Page 59 of Forensics of a Fable

The bear glanced down at the clothes clutched in Eamon’s fist, and Eamon nodded, tossing the exercise shorts to the ground before the beast’s massive paws. He turned around, listening to the unnatural sound of flesh and bone restructuring. No matter how many times he heard the transformation, the violence of it unnerved him.

“If she’s not in the woods, where is she?” Ewan asked, and Eamon turned to face his companion. Gone was the animal, a man in shorts in his place, and Eamon ran a desperate hand through his sweat-soaked hair.

“I don’t know.” It broke his heart to admit it, to confess out loud that he’d failed her. “The police have no leads. Their only suspect has vanished, and his home held no sign of Isobel or the other victims. I should be able to scent her, but I don’t know where to look. For all I know, he shoved her into his trunk and drove across the country.”

“I don’t think he did that,” Ewan said, crossing his arms over his muscular chest. “The killer made a point of posing those girls on your property where they were found relatively quickly. He wanted people to witness his crimes. He wanted you to see them. I doubt he took Detective Emerson just to vanish into the sunset. He wants us, or at the very least you, to know he has her. Do you have any enemies?”

“In town?” Eamon asked with an‘of course I have enemies’expression plastered across his handsome face. “You.”

Ewan smirked. “We committed the cardinal sin and became friendly, so try again.”

“You know what I am,” Eamon answered. “I’ll always have enemies, but besides you and Isobel, no one in Bajka knows my truth. I barely interact with the townsfolk. When you’ve lived as long as I have, you learn to exist in the safety of shadows. Besides the sheriff, who is annoyed with my constant harassment, I have a conflict with no one.”

“Does Bel have enemies?” Ewan asked. “A jealous ex-boyfriend?”

Eamon shook his head. “I’ve considered every scenario and have no answers. I’ll admit I pay little attention to what happens in town. Isobel consumes my focus, so someone might believe either she or I wronged them. Your arrival also distracted me. I assumed you were here for me. I wasn’t expecting our… truce, but between you and my obsession with Isobel, I was blind to the evil brewing right under my nose.”

“This isn’t your fault. I understand what it’s like for a woman to capture you so completely that you lose sight of everything else,” Ewan said, as the men started their long journey back to the Reale Mansion. “Olivia surprised me, and when the killer had her, I thought I would go insane. How have you not lost your mind?”

“As long as there’s no body on my property, there’s hope, and I refuse to lose myself while she needs me.”

“We’ve searched almost every inch of these woods,” Ewan said. “We won’t find her here. We need a new strategy. I swore to help you, and as the alpha predator in this territory, I’ll bow to your judgment if it allows me to stay with Olivia, but we need a different approach. Detective Emerson isn’t on your property.”

Eamon picked up his pace as a fresh wave of panic washed over him. He’d told Bel the truth when he confessed that he’d never known fear until he found her. Now it was all he knew. It slept in his bed. It filled his lungs instead of air. It clothed his skin. Fear was his constant companion. Fear and guilt. He hadn’t protected her. He had failed her.

“Eamon?” Ewan jogged to catch up with the taller man. “We’ll find her. Maybe we should try Foley Locks’ place again. The police searched it and his known associates’ homes, but they can’t detect scents like we can. There might be a trail.”

“Maybe.” Eamon nodded, the war inside his chest a bloody and violent affair. “How’s Olivia?” he asked, changing the subject. The more he dwelled on how long Bel had been missing, the more he spiraled into the darkness.

“She’s all right. Terrified about her partner, but doing better,” Ewan answered. “She remembers nothing about her captivity, which is good for her mental health but bad for the case. She’s upset she can’t help find Emerson, but the selfish part of me doesn’t want her to remember. I need Olivia to be okay.”

“It’s all right to be selfish,” Eamon said. “It’s all right to want what’s best for the one you love.”

“Therapy has helped her, too. Guilt is eating her alive, though, and I don’t know what to say that’ll convince her this isn’t her fault.”

“If she’s as caring as Isobel, nothing short of finding her partner will relieve that guilt,” Eamon said, and Ewan groaned. “When this is over, do you intend to stay in Bajka?”

“Will you allow it?”

“Do you love Detective Gold?”

“It’s soon, so logically I should say no, but I do.”

“Will you tell her the truth?”

“About the bear? I can’t.”

Eamon scowled. “You cannot stay and let that woman love you without telling her. She needs to know.”

“She’ll never understand.”

“Then she isn’t meant for you,” Eamon said. “Isobel wears proof of my nature on her skin, yet she accepts me for what I am. The right woman won’t back down from the darkness.”

Ewan nodded, but Eamon froze, body falling unnaturally still in the dying light.

“What—”

“Do you smell that?” Eamon cut him off.

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