Page 81 of The Boy Who Cried Bear
I frown. “Another sighting? Of a bearskin-wearing man with a knife?”
Rogers looks at Joe. “Explain.”
Joe turns to me. “Sa—this employee—was being teased by some of the others. He took it as harassment, although when he made an official report, we decided it was just teasing. His coworkers didn’t believe what he’d seen and joked about him wanting time off for ‘trauma.’ He was determined to prove them wrong. He’d been out a few times, including that night.”
“When he didn’t return.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“What was he hoping to do? Take on the man himself?”
“I don’t think so. Someone says he mentioned finding the guy’s ‘lair.’ That’s what he called it. The mountain man’s lair. He wanted to find it and then lead us to it, so we could deal with the guy.”
“Which would prove your employee had seen what he claimed to have seen.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He looks down at Sandy’s body. “I guess he found the guy after all.”
“We don’t know that for sure.”
Joe looks at me, brow furrowing. “Don’t we? He went looking for some crazy forest man who’d already attacked him with a knife. Now he’s been stabbed dozens of times with a knife, in the forest.”
Rogers lifts his hands. “Our neighbor is being cautious, in the event this isn’t what it seems. Now my employee here says you have a young man who went missing…”
Young man? I think back and realize when we said “boy” or “kid,” Joe must have presumed “teenager.” Do I correct Rogers? No, this is better. I should have been more careful not to say anything to suggest our town has children.
“He’s our top priority, obviously,” I say. “Even above finding this man’s killer.”
“Understood. You have my full cooperation with whatever you need. And, yes, hunting for your young man is also hunting for my employee’s killer, so it is not entirely an altruistic offer. But it is genuine.” He meets my gaze. “I know we have taken an adversarial position, but I think you also realize that is to protect my employer’s mineral interests. I’m here to run our camp and to protect the find.”
“Understood,” I say.
“Good. Then you’ll also understand that ‘full cooperation’ will still have some restrictions.”
Dalton says, “Got a different definition of ‘full,’ huh?”
Rogers ignores him. “Your skills for searching out here surpass my men’s, which is why I’d asked you to look for this mountain man.”
He pauses, just long enough for us to know that he considers his man’s death at least partly our fault. I could point out that Sandy died on his territory. I don’t bother. This isn’t our fault. Rogers might say we’re more skilled in this, but he still pawned the search off on us, without offering any help.
When I don’t respond, he looks slightly disappointed. Then he continues, “But you will now have the complete use of all my men who would otherwise be assigned to watch over our miners. Our operations will cease while you find this killer.”
“And the restriction you mentioned?” I say.
“Territorial, of course. My employers will not allow me to grant you full access to our settlement or employees. I can speak to them, given the tragedy that has occurred, but I can say, with some certainty, that they will not be moved. Their interests come first.”
That sounds familiar. It might even rouse a pinprick of sympathy for Rogers. He’s not the guy in charge. He’s just the mouthpiece. Like Phil was before being exiled to Rockton.
If that’s the case, I suspect Rogers will soon understand the full weight of his situation. It’s the same one we had in Rockton, where we were on the ground dealing with threats while policy and procedure was dictated by people sitting in their comfy homes down south.
It’s easy to put profit first when you don’t need to see the dead body of your employee lying at your feet, stabbed thirty-three times and left for the scavengers to feast on.
“All right,” I say. “So lay it out for me. Where can’t we search.”
“We’ll set up a perimeter, which we will search ourselves, though I can’t imagine this man would be lurking a few hundred feet from our camp.”
“And the body?” I say, nodding at it. “I presume you have a doctor who will perform an autopsy?”
“He’ll be shipped out for that.”
