by J. K Harper
“Of course! I’m sorry for being a busybody. This town is so small it can get boring sometimes. I lived in Paris for years so Fate Mountain is a little bit of a change of pace for me.”
Maisie busied herself with pouring Harper’s coffee and grabbing her a scone from the case beside the counter. She handed everything to Harper.
“It’s on the house, sweetheart,” Maisie said. “I have a feeling you’re going to be one of us.”
“Thanks,” Harper said meekly. “Have you seen what’s going on at the police station this morning?”
“What? I’ve been here since way early this morning.”
“There are a bunch of protesters outside with picket signs that say the Bear Patrol is unfair to humans.”
“Oh my God! The clans have been working overtime to appease the angry humans of this town. I thought we’d gotten somewhere.”
“I don’t know,” Harper said with a shrug. “I’ve got to get to work now. Thanks for the coffee and scone.”
She didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t even know what to think. She turned away and pushed through the glass door of the bakery and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The steam of her coffee rose in the crisp winter air. She shook her head as she walked down the sidewalk, taking a sip of hot coffee. She pushed through the door of the bank and walked inside, expecting to see Mr. Black at his desk or one of the other tellers at the windows. But no one was there. That was strange. But she shrugged it off and walked around the counter and into the break room to hang up her jacket and purse.
When she walked into the breakroom, what she saw there horrified her so deeply that she dropped her coffee and scone on the floor. She screamed and took a step back, trying to rationalize what was happening. But nothing could explain the sight she saw before her.
Mr. Black lay on the breakroom floor, a knife wound to the chest. Blood seeped from the wound and pooled around his body on the linoleum floor. In a haze of confusion, she knelt beside him and place two fingers on his neck to check for a pulse. He was cold and stiff.
There was a knife on the floor and she picked it up, trying to figure out what was happening. Coming to her senses, she dropped the knife and wiped the blood on her hands onto her coat. She scrambled backward and dialed 911, waiting for the operator to answer.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“I’m at Fate Mountain Credit Union. My boss, Mr. Black, he’s been…murdered. He’s dead. Please send someone. Hurry.” She felt herself starting to hyperventilate.
“I’ve got police and an ambulance on their way. Take a deep breath. You need to stay on the line until officers arrive.”
The operator continued speaking to her in a calm tone but Harper could barely think and could barely hear. She held the phone but dropped it away from her ear, no longer listening. Within moments, police and emergency personnel were filing into the bank. They found her in the breakroom with blood on her hands and coat, standing over the dead body of her boss.
As the officers and emergency workers examined the body and the scene, a police officer began to ask her questions. She couldn’t think, she couldn’t hear him. She had no idea what was going on.
“State your name for the record,” the officer said.
“Harper Brown… Is Knox here?” she asked.
“How do you know Deputy Carter?” the policeman asked her.
“We’re dating,” she replied.
Just then, Knox walked into the breakroom. When he saw her, his mouth dropped open and his eyes shot wide. Tears started to stream down her face and she ran into his arms. He held her tight, rubbing her back.
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to step back and release Deputy Carter.”
“Commander Morris, Harper is my mate,” Knox said, not letting go of her.
“Knox, I’m going to have to ask you to leave the scene. There’s a conflict of interest here.”
“I’m not going to leave her, Rollo.”
“This crime scene is a disaster area. I can’t have the witness found at the scene embracing a police officer. Even if she is your mate.”
Harper stepped back, not wanting to get Knox into trouble. So much had happened in the last several days that she was at her wit’s end. Rollo was right, she shouldn’t be hugging Knox at a crime scene. But it was all that she wanted to do. The brief moment of having his strong arms around her made all of the darkness go away.
“I’m going to need your statement, Ms. Brown. And a sample of the blood on your hands and coat. Damien,” Rollo called to the technician taking pictures of the crime scene.
The technician walked toward her and took several pictures of her before putting his camera down and taking out a sample kit. He withdrew vials and other sampling equipment and quickly bagged and tagged the samples from her body. When that was complete, Rollo pulled a pad of paper from his breast pocket and clicked his pen.
“How did you find the body?” Rollo asked.
“I came into work at ten a.m. After stopping at the bakery for coffee and a scone. I talked to the baker, Maisie. Then I came in here. Into the bank. There was no one behind the counter or in Mr. Black’s office. I thought that was odd.
“Then I went into the breakroom to put up my coat and purse. When I walked in the door, I found Mr. Black lying in a pool of blood on the ground.”
“How did you get his blood on your hands?”
“I knelt down to check his pulse. I know it sounds crazy. I could see the wounds in his chest. I thought I would check if he was alive. But he wasn’t, he was already turning cold. I found the knife on the ground and picked it up. I don’t know why. I just wanted to understand what was happening.”
“So you just started working here two days ago?”
“Yes,” she said, wanting to be done with the questioning. “I just moved to town.”
“All right, Ms. Brown,” Rollo said, closing his pad of paper. “You are free to go now. But I may have more questions for you. Don’t leave town.”
