Саманта Сильвер: A Grizzly Discovery

“Hi, Matt,” I said. “Can you make this quick? Jason and I want to get home,” I said.

“You think you can get away with this?” Matt asked. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“I haven’t been avoiding you. And I’m not exactly hard to find. I’m in my vet clinic from Tuesday to Saturday.” I could feel Jason tensing up next to me at Matt’s tone.

“I know you’re the one who ruined my real estate deal. And to think that I actually thought you were a good person when I first came to town.”

“Well, when you come to a place that you have no idea about and want to ruin it completely, you can’t be surprised when you came across some objectors.”

“I’m going to turn this backwater dump into a waterfront property worth millions,” Smith hissed. “Stop meddling in my business, or else.”

“Or else what?” Jason suddenly asked, stepping forward. He was happy to let me fight my own battle up to a point, and apparently that point was a veiled threat. Matt looked him up and down. I smiled when I saw the slight fear in his eyes. Jason and Matt probably weighed about the same, but whereas Matt had the beginnings of a potbelly, Jason’s was pure muscle.

“Or else you’ll be sorry,” Matt finally spat out. He took a quick step back after saying the words, which made them seem far less threatening than he had probably been hoping for. Jason took a step forward.

“You stay the hell away from Angela from now on. I don’t care what kind of big businessman you think you are. You absolutely do not threaten my girlfriend.” Jason was such a happy guy most of the time; I’d never seen him like this. It was obvious he was angry; his hands were clenched into fists and he had a frown on his face that I was glad I’d never seen before.

“Whatever, man. Stop trying to impress your girl. You’re just lucky you got there first.”

“I wouldn’t date you if you were the last man on earth and the entire continuation of humans as a species depended on us being together,” I told Matt.

“Now get out of here, before I really hurt you. And stay away from my girlfriend.” Jason took another step forward and Matt seemed to get the message.

“Fine, fine,” he said, backing up. “But I’m telling you. Stay out of my real estate deals,” he added as a parting shot to me before turning and running off.

I felt a chill run through me, and this time it had nothing to do with the cold air outside.

“Are you all right?” Jason asked, putting his arm around me protectively.

“Yeah, I am, thanks,” I replied, giving him a small smile. “Don’t worry about that guy. He’s just a creep who thinks I’m out to stop him from making money.”

Jason looked worried. “I don’t know. He actually threatened you.”

“I knew tons of guys like him when I went to college. They think they’re all that because their daddy gave them a trust fund with a million bucks in it, and then the instant someone actually tells them no, they react like the man-child they are. But I don’t think he’ll ever actually do anything, he just likes to talk big.”

“I don’t know. I know one thing: I don’t like that guy. Be careful around him, ok?”

I had to admit, having Jason being so protective of me felt good. It felt like he really wanted to take care of me, and I liked the feeling.

“I will,” I told Jason. “But trust me, somewhere in Willow Bay, there’s someone more dangerous than him right now.”

“Like the bears?” Jason asked, breaking from his serious mood for a moment to shoot a smile at me. I replied by punching him lightly in the arm.

“No, not the bears. We’ve just gone over how they’re not actually dangerous.”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to rile you up about them. Now come on, it’s freezing out here, let’s get in the car and go home.”

“I know one way I can warm you up,” I joked as we made our way to the car, and a few minutes later Matt Smith was just a distant memory.

The next day, after a morning that was relatively peaceful, aside from a grumpy old cat who absolutely refused to be taken out of his carrier for a checkup—“I’m fine. I feel fine. Why won’t you people just believe that I’m fine?”—I made my way to Betty’s Café for lunch. Sophie had a lunch date with her boyfriend Taylor, so I made this trip on my own. Sure, it was in part to enjoy Betty’s BLTs, which she made with a vegetarian ‘facon’ just for me, but also I wanted to know if any of the other people in town had any information about Jeremy Wallace and his murder. Betty’s Café not only served the best baked goods in all of Oregon—and possibly the rest of America as well—but it was also the prime gossiping location in Willow Bay.

As the small bell above the door jingled when I entered, I looked around. It seemed most of Willow Bay decided the perfect cure for the less-than-ideal weather was a cup of coffee from Betty’s. I saw a group of new moms huddled around a table, likely celebrating all the time they had on their hands now that their kids were back in school. Leanne Chu, the local real estate agent, was evidently schmoozing a potential buyer at a table in the corner, and Antonia deLucca, the local gossip, was making the rounds, going from table to table with her coffee in a takeaway cup. I supposed it made for more convenient chatting.

Making my way up to the counter, I sat down on one of the stools at the bar and eyed the cakes greedily. I began to wonder if maybe I should add a slice of warm apple pie to my order when Betty made her way over.

“Is it an apple pie kind of day?” she asked me, and I nodded.

“Definitely. And a BLT. With fries, please,” I ordered.

“Coming right up! I heard you got a front row seat to the scene when they found that poor man’s body the other day,” she told me, heading back to the coffee machine.

“Yeah,” I answered. “They wanted to know if the attack was consistent with a bear or not. Honestly, I don’t think that’s what it was.”

“Well, everyone in town certainly thinks that was it. Tom, the owner of the gun shop down in Wawnee, says he’s never had so many orders for shotguns before. This morning I’ve had about four people tell me they’re worried about bear attacks.”

I sighed. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

“There’s too many people moving here from the city these days. Lived here my whole life, never even heard of a bear attack. One year, old Benjie Harmon, God rest his soul, let the apples on the tree in his backyard go sour; a bear found them and got completely drunk. He started stumbling through main street, while everyone came out of the shops and laughed. He eventually made it past the elementary school, I had twenty-seven kids all crowded past the window. I guess the bear made it into the woods and slept it off, but even then, no one was ever in any danger.”

“That’s the thing. But everyone thinks of bears as killers. I don’t think that’s what it was though. I think the man was murdered.”

“Are you talking about the man who was found in the woods the other day?” a woman who’d just walked up to the counter asked suddenly. She was tall, probably about five foot eleven, and obviously a tourist, with sunglasses on her head and a beach bag on her shoulder. She had one of those faces that reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t quite place it. With her long, brown hair braided behind her, she was quite pretty.

“We are,” Betty said. “Sorry to be so macabre, the town here really is safe,” she added.

“Oh, I’m not worried about that,” the girl replied. “I’m from Montana; my dad runs a cattle farm about an hour from Yellowstone, so I know how to handle myself around bears.”