Page 6 of Forensics of a Fable

“Bel, before you go, this is Ewan Orso.” Gold gestured at the stranger with a smitten grin. “And this is my partner, Detective Isobel Emerson.”

“Nice to meet you.” Bel nodded.

“You as well, Detective,” Orso said.

“Have fun, you two.” Bel moved toward the door, and then with only a half-teasing voice, she looked at Ewan. “Take care of her.”

A strange look crossed his features, and then he smiled, as if unsure what to make of Bel’s subtle threat. “Of course, Detective. You have my word.”

“Good night.” Bel left the bar, thankful for the quiet as she drove. She had stopped drinking after that shot so she could get home safely, and Cerberus’ greeting reminded her why she rarely went out after work. Her boy was the best company, and after a long walk together, they curled up in bed, her head on the dog’s chest as she read a gothic romance about a mansion and its inhuman owner—

The phone rang, jerking her from a dreamless sleep, and her fingers groped the bedside table, desperate to silence the alarm. She found the trilling cell and pulled it toward her face with a groan, squinting in the darkness, but she froze as a sudden dread settled in her chest. It was still dark outside, and there was only one reason a homicide detective got a call during the night.

“Emerson?” Sheriff Griffin’s tired voice filled her ear as she answered the phone, his tone on edge, and Bel knew. He didn’t need to say it. It was happening again.

It was6:00 a.m. by the time Bel arrived at the site, two coffee thermoses in hand. She drove as far as the trees allowed and then hiked the rest of the way to the crime scene. Techs and deputies had already arrived, police tape sectioning off a stretch of the trail. It was an easy hike, one of the many paths peppering the woods and mountains surrounding Bajka, and her athletic body carried her with ease. Gold joined her on lethargic legs, and with a smile, Bel handed her partner the second thermos.

“Thought you might need this.”

“You’re a lifesaver,” Olivia groaned with relief.

“Fun night?” Bel asked.

Olivia grunted, sipping the coffee gingerly.

“Ewan?” Bel hoped Gold’s attitude was from the alcohol and lack of sleep and not from a man mistreating her.

“We have a date this weekend,” she said with a small smile. “I just wasn't expecting to be up this early.”

“Neither was I.” Bel felt a modicum of relief as a storm of anxiety brewed in her chest. Sheriff Griffin had called to alert her to a body found on this trail, but all signs pointed to an accidental death. He wanted the scene inspected to cover their bases, and while she didn’t revel in examining corpses, she was thankful this wasn’t the case she originally feared it would be.

“Detective Emerson, Detective Gold,” a deputy said as the women approached.

“What happened?” Bel asked.

“Runners found the body. They called it in, but it was an animal attack,” the deputy answered.

“Animal attack?” Gold asked incredulously.

“Yes.” He took a fortifying swallow. “I’ll warn you, it’s messy. It looks like a bear attack.”

“A bear?” Bel raised her eyebrows. A violent bear running loose was almost as dangerous as a human murderer. “Are bear attacks common in these woods?”

“No… I don’t think so,” the deputy answered. “But I’m sure it must happen occasionally. There are hundreds of acres of undeveloped land in Bajka.”

Bel nodded, her nerves on edge as she stepped inside the police tape. When she heard there had been an accident, she assumed a hiker fell, not that a bear had ripped a human to shreds.

“Can you keep the runners here? I want to speak to them after I examine the body,” she asked the deputy. “And is Thum on her way?”

“Should be here any minute,” he answered. Lina Thum was Bajka’s medical examiner, and even if this wasn’t a murder, she wanted the body collected before nature destroyed it.

“Thanks.” Bel nodded and pulled on her gloves, the sunrise slipping through the trees. The deputy hadn’t been lying. The body was a mangled and bloody mess, flesh and muscles and bones ravaged and oozing. The man’s corpse lay face down in the grass, the ring finger on his right hand missing. Huge claw marks scored his flesh, and Bel’s memory flashed back to Alcina’s victims and their heartless remains. She had used magic to rip their hearts from their chests, the tears looking like claw marks, but these gruesome wounds were not the result of magic. Lina would offer more insight into the victim’s death after the autopsy, but clearly, an animal had done this.

“There are signs of a struggle,” Gold said, and Bel was impressed by her new partner’s calm demeanor in the face of such mutilated gore. “The grass is trampled, and these tree branches are broken and bloody. This hiker went down with a fight.” She directed the techs to take photos of the disturbances as the women exchanged a look, and a ripple of terror dripped down Bel’s spine. She didn’t want to imagine dying like that.

“Defensive wounds cover what’s left of his arms.” Bel pointed to the man’s limbs, careful not to touch the body since Thum hadn’t arrived yet. “Based on his clothes, he looks like a hiker. Wrong place at the wrong time.” She cursed softly. “We should put out an alert for hikers and call Fish and Game. We don’t want a bear capable of this roaming so close to town.”

“When do you think this happened?” Gold asked.

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