“What about the bank?” Harper asked, still not knowing what to do about her job.
“The bank will be closed today,” Rollo said.
Harper backed away, turning to the exit. She clutched her purse in her hand and stumbled toward the door of the bank. Knox was there beside her, holding the handle of the bank door. She looked up at him, shaking, not knowing what to do or what to say. She wanted to reach out to him, to feel his arms around her again. But his boss seemed to insist that they stay apart.
It wasn’t fair. Now that she knew what she wanted…did she know what she wanted? Yes, she did. She wanted Knox. At the weakest moment in her life, she knew she wanted him. And now she had to stay away from him. She couldn’t get him in trouble.
“I have to go,” she said.
Her boss was dead. Poor Mr. Black. She barely knew him but he had been kind to her. Now he was dead.
“Let me drive you home,” Knox said.
“But your boss…”
“I’ll explain it to Rollo later,” he said, pushing open the door. They walked out onto the street and Knox opened the passenger door of his patrol car.
“You’re in shock,” he said, helping her get into her seat and buckle her seatbelt. “It’s irresponsible to let you go home alone.”
He closed her door and walked around to the driver’s side, slipping into the seat with animal grace. She glanced at him, visions of the night before filling her mind with longing.
“Why? What? Who would do this to poor Mr. Black? He seemed so kind,” she said.
“There are sick people in this world,” he said, pulling out onto the streets.
He drove south through town and asked her directions to her cabin. She muttered them as she gazed out the window. The snow piled under the boughs of the evergreens that had seemed so magical that morning, but now seemed cold and untouchable.
Christmas was coming and Harper’s whole world was torn apart. When they pulled up into the driveway of Harper’s
cabin, she opened the door and slipped out of the car before Knox turned off the engine. She stumbled up the stairs to the front porch, finding her front door open. She couldn’t remember if she had stopped to lock the door or not. She pushed inside. The room was cold, the fire long since gone out.
“You’re living here?” Knox said with disgusted surprise.
“I have nowhere else to go,” she said.
“No way I’m leaving my mate to live in these conditions. It’s freezing in here. Is there even central heating?”
“No.”
“Come on. I’m taking you to the lodge. Levi will put you up for as long as you need.”
“I can’t.”
“No mate of mine is going to live in these conditions. Especially if you could have a baby inside you.”
“I can’t pay for it. Who knows how long it will be until I can go back to work.”
“We’ll figure it out. But I won’t let you live here. Get your things.”
Harper did what she was told, not knowing what else to do. She knew that living in the cabin would be certain torture, and the prospect of living at Fate Mountain Lodge until things were sorted out seemed like a winning prospect. She went to the bathroom and washed her hands and threw her bloody coat in the shower. She packed her beauty supplies and then went to her bedroom to pack her suitcase. She met Knox in the living room, his hands on his hips, his lips pursed.
In that moment, she loved him more than she could say, even to herself. He was so determined to protect her. Even if he could be hurting himself and his own career, he wouldn’t let her suffer. He wouldn’t let her be alone.
“You have everything?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
She fell into his arms, not caring anymore about what his boss said. She just wanted Knox to hold her.
“What are we going to do?” she whimpered, taking in the smell of his body.
He’d wiped the blood from his uniform and his chest was clean. He held her, breathing into the top of her head and kissed her.
“We’re going to do what we have to do to be together,” he said. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
Chapter 7
Knox gave Harper one last hug and a kiss at the doorway of her room at the lodge. He had been able to talk Levi, the owner of the lodge, into giving her a place to stay, free of charge, with only a few words. He gave her hand one last squeeze and opened the door.
“Everything is going to be okay, Harper. We may not be able to see each other publicly for a while, but I want you to know, no matter what, I’m on your side.”
“I know,” she said.
She shut the door and he turned to walk down the hall. As he entered the elevator, his heart sank. He wished more than anything that he had claimed her the night before. Then he would know everything in her heart. He already felt he knew her. The grizzly inside his mind certainly felt they were as one.
But even the grizzly knew that he and Harper were not yet fully mated. He had to claim her to establish the bond. And without the bond, he could not take his evidence to Rollo to prove her innocence.
Rollo was a shifter, and shifters had a code. Mates were as one. And that meant Knox’s testimony about Harper’s innocence would go a long way with Rollo. But without the mate bond, he knew that Harper would be embroiled in a full investigation. It wrenched his heart that he would have to stay away from her until the case was closed.
He came out into the lobby of the lodge and found Maisie’s mother, Kelly Green, at the front counter. Kelly smiled and waved at Knox, having booked Harper’s room for her before they’d arrived. The woman had always been helpful to the shifters of Fate Mountain.
He walked out the big doors of the lodge and down the path toward the parking lot. His feet crunched over the ice and snow. Christmas was in just a few weeks and everyone was getting ready for the big event at the lodge. At least he knew Harper would be in a warm and happy place.
When he arrived at the police station, and walked past the throng of protesters that had arrived out of nowhere that morning, Rollo immediately called him into his office. None of the other Bear Patrol bears were there.
