Chapter 9

Canada, Twenty-Eight Years Ago

Chepi ran, slipping most of the way to her son. Noshi, bearing Sheshebens in both arms, followed, skittering and slipping over the rocks. “Are you hurt?” He asked his sobbing boy. The trunk of an old growth blue spruce had barely stopped the little body from slipping into an icy cavern. “Jesus!”

“I’m okay, Daddy.”

Chepi, pulled the boy to his feet. Turning him one way and then another she inspected him for injuries. She wiped away his tears with her gloved hand, and then hugged him so tight he gasped.

“This isn’t going to work.” Noshi said. “We’ll have to stay put. The tribe will miss us. They’ll send a search party soon…”

Northern California, Present Time

The sheriff’s office felt musky-damp and smelled moldy. “Don’t you guys ever clean? It stinks like a bear’s ass in here,” Maggie said.

“We were going over the Jenkins interrogation,” Jake said. “Happy thinks he’s our guy.”

“No,” said Maggie. “I don’t think so.”

“He fits the witness description. Tall, blonde, smokes American Spirit menthols,” Happy said.

“That’s not enough to go on,” Maggie said. “There’s other tall blonde men in Wicklow, and I know Bobby Jenkins isn’t the only smoker in town. This town could star in a Cancer Society commercial.” Maggie crossed the room to grab another cup of coffee. She found herself stealing looks at Jake, feeling, what? Lusty? Can’t be. Gotta be the stress of the case. It’s Jake, for God’s sake.

“So, Maggie,” Jake said. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“What?”

“How do you know what it smells like?” Jake stood in front of an ancient, scratched white board listing details of the case with a black marker. He continued writing as though he’d said nothing. As a kid, and even into his thirties, Jake was awkward. Although not unattractive, he was never what anyone could call great looking. But as he aged, he developed a particular down-home cragginess and brawniness that suited him. He was a little shorter than Maggie liked her men. Nonetheless, she appreciated his well-muscled arms and back, and had been checking him out off and on all day. What is the matter with me? “What?” she said.

“When you came in, you said the station smells like a bear’s ass. How do you know what a bear’s ass smells like?”

Happy guffawed.

“I’m not in the mood, Jake,” she said. Generally, she enjoyed their juvenile style of bantering, but not today. “Don’t be an adolescent jerk.”

“Yeah? Well I can tell by the way you’re been staring at my ass all day you’re finally beginning to notice that I’m a good lookin’ jerk.”

“Let’s take care of business before that killer cuts out those kids’ hearts. Are you okay with that plan, or do you want to waste more time?” He’s right, though. The guy is kinda sexy in his own way. “I don’t need this,” she said, but she wasn’t thinking about Jake’s comment. “Don’t confuse me, Jake Lubbock,” she whispered, pretending to examine water stains on the ceiling. “You are a friend, nothing more, and I’ve got my hands full as it is with an attractive Algonquin banker. Besides that, I have to focus on the case. Focus, Maggie, focus.”

Jake looked to the ceiling. “What are you staring at?” Jake shrugged his shoulders. “And, I didn’t hear a thing you said. What is it?”

“Nothing. Never mind.”