Page 12 of Three-Inch Teeth

“Is Clay okay?” Marybeth asked.

“No, he’s not,” Joe said. “A highway patrol trooper volunteered to stay with him tonight and make sure he doesn’t go after that bear by himself.”

“I can see him trying to do that,” she said.

“What about tonight?” Nate asked. “What if the bear comes back?”

“We set up a command center down by the river for the time being,” Joe said. “It’ll be manned by sheriff’s deputies and local cops tonight. They brought out floodlights to illuminate the kill zone like a football field and all of the LEOs are armed up. I set a few leghold snares up by the cache in case the grizzly tries to sneak back for the body.”

The snares were designed and built by Game and Fish personnel. They consisted of quarter-inch cable and heavy metal fittings and they were anchored to nearby tree trunks. Their purpose was to hold the animal alive and in place until armed responders could arrive.

“Did Clay Junior provoke the bear?” Nate asked.

“I don’t see how,” Joe said. “From what I could tell, he was fishing in the river and the bear attacked him. That’s not to say maybe something else happened. I guess it’s possible he somehow got himself caught up between a sow and her cubs, but I didn’t see any evidence of it. No one heard any gunshots or anything, but Clay Junior was down in that canyon, so shots would have been hard to hear.”

“Did he use bear spray?” Nate asked.

“Unknown,” Joe said. “There’s a lot to figure out. Just like I don’t know if he was armed, although I assume he was. I didn’t uncover his body any further than how I found it because I needed to leave it for the forensics team. I hated to just leave him like that.”

“So what you’re saying is that there is a grizzly bear out there on the loose,” Liv said.

Joe sighed heavily. He wished it was otherwise.

“I think I’ll keep Kestrel inside for a while.”

“Good idea,” Joe said.

“This is going to panic people until that bear is found,” Marybeth said. “I’m guessing it’ll be the one thing everybody is talking about tomorrow.”

Marybeth was the best source of local intelligence Joe knew of, since the library where she worked was the epicenter of the small town. She was able to gauge the mood and opinion of the locals better than anyone.

“It was only a matter of time before this happened,” Nate said to Liv. “I’ve been telling you that.”

Liv dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “Not now, honey,” she said.

Joe knew Nate well enough to guess what his friend had been saying. Nate had a special relationship with predators and carnivores in the wild that came from his years as a master falconer as well as a special operations warrior. He had radical theories about game management and man’s role in nature. Most of the theories concluded that humans weren’t as smart and all-knowing as they thought they were, that most biological scientists were quacks, that every good human intention in altering the balance of nature resulted in disaster and unintended consequences, and that if ninety percent of civilization was decimated by angry wild animals it’d be a good start.

“Excuse me,” Joe said to Nate and Liv after wolfing down a few bites of lasagna. “I think I need to talk to Sheridan.”

“I’m going with you,” Marybeth said.

Liv nodded her understanding.

“I’ll get you a drink,” Nate said. “It sounds like you need one.”

“Yup,” Joe said.

*

“THE THING IS,” Sheridan said, “I just feel so guilty.”

She sat at the foot of the bed in the guest room. Joe sat on one side of her and Marybeth on the other.

“Why would you feel guilty?” Joe asked.

Sheridan shared a glance with her mother.

“You can tell him,” Marybeth said.

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