Nineteen
Booboo part deux
Max waved Chester Tallchief into his office as he finished his phone call. He’d been so tied up moving Mia’s bears he hadn’t had time for a sit-down to discuss his suspicions.
Ever since Mia was arrested because her fingerprints were on the murder weapon, Max had a nagging suspicion one of his men may be involved. He'd supplied the axes for the competition and the celebrations had ended by the time Zimmer was killed. So, the killer, whoever he was, must have grabbed an axe while no one was looking, or taken it from his barn where he kept all his tools. He hadn't asked Buddy or Jake about who had access to the axes during the event, experience told him they'd repeat any conversation he had with the men. He figured the best way to handle this was to inform Chester of what he suspected and then let him handle the investigating.
“Max,” Chester replied as he walked in and shook his hand.
“Chester, thanks for coming.”
“Mom told me you finally won a fight with your mother,” he chuckled.
“It wasn’t as much a win as it was a containment till another day. You’d be wise to keep an eye on Martha, she may have been innocent this time, but she’s just as reckless,” Max advised.
“Right, as innocent as a baby snake.”
“She does have a bite.”
“And I have the marks to prove it,” Chester answered.
Both men chuckled, more than familiar with their mother’s antics, and more seasoned in sorting out their messes than either would like to admit.
Rising, Max walked to his filing cabinet, pulled out a list of his employees, and tossed it on his desk in front of his friend.
“That axe that was used to kill Zimmer came from my barn. Did you know that?"
"I did not. Stetson handled the interview with Mia, he's hell bent on being the one who nails the killer. Never seen a man this obsessed with getting his name in the paper."
"You think he's looking to make a name for himself so he can move on?"
"I think he hates it here, and if catching a killer gets him noticed by one of the big cities then he'll do everything in his power to make that happen."
"Can you investigate this without him finding out? I want you to look into all my men, see if any of them have a connection to Zimmer or anything going on that would indicate they had a reason for killing him."
“It’ll have to be in my off hours, if Stetson catches wind I'm working this case while I'm on duty, I'm out of a job.”
“That works for me, and since you’re doin’ me this favor I'll give you a heads up about your buddy Stetson,” Max bit out, “He’s a lucky man I found out what he did while I was in Seattle, gave me time to cool down. That being said, he fucked with a woman, my woman, and I’m not inclined to let that go. I’ve already got my cousin diggin’ and he’s havin’ to dig deep. The man’s service record with Fairbank’s PD is buried so fuckin’ deep it’ll take a backhoe to unearth it. Jack’s friend in the FBI found out his father, a one Darryl Stetson, Chief of Police for Fairbanks, now retired, was the one who buried his file. No one’s talkin’, lips are sealed tighter than a virgin’s thighs.”
“You thinkin’ cover-up?”
“I’m thinkin’ major cover-up. Trails End City Council was lookin’ for a man with experience, certain requirements, and his resume came to us like a fuckin’ match made in heaven. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out they needed him gone and they customized his resume to fit the bill.”
“And if you can prove this?”
“Then the council will rescind his contract and I’ll deliver the news up close and personal,” Max growled.
“Just make sure when you do he’s been officially fired, I don’t wanna arrest you for beatin’ the crap out of the Chief of Police.”
“He stays clear of me till then it’s a deal. I find out he’s been anywhere near Mia, he won’t be swingin’ a pair,” Max vowed.
“Then I guess I better keep him busy,” Chester chuckled as he stood, then shook hands with Max clapping him on the shoulder before he left.
As Chester descended the stairs of Hunter Logging’s office, he took in his surroundings. Max’s men were loading saws in the back of a truck and he scanned the lot of them, searching. If one of these men was the killer and they had purposely set Mia up to take the fall, they weren’t only a killer, but a dead man walking when Max found out. You don’t mess with a man like Max Hunter. You do, he’ll make you pay.
An arm wrapped around my middle as a hard chest pinned me to his body. Then Max leaned in and pushed me into his kitchen counter as I pulled marinated chicken breasts from a bowl. I wasn’t the greatest cook, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve and my chicken fajitas were one of them. My secret? Let the chicken sit in the marinade for a day so they soaked up the flavor, then toss them on the grill and smoke them low and slow so they’re tender. Sauté some onions and green peppers, add fresh salsa and tortilla wraps and voila, chicken fajitas a la Mia.
