Part 6 (1/2)
”Do what you have to do,” Tank said to Bixby. ”I have nothing to hide.”
”I'd like you to come to town for a full statement in the next day or two,” Bixby said.
”I have to come in for supplies. I'll drop by.”
”Fine.”
The troopers began to load the doctor's body on the plane. Tank went to help them. Haley stopped Chet when he started to follow the men with their burden. ”I have one more question about the fire. Was there an autopsy performed?”
His smile faltered. ”Nope. I didn't see a need for that. It was pretty clear how they died.”
”Which doctor examined the bodies?”
Gillespie nodded toward the body his deputies were carrying toward the plane. ”Dr. Wooten.”
She winced. ”Sorry. I didn't mean to question your judgment either. I would just like to know the details.”
He mopped his head and put his hat back on. ”Joe Wooten was highly respected in the community. I don't know how I'm going to tell his wife.” He turned away, but not before Haley saw the sheen of moisture in his eyes. She hadn't stopped to consider what those who knew the doctor were going through. She watched the trooper plod back through the water toward the plane. His stooped shoulders spoke of the burden he carried.
Tank rejoined the group, and the plane took off. Haley limped a little as they walked back to camp. Tank gave her a quick look. ”Got a blister?”
”No, I'm fine,” she said shortly. The last thing she wanted was for them to think they had to give her special treatment because of her missing leg. She glanced up at his tight mouth and strained eyes. ”This Bixby is going to be a lot of trouble for you, isn't he?”
”Nothing I can't handle,” he said.
”Nothing G.o.d can't handle,” Augusta corrected.
The strain around his mouth eased. ”You're right, Augusta. I forget that sometimes. I want to do it all myself. Thanks for the reminder. He's got this all under control. Let's have fun tonight and forget this. I'll leave it in his hands.”
Haley made a conscious effort to throw off her pensive mood. ”So tell me something about bears. Something I don't already know.”
”Oh, you're a bear expert? I had no idea I was in the presence of such a great mind.” He grinned.
She grinned back. ”I've read ten books on them. So I guess I know a lot about them.”
”Somehow I'm beginning to see you think you can learn anything from a book.”
”Name one thing you can't learn from a book.”
He took her arm and led her toward the water. ”Tell me what that is.” He pointed to a disgusting ma.s.s on the ground.
”Excrement of some kind. Bear, I presume?”
”Bear scat,” he corrected. ”What's it tell you?”
”Um, I guess that a bear pa.s.sed through here.” She glanced at the water. ”Maybe he was fis.h.i.+ng here.”
”Good guess. And that part's right. Look closely at the scat.” He pressed on her back, and she resisted.
”I'm close enough, thanks.” She wanted to giggle. Her stupid nervous habit.
He pointed at the scat. ”First we take a sniff.” He leaned over and inhaled. ”No odor, so it's been here a while, at least three weeks. And this bear had been eating mostly vegetation. I don't see any fur or flesh. He was probably searching for fish, though.”
”You can tell all that from looking? And, er, smelling?” Her smile widened. Tank was even more likable when he was in his element. A dimple flashed in his squarejawed face. She'd never noticed it before, but then he'd been focused on the seriousness of their trek.
”Can you tell if this is from Miki?”
His eager expression grew stoic. ”No. Are you thinking about the doctor's death? I don't think Miki had anything to do with his death. There's no telling what happened, but I bet he died of something else. A heart attack or something.”
”I hear worry in your voice. What will happen if they determine a bear killed him?”
”We'll have to find it and destroy it.” A muscle in his jaw twitched.
”Even if it's Miki?”
”Especially if it's Miki. Several people in town-Chet included-warned me not to try to rehabilitate him. They've been predicting dire consequences ever since. I was determined to prove them wrong. I hope my pigheadedness didn't cost Dr. Wooten his life.”
Seven.
The first two days went well, or as well as could be expected with a man committed to pus.h.i.+ng the bears beyond what was safe. Tank managed to keep Kipp a safe distance from the bears they saw, but he talked to the bears like they were his children, and more than once Tank had stopped him from trying to feed the browns. By six o'clock the second day, he was bone-tired.
Tank kicked out the fire. ”Better get the foodstuffs stowed. The bears will be hungry and looking for dinner. We don't want them wandering through our camp.”
”Sure we do,” Kipp said. ”I want to see all the bears we can.”
”You'll see plenty of bears without making them mad they can't get at your food.” Was there any way to get out of this a.s.signment? Tank didn't have time to waste on fools. He needed to get back to his cabin so he could see if the lawyer had called him back. And he had to get to town to talk with Bixby.
Kipp's tone held a trace of superiority. ”I know how to handle myself around bears. I've even touched them. They know when a man means them no harm.”
Oh brother. If this guy wasn't dead before the summer was out, Tank would eat his hat. He decided not to respond. ”The bears will be coming down to the river to feed anytime. I have a new spot to show you.” He stowed the food in the cache and raised it into place in the fork of the tree. When he stepped back into the clearing where they'd set up camp, he found Kipp, Haley, Denny, and Augusta waiting for him.
Haley's camera nestled against her chest as though it was part of her. He wondered if she ever took it off. He noticed her snapping pictures whenever she got tense or scared too. It was like her s.h.i.+eld.
Tank slung his backpack to his shoulder. ”I've got a good spot to watch. Let's get going. Make noise, sing or whistle, let the bears know we're here. The last thing we need is to go around a curve and run smack into a bear who doesn't know we're coming.”
As he led the way, he watched for signs of bear. Haley walked beside him. She had a strange gait, like she favored one leg. He wondered what she'd done to it.
”Are you worried about Miki?” Haley asked.
He glanced at her. ”How did you know?”
”You keep looking into the trees with a worried look on your face. You've been like that ever since we found the doctor's body two days ago.”
”I don't believe Miki would hurt him.”
”So you said, but he was tugging on my arm pretty hard at the cabin. If I hadn't had on my jacket, I'd likely at least have bruises.”