. “Then I guess that must mean he’s not my real mate, mustn’t it?”

  Serenity stared at her. Then her shoulders slumped. “Of course. That’s what it means.”

  “I think I would know if Eli Powers was my mate,” Eden continued. “I had a nice time with him the other night. He even kissed me, and he’s very tempting, but he’s not the one, that’s for certain. Him being the most eligible bachelor in town doesn’t change the fact.”

  Serenity nodded. “Sorry, I mentioned it, then. I better go. Have a good walk.”

  Serenity retreated to her own room and left Eden alone. Eli was the most eligible bachelor in town, huh? Well, that was just grand. He would make some girl a very good husband. Eden was sure of that.

  In the meantime, she had her own mate to find—at least, she had to get to him, wherever he was. He wouldn’t be as eligible a bachelor as Eli, but what difference did that make?

  Silence descended over the apartment. No one moved in the living room. She had a straight, clear run to the door. She slipped out, took the elevator, and strode out into the street.

  Not many people moved around outside at this time of day. Everybody went home from the trial for lunch and a rest, just like the Hoods. She had the square to herself. She strolled to the other side of the train station. She watched the empty trains wheeshing into the station and disappearing again. She watched a woman step into the teleporter booth and vanish in a curtain of sparks.

  She hung around for hours, not sure what to do or where to go. Why didn’t she just admit to herself what she wanted? Why didn’t she throw all caution to the wind? She wanted to investigate this mystery. She wanted to talk to Damian about the case and the trial, but more than anything else, she just wanted to talk to him. She wanted to talk to him about anything at all, so what was stopping her?

  She crossed the square, but when she came to the Elders’ council building, she paused at the foot of the steps. Was she going in there? What if someone confronted her and demanded to know what she was doing there? She couldn’t exactly explain that she wanted to see Damian Powers, that she wanted to defend him and exonerate him. That made no sense at all.

  She paced. Constable Griffin came out. She pretended to be walking the other way until he disappeared onto the train platform. The train glided away and took him with it.

  What was she doing here? She should be somewhere far away. Serenity was right. She should be laughing and eating barbeque with Eli and walking around the carnival with a balloon tied to her wrist.

  Well, that wasn’t going to happen. She came all this way, and she couldn’t retreat now. She had to find out what waited for her inside that building. She trotted up the steps and into the building.

  67. Chapter 11

  Damian sat on the floor in the corner of his locked cell. He hugged his knees against his chest and rested his forehead on his arms. This was the end. This was a fate worse than death, to be locked up in the basement of the council building. He wouldn’t see the sky again. He wouldn’t talk to his friends on the square or enjoy his family’s company.

  The Elders would decide he was guilty of killing Ryder. What they would do with him, he could only guess. Maybe they would leave him here forever. Maybe they would decide a killer couldn’t live in Arion anymore. That would be far worse than anything he ever imagined.

  How did it come to this? How did he fail to devise a defense against someone stealing his computer codes? He couldn’t have known the codes were stolen when the Police never told him. He reviewed everything that had happened in the session that morning, but nothing made sense.

  A voice calling his name drifted into his head out of his dreams. He must have imagined that, too.

  “Damian.”

  He didn’t look up. He wanted to die. At least then he wouldn’t have to suffer this endless pain.

  The voice came again, louder this time. “Damian.”

  He glanced up once and beheld an apparition out of his fevered dreams. It looked like Eden Black, but it couldn’t be. How many times did he wish she would appear to him, just once? He could take some relief in those eyes showing him all hope was not yet lost.

  He couldn’t take relief in them now. All hope was indeed lost. Now, those eyes hurt worse than anything. He put his head back down and shut his eyes.

  A long silence followed. He wallowed in his misery. He didn’t bother to sit on the bench at his side. He wanted to suffer, so he stayed on the hard floor. His ass went numb against the cold concrete, but he didn’t move.

