Bear of Interest

Evernight Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2015 Vanessa
Devereaux

 
ISBN: 978-1-77233-537-8

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: JS Cook

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
 
No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

For Freddie

BEAR OF INTEREST

Kalispell Shifters, 11

Vanessa
Devereaux

Copyright © 2015

Chapter One

Cole paced up and down. He looked at his cell phone and then back at the woods he’d just exited. Had he done the right thing by calling 911 to report the crime? Maybe he should have called Trent
Burgress
before hitting those three digits. However, that might have looked strange. Strange wasn’t how a shifter ever wanted to be perceived. He chewed his lip. Nothing about being non-human in a human world was easy or straightforward.

Sirens began to wail in the not so far off distance. Too late to have second thoughts now. He’d made the call and the police were on their way. The dispatcher had told him to stay put. If he left they’d probably track him down and then things would look worse. The situation would become more complicated. Complicated was the last thing the shifters needed.

He thought about the young woman back there in the woods. Yeah, he’d done the right thing by reporting finding her. She was someone’s daughter, maybe a sister, wife, and possibly even a mother. He was a doctor and had seen dead people more times than he cared to remember, but still the image of her had made him feel nauseous. Maybe it was because she hadn’t died a natural death but instead violently at the hands of someone else. Such a horrible way to exit the world.

Cole looked up to see a police car heading into the ravine. He waved to the driver to let him know this was close to where he found the body. Some of the loose gravel flew up making a tinging sound until the car stopped. Two uniformed police officers got out.

“Are you the man who called 911?” asked the taller of the two. He took off his dark glasses and looked at Cole.

“I am.”

“Can I have your name, sir?”

“Yes, it’s Cole MacDonald.”

“A detective from homicide is being dispatched and I know they’ll want to talk to you. In the meantime do you want to fill us in on what exactly you saw?”

“I was jogging.”

Well he was sort of jogging so it wasn’t really a lie.

“I was heading back here to my car, and at first I thought it was a rotting tree trunk, but the closer I got well, I realized it was a woman’s body.”

“And you knew she was dead?” asked the second police officer.

Cole nodded. “I’m a doctor, but I didn’t need to feel for a pulse. Her face has been partly smashed and I knew a person couldn’t survive that sort of attack.”

Just as Cole finished talking, another car arrived, followed by a van that Cole guessed was the forensic team.

“And you didn’t touch or disturb anything?” continued the police officer.

“No, came straight back here and dialed 911.”

Cole watched the second car with interest. He was guessing this was the homicide detectives arriving. The driver’s door flung open and out got a woman. He knew he should be concentrating on being a witness here, but all he could focus on was her. Even from this distance he could tell she was gorgeous. Shoulder length dark hair, blue dress pants and a white blouse. Full-figured. His favorite. Bears loved their curvy ladies. As she got closer, he could see a police badge hanging around her neck. He wouldn’t mind her handcuffing and patting him down. His mind came back to the present when he heard one of the police officers talking.

“This is Detective Samantha Hardy. Detective, this is Cole MacDonald, the man who found the body and called 911.”

“Actually it’s Dr. Cole MacDonald,” said Cole, offering her his hand.

She looked him straight in the eye and also had one hell of a firm handshake. Maybe she did it to intimate people. Or maybe she wanted to make a first impression on him. She’d certainly done that. She had green eyes with little slivers of blue in them. So damn pretty and those long eyelashes that were now being batted at him.

“I assume you’ve told these officers exactly what happened, but maybe you could just give me a brief rundown so I can get caught up to speed before I view the body.” He watched the way her lips moved as she spoke. They were full and gorgeous too. He loved to know what they felt like on his own.

“Dr. MacDonald.”

“What?”

He hadn’t realized he’d been daydreaming until she said his name.

“If you could fill me in briefly on how you found the victim,” said Detective Hardy.

“Yes, yes, of course, sorry, it’s just the shock of everything.”

Cole MacDonald you are such a
bullshitter
when it comes to a pretty face and a curvy body.

 
“I was out jogging and on my way back to my car. I saw the body so when I got back to my vehicle, I grabbed my phone and called you. Not you personally, but I mean I dialed 911.”

Usually the master of words and never a stutterer, Cole was suddenly falling over everything that dribbled out of his mouth.

She nodded. “So you don’t jog with your cellphone on you?”

Nowhere to put it on my bear suit.

“Nope, I like to jog without any disturbances.”

“And you said Dr. MacDonald. Are you an MD?”

Cole nodded.

“You jog here often?”

All the shifters jogged here. It was their favorite place near to Flathead Lake. In fact, if you jogged all the way to the top of the ravine you got one of the best views in town.

“Yes, I’d say a couple of times a week.”

Keep focusing on her questions and not her or you’ll say something suspicious and ruin it for the others.