Rollo motioned for Knox to have a seat and Knox took it, knowing what his old friend and alpha was going to say before Rollo even said it.
“I had to take her home,” Knox said. “She’s my mate. If you need to talk to her, she’s staying in a room at the lodge. You should’ve seen the condition she was living in, Rollo. No way I could leave my mate at a time like this.”
“We’re getting a warrant to search her premises now. Hers were the only prints on the murder weapon. And she was found at the scene. Right now, she’s a prime suspect. I can’t have you fraternizing with her. You’ve seen those protesters outside. I’ve been getting calls all morning from all over the country, asking why the Fate Mountain Police Department favors shifters and their mates over humans. This is not a good situation for anyone.”
“You don’t really believe she did this?” Knox said.
“We’re looking into some other suspects but the evidence is against her, Knox. At a time like this, I can’t seem to be showing favoritism. Not with these sudden protests going on.”
“Rollo, we’ve been friends for a long time. This woman is my mate. I know she would never do anything like this.”
“Have you claimed her?” Rollo asked.
“No. But we’ve been together,” he said.
“I can’t take your feelings about her as testimony. Taking any shifter’s psychic testimony is pushing the line as it is. There has to be a limit. I’m getting way too much flack right now.”
“Rollo, this goes against everything we stand for.”
“I have to uphold the law. I’m sure everything will turn out fine. But the humans have already given us a lot of scrutiny in this town. This morning, it all turned upside down. We can’t seem to be showing favoritism until this blows over. You have to stay away from her for now.”
Rollo called for the rest of the Bear Patrol to join them in his office.
“Do we have a warrant yet?” Rollo asked Heath, who everyone called Cadet Bear.
“We do,” he said.
“Gauge, have you questioned the wife? The other employees?”
“I was leaving to do that now.”
“I’ll go with you,” Knox said.
“Knox, you are on desk duty.”
“Commander!”
“We already talked about this,” Rollo said.
“Gauge and Heath, go talk to the wife and the employees. Damien is coming with me to inspect Harper’s cabin.”
Knox was so irritated that he stood up and left Rollo’s office without another word. He knew Rollo was right, but he still wanted to be there to find out whatever information he could as soon as possible. Now all he could do was sit here and miss her.
Leaving her alone at the lodge was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. The look on her face when she’d closed the door behind him hurt his heart. She seemed so small and scared and alone.
He went out to his cubicle in the main room of the police station and sat behind his desk.
He let out a deep groan and slammed his fist on his stapler. Taking a cleansing breath, he jiggled his mouse and woke up his computer screen. If Rollo wasn’t going to let him investigate the case with the rest of the crew, then he would do it on his own. He didn’t have the same skills with computers as Damien, but at least he could look for some information.
The first thing he did was Google the suspect’s wife. He found her social media page. He saw pictures of what looked like a flamboyant, extroverted woman who liked to have a good time. Then he remembered seeing her at the brewery more often than not. He scrolled through the pictures, noting that he didn’t see any of her with her husband.
That was interesting. Knox jotted down several notes about what he found, hoping that somehow he could connect the dots. It didn’t seem like Mr. and Mrs. Black were particularly close. That had to m
ean something. He knew that if he were married to Harper, he’d want to be in every single picture with her. But Mrs. Black obviously didn’t want to be that close to Mr. Black.
Then Knox Googled the employees from the bank. He did the same social media search on their pages and found that the woman named Stephanie Small had gone into labor that morning. Her latest post was an announcement that they were headed to the hospital. That was interesting. He jotted that down.
Then he Googled the other employee, Michael McDonald. His profile was pretty blank and kind of boring. Knox couldn’t even find any profile pictures of him. He closed the tab on his browser and stood up to go out to his patrol car. It was time for him to do his regular patrol of Fate Mountain Village like he did every day at this time. At least he had some other police work to do to keep his mind off Harper’s predicament.
After an uneventful shift on patrol, Knox pulled in front of the bakery and went inside to get something to eat. Maisie was behind the counter and she nearly shrieked when she saw him.
“What happened at the bank this morning?” she asked as soon as she saw him.
He crossed the bakery as the one other guest sauntered out. He looked down at the pastry case and licked his lips, his grizzly grumbling in his mind that he wanted a treat. He looked up at Maisie, her eyes wide, her hands fisted at her hips.
“Well? Is Harper all right?”
“She’s at the lodge. Levi is looking after her.”
“But did she do it?” Maisie said, leaning in.
“Of course not!”
“I didn’t mean Harper. I meant Mrs. Black,” she whispered.
“Why? What do you know?”
“All I know is she’s a real B, if you know what I mean.”
“Noted,” he said. “Can I get a coffee and a chocolate muffin?”
“Sure, hun,” she said with a bright smile, quickly retrieving his things and handing them to him. “On the house.”
“I want to hire you to make my wedding cake,” he said.
“You getting married already? When is the wedding day?”
“I haven’t asked her yet. But I plan to get married on Christmas day. At the lodge.”
