“Well, that’s pretty much the worst thing to do, but on the bright side, you’re pretty unlikely to ever run into a bear. They avoid humans pretty well. All that is another reason why I don’t think this is a bear attack.”
Also I spoke to a bear who saw the whole thing happen, I thought to myself. It was starting to suck, not being able to share that part of my life with Jason. It felt wrong to keep that from him. But I knew I had no choice.
“So you think Jeremy Wallace was murdered?”
“I do,” I nodded. “In fact, I’m sure of it, although I don’t really have any proof.” No proof I was allowed to speak about except with Sophie and Charlotte, anyway.
“Then the question becomes, who did it? After all, he was just a tourist.”
“Obviously I’m not the only one who’s been looking into Jeremy Wallace,” I said, sticking my tongue out at Jason.
“Yeah, but at least I have the excuse that it’s my job,” he replied, sticking his tongue back out at me.
“Hey, it’s my job to protect animals. I don’t want it to become open season on black bears.”
“Yeah, that’s true. As much as I’ve always been afraid of bears, I just always stayed away from the forest, since I figured they were unlikely to wander around town to find food.”
“You’d be surprised,” I replied with a small smile. “Especially in the fall when they’re trying to get as many calories in as possible, some of them start wandering into town. There’ll be some warnings not to keep apples on the trees soon, since bears will come by and eat them.”
“Really?” Jason said, his face getting noticeably paler. “Jeez, and here I thought Willow Bay was safe.”
I laughed again. “You come from a city where you see drive-by shootings on like, a daily basis.”
“That’s an exaggeration. New York isn’t like that at all, it’s actually quite safe.”
“So is Willow Bay! Don’t worry though, you probably won’t see any bears in the street. And if you do, remember, just back away slowly from the bear.”
“This conversation is making me feel like the least masculine boyfriend ever, by the way,” Jason added. “I feel like I should be telling you that if I run into a bear, it’ll be ok, because I’ll just punch it and it’ll run away from me.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” I replied as the waitress came by with our meal. For the next five minutes or so I focused on not inhaling the delicious spaghetti and just trying to eat it slowly, like a normal person. Jason was definitely right about the wine; it was hands down the best vino I’d ever had in my life.
“So if you’re going to try and prove it was murder,” Jason asked, “how are you going to go about it?”
“I’m not going to lie to you,” I replied. “There isn’t really much of a plan right now. We’re kind of winging it.”
“We? So Charlotte and Sophie are helping out again too?”
“Well, Sophie is in for sure. Charlotte is pretending to disapprove, but she’ll help too, if only because she thinks we’re going to get ourselves killed if she doesn’t step in.”
“That does sound like Charlotte.”
“I swear, she’s the youngest of the three of us, but she’s basically the group mom.”
“Every squad needs a mom though.”
“Yeah, I know. She is great, even if I do complain about her a bit. So now spill, what have you found out about the guy, with your wily big-city journalist skills?”
Jason grinned at me. “You’re going to owe me tonight for this info.”
“I’m pretty sure I already owe you tonight just for choosing this amazing wine,” I replied with a wink.
“Either or,” Jason replied, and I laughed. “Jeremy Wallace has been traveling the states for two weeks now. He landed in Dallas sixteen days ago. From there he went to San Diego, Los Angeles, Vegas, San Francisco, and was driving up the Oregon coast when he made his fatal stop in Willow Bay.”
“You are good,” I said. “We knew about Texas and LA, but that was it.”
“They don’t pay me barely above minimum wage for nothing,” Jason replied, and I laughed. After Jason’s father had been murdered, he’d received a payout worth enough that he didn’t necessarily have to work for a living, but being an investigative journalist at heart he still took up the job at the Willow Bay Whistler. A lot of people didn’t understand why someone who had articles published in the New York Times would move to Willow Bay, where last week the top story was the controversial decision by the library to repaint their fence a shade of pastel blue instead of sticking with the current white. But I understood. I was a vet who spoke to animals. Protecting and helping animals wasn’t just a job, it was a calling. I would do whatever I could to help animals, no matter how boring or mundane it would be. I couldn’t always deliver calf twins on a farm in the middle of a freak snow-storm; sometimes I had to simply give another cat some flea medication. Jason was the same way.
“Though speaking of, I’ve heard through the grapevine that you’re getting a pretty good rep in the newspaper game these days,” I said.
“Oh yeah?” Jason grinned. “Stoke my ego, tell me what the people of Willow Bay are saying about me,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Unless it’s bad. Then don’t tell me.”
“Your ego is already big enough,” I said. “But yesterday afternoon I was in Betty’s café, and I got to chatting with Leanne Chu. She said that she’d heard you were approached by The Guardian in England to be their main man for investigations in the United States.”
“Awwww,” Jason said. “I was going to surprise you with that. I suppose I should know better than to expect news to stay secret in Willow Bay for more than twenty-four hours. They offered it to me yesterday morning.”
I laughed. “So Leanne got the info in what, under four hours?”
Jason shook his head. “Small towns are ridiculous. Literally the only person I told was my boss, who was doing the layout for this week’s paper.”
“And let me guess, Leanne came in later to place her weekly ad?”
“I don’t even think she came in. I’m pretty sure she just called him. Anyway, I said thanks but no thanks to The Guardian.”
I wasn’t going to lie, I felt a small weight slide off my shoulders with relief at those words. “Oh yeah? Why did you say no? It sounds like a great opportunity.”
“It is,” Jason replied. “But they wanted me to move to an actual city if I wanted to do it. They said Chicago, LA, New York or Washington would have all been fine, but I couldn’t stay in Willow Bay.”
“I guess this small town is growing on you, bears and all?”
“It’s not so much the town as the people in it,” Jason said. “Well, one person in particular,” he added, and I knew the flush crawling up my face was visible. How I ended up with such a perfect guy, I had absolutely no idea.
“You’re… you don’t have… I mean I like that…” I stumbled over my words like a pubescent girl talking to her crush for the first time, but Jason just took my hand.
“I mean it. You’re special to me, Angie. I like your spirit. I’m staying in Willow Bay. After all, someone has to watch over you and Sophie when Charlotte’s not around.”
“I like how you call me Angie,” I finally managed to answer, and Jason laughed. Before we’d started dating I kept telling him to stop calling me that. It annoyed me like crazy. Now, I thought it was cute. Jason and Sophie were the only two people in the world who called me Angie, and I liked it.
“Now, let’s finish this wine and then we’ll get back to thanking me for the extra information,” Jason said.
“Deal,” I agreed with a coy smile.
6
Fifteen minutes later Jason and I had shared a Tiramisu for desert and were just making our way back out into the cool night air. Jason wrapped his arms around my shoulders and I leaned into him as a strong gust of wind made its way toward us. We were about twenty feet from Jason’s car when suddenly I heard someone call out my name.