“You see anyone else around? Anything suspicious while you were jogging?”

“Nope, no one, nothing out of the ordinary.”

That had been true. He’d come out here on his own because no one else had felt like shifting and running at this time of the day.

“All right, Dr. MacDonald, that will be all for now. Perhaps you could give your contact information to the police officer in case we have more questions for you. And if you wouldn’t mind dropping by the police station at your earliest convenience so you can sign your statement.”

She took a few steps toward him. Cole got a whiff of her scent and the perfume she was wearing. Sort of flora undertones and her own human odor told him she was just a tad aroused. That made him take notice. Was she having a reaction to him? Very interesting if she was.

Detective Hardy leaned toward him and put her mouth close to his ear. She’d been chewing gum or eating peppermints. He took a deep breath, definitely aroused, and now he was pretty sure it was for him.

“Dr. MacDonald, your fly is open,” she whispered.

He didn’t respond but tried his best to zip up his pants. He too was just a little aroused by her, and it scraped over his dick. Cole bit his lip. That had hurt like hell.

 
Damn, he’d been in so much of a hurry to get his clothes back on after he’d shifted, and with the scare of finding the body, he’d forgotten to zip up his pants.

“Yes, I’d be happy to visit the station and sign my statement,” he said.

And hopefully see you again.

She nodded and walked toward the wooded area. Cole couldn’t take his eyes off her. She filled out those blue dress pants very nicely. His cock twitched.

“Dr. MacDonald, sir.”

“Nice ass.”

Cole hadn’t realized he’d said that out loud until he saw both police officers glaring at him.

“I mean she looks in great shape, probably does some jogging herself and…”

Shit, I’m digging myself into one big hole here.

 
“If I could have an address and phone number?” asked the taller of the two officers.

Out of the corner of his eye, Cole watched Detective Hardy disappear out of sight. He’d like
her
address and phone number.

****

No matter how many times she’d done this, Sam never got used to seeing a dead body. She pulled on the latex gloves and stood back while the forensic team did their job. Not much left of the woman’s face but what she could see told her whoever the victim was, she’d been fairly young.

One of the technicians placed plastic bags over the woman’s hands and secured them. Sam thought about Dr. MacDonald. Very handsome, but there was something about him she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Okay, he’d just found a dead body, but something made her just a little suspicious. And yes, she’d seen him checking her out. Likely suspect, person of interest. She’d keep that in mind as she investigated this crime. The medical examiner headed her way.

“I’d say, and remember this is only my guess until I carry out an autopsy and run more tests, but my hunch is she was killed somewhere else and brought out here and dumped. Maybe whoever did this was even thinking of burying her but lost their nerve or got disturbed. Maybe by the jogger who found her?”

Sam bit the inside of her mouth, something she always did when she first visited a crime scene. It didn’t do her cheeks much good but it helped her stay focused, and after meeting Dr. MacDonald, that was getting to be somewhat of a challenge.

“But he claims that he saw no one. Anyone find any footprints around here? I’m thinking there have to be some because it rained non-stop last night. There are still some spots with sitting water and mud,” said Sam.

“So far all we have are bear prints.”

“Bear prints?” asked Sam.

“Yep, and very fresh ones. I’d say a bear came through here less than an hour ago.”

“So no human footprints but just a single bear strolled through the area?”

“That’s what it looks like to me. Hey, maybe the bear’s your prime suspect,” said the medical examiner.

Sam chomped down her inside cheek tissues. If he’d jogged past the body, been close enough to see it, then where were his footprints? Why was he dressed in pants and a shirt? Sure he could have changed out of his running gear while he waited for them to arrive, but why?

She shook her head. None of what he’d said really made any sense. She was beginning to think maybe her first thought was right. No, not the one about him being handsome, but the one about him maybe being a person of interest. Sometimes detective work was as simple as assuming the person who found the body was the perpetrator.

“Make sure we get photos of those bear prints and check around on nearby bushes and trees for anything. I mean anything, even if it’s a piece of cotton thread.”

“What are you thinking, Hardy?” asked the other detective she’d ridden with to the crime scene.

“That I’d like to speak to Dr. MacDonald again and this time more in depth,” said Sam.

“He was
kinda
cute,” said one of the girls on the forensic team.

So it hadn’t been just her who thought that. No, of course it wouldn’t be. Fact was, he was a good looking man. How many killers were handsome? Great way to lure women to their death. Those big blue eyes of his had held her spellbound when she’d shaken his hand. She’d almost forgotten what she was asking him and the focus of why she’d been called out to the middle of nowhere. And those long eyelashes of his. She’d like some of those herself and maybe she wouldn’t have to keep buying the expensive mascara that claimed to thicken and lengthen but rarely did.