Page 7 of Shattered Sanctuary

When he took a turn down a dirt road that led deeper into the woods, even though she wasn’t at ease with the situation, she couldn’t help but admire the scenery. The tall trees, with the morning sun sneaking through the branches, were breathtaking. Suddenly, the chief braked. Erin turned her head and watched as a mother bear and her cubs lumbered across the road in front of them. She gasped at the sight.

“There are bears all around here,” the chief said. “Always be aware of your surroundings if you’re outside, and never confront one.”

“Trust me, I have no intention of confronting a bear. I’d turn and run away as fast as I could.”

The chief turned his head to look at her. “That’s the last thing you want to do.”

“Seriously? What do you want me to do? Try to talk it out of eating me?”

The chief smiled. “Back up slowly, talk in a calm voice, and don’t look directly at it.”

Erin laughed. “And what should I say calmly? ‘Please don’t eat me, Mr. Bear. I wouldn’t taste very good.’”

“It doesn’t really matter what you say. Just stay calm.”

Erin shook her head. “I’m not sure that’s possible.”

“To be honest, the bears around her are pretty used to people,” he said. “If you ignore them, they’ll generally ignore you.” He cocked his head toward the mother and cubs in front of them. “A mother bear is the one you have to worry about the most.” He sighed. “You wouldn’t believe how many tourists get out of their cars and try to approach acutebear cub. You might not see the mother, but trust me, she’s somewhere close by.”

“I like cats and dogs, but I’m not really interested in making friends with bears. You won’t have to worry about me.”

They drove for a while before the chief said, “So, did you always want to be a writer?”

“Not really. I wrote a couple of novels in college just for fun. My family and friends bought some copies, but that was about it. I only wroteDark Mattersbecause I had nothing else to do. I always thought that someday I’d work for the BAU, but that’s not going to happen now. Writing a book was my way of saying good-bye to that dream.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she wondered why she’d told him that. She wasn’t used to sharing private things with people she didn’t know. It was too late to take them back now.

“I don’t understand. Why can’t you work for the FBI? With your police background...”

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Erin said more sharply than she meant to. “I... I’m sorry. Sore subject and very personal.”

“I understand,” he replied. “Sorry.” He slowed down and pulled the Jeep to the side of the road. “We’ll have to walk from here.”

Erin got out. “Any bears in this area?” She tried to make it sound as if she were kidding, but the truth was, she was nervous. She glanced over at the chief and noticed he was armed. Good. Just in case soft words didn’t actually work.

“Do you know the victim?” she asked as she followed him into the woods.

“No. We get a lot of tourists, so that’s not a big surprise. My officers are checking with local hotels and B&Bs in the area, trying to find out who she is. So far, we haven’t uncovered anything.”

“This location seems pretty remote. Who discovered the body?”

“Usually, you’d be right, but hunting season started on the first. Lots of people in the woods. A hunter found her.”

Erin shook her head, and the chief obviously noticed.

“Not a fan of hunting?”

“No, I’m not.” She held up one hand. “I’ve heard all the arguments about hunting for food or whatever. But getting joy out of killing an innocent animal is something I’ll never understand.”

She waited for the inevitable justification for hunting, but instead, the chief said, “I actually agree with you. I have no stomach for it either, but I still have to allow people to do it. I’m always glad when the season is over, though.”

Erin was surprised, but glad to see that the chief felt he had the right to have what was probably an unpopular opinion among the people who came here to hunt and the business owners who made money from them.

Although Erin had seen her share of dead bodies, it had been a while. The last one had been the little girl she’d accidentally shot. She felt sick to her stomach at the prospectof viewing another one. The truth was, she’d believed this kind of thing was behind her. Now, here it was again. Death. Writing about it and actually looking at it were two very different things. She felt herself sway, and the chief reached out and took her arm.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She pulled her arm out of his grasp. “I think I stepped on a branch or something.”

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