C Box - Trophy hunt

T

he day after Cam Logue's funeral, Marie and Jessica had stopped by the

Pickett house on Bighorn Road. According to Ken Siman of Siman's Memorial Chapel, it was the largest funeral in Saddlestring in a decade. Marie was on her way out of town. Marybeth had agreed to let Jessica stay with them until Marie got settled in Denver, which delighted Lucy. Marie told Marybeth they would live in Denver to be near her parents. Cam's life insurance, she said, would take care of her and Jessica for years. Both women embraced and cried, saying their good-byes. Joe and Sheridan stood uncomfortably by, trading glances.

"I think it was finding those files," Marie said, looking to Joe as if he had asked her the question. "They brought it all back to him. I think he was trying to get revenge on his past."

Joe nodded. "Is it possible that Eric was trying to help him? By driving land values down so he could buy the ranch back?"

Marie stared at the floor. "No, I don't think so. I don't think he knew Eric was here until that morning. I really don't."

She looked up. "I don't want to think that. So I won't."

As the days passed into weeks, Joe found himself thinking more about Cam Logue and less about Eric. It hurt to think about Cam. He felt more and more sorry for the man, and how things had gone. Cam was the product of cruel, twisted, unloving parents. Parents who had produced two children; one an outright miscreant and the other an emotional orphan. Despite that, Cam had tried to make something better of himself and his own family. He was a hard worker, and as far as Joe knew, Cam was a good husband and father until the end. Much like Joe himself, whose parents specialized in alcoholism, neglect, and lack of direction, Cam had been driving without a road map. Cam needed Marie for structure as Joe needed Marybeth. Under her guidance, Cam had participated in the community, won awards and accolades, received deserved admiration. His doubts, frustrations, and outright fears were kept well hidden. Unfortunately, Cam had likely not shared his fears with Marie, who might have been able to help him. In the end, he didn't so much betray her as allow deeply imbedded inclinations to reemerge.

Cam was guilty of greed, of trying too desperately to provide a better place and a better life for his wife and daughter than he'd had growing up. He was not a criminal by nature, or an unchecked, unprincipled entrepreneur. He had succumbed to his desire to make things right, to try and reclaim and rewrite his past. But his past came roaring back, driving a battered old pickup with South Dakota plates.

Joe thought he had glimpsed the true Cam Logue that day in the real estate office when he confronted him. What he had seen wasn't the cocksure businessman, but someone who was unsure and bitter, someone who was deep into a scheme and situation that he never should have pursued.

Trey Crump had called Joe with startling and disturbing news.

"You're not going to believe this," Trey said. "You were right about that bear collar. It was older than hell, and the bear guys said it had been out of inventory for thirty years. We have no idea how it showed up in that sheep wagon."

Joe digested this, his mind swimming. "It showed up there because it came off the bear, Trey."

"The bear guys say no way, Joe. No way a bear wandered around for thirty years without emitting a signal, and then showed up in your district. The only thing they can figure out is that the sheepherder must have found it somewhere along the line."

Joe remembered the trashed trailer, remembered the smell of the bear inside of it.

"Not a chance," Joe said, confused.

Trey cleared his throat. "This is where things start to get really weird, Joe. The thing is, the rogue grizzly bear that came out of Yellowstone was killed by some idiot roughneck over by Meeteetse a month ago. That bear never made it to the Bighorns."

"What?"

"The guy shot him, skinned him out, and crushed the radio collar. We never would have known except that the idiot took the hide to a taxidermist in Cody to get a rug made. The taxidermist called me, and the roughneck confessed everything this afternoon. We even found the decomposed body and what was left of the collar."

Joe was stunned.

"There was a bear here, Trey. I saw the tracks. I saw what he did to the body of a dead cowboy."

"Must have been another bear, I guess," Trey said unconvincingly.

Joe fought against telling Trey about the bear Nate had been "communicating" with. If he told his supervisor, both Joe and Nate could be faced with federal charges.

The telephone was silent on both ends for two full minutes before they hung up.

Joe stared out his window, confused. A thirty-year-old bear collar? A bear that had vanished off the face of the earth for three decades had suddenly reappeared?

"Nah," Joe said out loud, deliberately shutting off that line of inquiry. God, he needed a beer.

Moments later, as Joe was about to head to the kitchen, Nate called. Joe said, "You're just the man I want to talk to."

He heard Nate chuckle.

"I just heard some interesting news," Joe said. "They found the missing grizzly. It never got here."

"That is interesting," Nate said slyly.

"But we both know there was a bear."

"Yes," Nate said. "I guess we do."

"And I remember there was something you were starting to tell me just before we went out to the campground. We never finished that conversation." "No, we didn't." "Maybe we should finish it now," Joe said. Nate was prone to long silences, and he lapsed into one now. Joe waited him out. "Hypothetically speaking," Nate said, "if I knew there was a grizzly still around here and told you about it, you would be duty-bound to report the discovery, correct?" "Correct," Joe said. "Grizzlies are on the endangered species list and they fall under the authority of the department." "That's what I thought." Another long silence. "Nate?" "I've learned so much. Not all of it is comfortable. But in the end, it gives me hope." "Why is that?" "There are bigger things than us out there, on other levels. Luckily, they take care of their own." "Nate…" "All I can say right now is you need to trust me on this, Joe. It's fascinating, this experience. You'll be the first to know what happens, I promise." Joe sat back, thinking, recalling things Nate had said. In my dream, the bear was sent for a reason. He has a mission. That bear may be more than a bear. That bear is here for a reason. We happen to be in the right place at the right time where conflicts on different levels are overlapping. You should open your mind a little.

Using FBI resources, Agent Portenson tracked the path of Eric Logue from his years in the army to his escape in North Carolina to the Riverside RV Park. Associates in the army confirmed Eric's downward spiral from exceptionally talented surgeon into madness. He was wealthy as well, having invested in technology stocks early and selling just before the bubble burst. Eric first showed signs of paranoia and obsession with paranormal phenomena while in the Philippines. He had been suspected of drug use, along with Nurse Bob. When his patients began emerging from surgery with wounds and grafts not related to the procedure, he was put under a full-time watch. After a suspected Filipino enemy combatant with a minor leg injury died from massive blood loss after being operated on by Dr. Logue, an inquiry was launched that resulted in his court-martial.

While in custody, guards reported that Eric claimed he was in contact with aliens and had regular nighttime visitations with them. Eric said he had been instructed by his contacts to collect samples for them. The guards suspected that Eric's delusions were an attempt to get the charges dismissed due to mental incapacity. Then, while being transferred to another facility, Eric escaped.