  Her voice hit his ear again, and this time, he couldn’t ignore it. “Look at me, Damian.”

  His head shot up in answer to her command, and there she was. A window of electrified energy separated him from her, but she was real. She squatted right in front of him, alive and beautiful and full of glowing light.

  He almost burst into tears at the sight of her. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t talk to her. He couldn’t even look at her. He bowed his head. “Go home, Eden. You shouldn’t be here.”

  “Well, I am here,” she replied. “I came here to see you and talk to you.”

  “You don’t belong in a place like this,” he grumbled. “Do yourself a favor and stay away from me. That’s the best thing you can do right now.”

  She stood up to confront him. “Is that all you can say to me? Do you have too many people coming to visit you that you can pick and choose who to keep and who to get rid of?”

  “Stop it,” he shot back. “You know you’re the only person who would dare come to visit me. I’m poison, to you and everyone else in Arion. The sooner the Elders get rid of me, the better for everybody.”

  She squatted down again to bring her face close to the window. She lowered her voice to a menacing snarl. “I’m the only person who comes to visit you because I’m the only person in this whole city who believes you’re innocent. Do you get that? Not even your own father believes in you anymore.”

  His head swung up, and he bared his teeth. “Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you think I can see the looks on their faces?”

  “Then don’t give me any of that nonsense about leaving you alone,” she returned. “If I don’t help you, you’ll be punished for a crime you didn’t commit. Is that what you want?”

  He let his head fall one more time. “It’s hopeless. No one can help me, especially not after the way Eli told the Elders I got in a fight with Ryder.”

  “Why would he lie about it? Why would he change his story at the last minute like that, after he told the Police it never happened?”

  “How should I know?” Damian leapt to his feet. He couldn’t sit still. He let his pent-up tension loose circling the cell.

  “He must have had a reason,” Eden replied. “He was all ready to tell the Elders the same story, but when he saw us looking at each other, he changed his story.”

  Damian didn’t hear her. “The more important question is why the computer system isn’t showing up any signature of who killed Ryder. It’s not showing me and it’s not showing anybody else. According to the records, Ryder was walking along the street and fell over dead of a massive head injury.”

  “That’s not possible.”

  “Of course, it’s not possible. Someone smashed his head in then rewrote the records to erase their signature.”

  “Who woul
d do that?”

  “Someone who had access to my programming codes,” he replied. “Somebody tampered with the system. It must have been someone with as much programming knowledge as I have, and it wasn’t me.”

  “Then who could it be?” she asked.

  He stopped in his tracks to stare at her. What was he thinking, talking about this stuff to her? He shouldn’t burden her with such tripe. He shook his head and turned away. “Never mind. I’ll deal with this. You should go home.”

  “You bastard!” she exploded. “What are you trying to do to me? I came here to help you, and you throw my help back in my face. You deserve whatever the Elders do to you.”

  She started to turn away, but he called after her. “Eden, wait!”

  She glared at him over her shoulder. “Why should I? You’re right. I was a fool to come here. I should have known you were too thick-headed to accept help from me. Fine, then. You stay in there, and I hope you’ll be very comfortable. You work out for yourself how to prove your innocence. You won’t get any help from me.”

  His shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry, Eden. I do want your help. I need it. Man, you don’t know how much I need it! I just can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt over this. I don’t want you getting dragged into something as horrible as this. I want to preserve you from it.”

  Her face brightened. “Well, don’t. I want to do this. I don’t want to be anywhere else but here with you.”

  He gasped. “You don’t?”

  She blushed all over. “I only meant I want to work on this case. I want to find out who killed Ryder so you can get out of there.”

  His heart fell into his boots. He should have known she hadn’t meant what he hoped she had. “Oh.”

  “So how are we going to do it? How are we going to find out who tampered with the computer?”

  He started pacing again. Once he started thinking about the case, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. “If I could get out of this cell, I could hack the system. I might be able to find something to shed some light on the situation.”