“I see you lit my grill,” Max whispered in my ear.
“Time for you to try my cooking. Fair warning though, not everything I cook is this good. I came out with the big guns first, it’s ugly sometimes.”
“Can you bake a potato?”
“I can.”
“Grill steak, hamburgers?”
“Those as well.”
“Then you're perfect.”
“Do you eat anything besides red meat?”
“Is that a question?”
“No salad, anything healthy?”
“You lost me at do you eat anything but red meat,’” he purred, “I can think of something I’d like to—”
“Max,” I broke in and he chuckled.
“We got interrupted last night, thanks to my mother, I wasn’t done with you.”
“You weren’t done with me?”
“Not by a long shot,” he whispered, “you were still able to walk—”
“Oh, wow.”
“—and I intend to rectify that problem . . . right now,” he explained as he moved my hair, trailing kisses up my neck.
“Max?”
“Mmm.”
“You’ll have to hold that thought because, because—” His hands had made their way up my shirt and cupped my breasts, thumbs circling my nipples as I lost my train of thought.
“Only thought I plan on holding is how deep I can bury myself,” he replied.
“That would be, um, that would be awkward since Jess and Brian are coming for dinner. Brian has to get back to Seattle for work,” I mumbled and may have rubbed myself against his front. I swear this man turns me into a sex addict with one touch.
Max, not one for no, asked, “How much time we got?”
Looking at the clock, I tried to focus my thoughts as his hands worked their magic and then answered, “Twenty minutes.”
Max paused his golden hands and I whimpered their loss. Then he sighed and told me, “New rule, babe . . . when I come home from work after a long day of cuttin’ trees, all while thinkin’ about you the whole time, I want two things. One, a beer, and two, at least an hour with your mouth, your body, and the taste of your skin on my lips. Understand? Twenty minutes only gives me time to work you up not get you off.”
Nice!
“Normally, I don’t like rules. But, since you put it to me like that, who am I to complain,” I agreed, then turned in his arms, determined to give him something to look forward to.
I nipped his lip as he took my mouth, and just as the kiss turned from teasing, to mind blowing, and I was thinking I could work with twenty minutes in a pinch, a loud crash sounded from outside on his deck. We broke apart, looked towards the window and I shouted, “Booboo,” as I ripped from his arms.
I hadn’t seen the cub since we’d moved him and his mother, and now he was on Max’s deck going after food I’d already laid out. From the looks of it, he had a taste for chips and salsa.
As I made my way to the front door, Max pulled me back as I tried to open it.
“His mother won’t be far off so you’re not goin’ out there, I’ll scare him off.”
“No, wait, don’t scare him off, just open the door and walk out slowly so he can see we’re friendly. Better to live in harmony with these bears than to make them afraid of you.”
“Jesus, you want me to make friends with the bears?”
I smiled, then pouted, trying to manipulate him as all smart women do. Max‘s eyes dropped to my mouth, his own lips tugged into a reluctant grin, then he rolled his eyes to the ceiling, muttering, “Fuck me, I’m whipped already,” as he turned and opened the door. Then I fist pumped the air ‘cause I’d manipulated Thor.
Max stepped out in front of me and we both moved through, our movements slow to keep from startling the cub. When Booboo looked up, I spoke calmly, cooing, repeating, “We won’t hurt you, good boy, Booboo’s a good boy.”
Surprisingly, the cub didn’t bolt, but made a grunting bear call and then raised up on his hind legs, nose in the air sniffing. The scent emanating from the grill was a powerful fragrance of charbroiled meat as the fat left over from our steaks heated up.
“Something tells me grilling is going to be an issue with the bears,” I whispered to Max.
“Looks like the fence is going up tomorrow,” he replied.
I tried not to giggle, but when I did, Booboo looked at me and came down to all fours. Taking a tentative step back, he then sniffed the air again, directing it at me. As if he remembered my scent, he took a step forward, and then another sniffing the air. He was close enough if I reached out I could rub my hand along his furry head. Booboo, almost two years old, weighed about two hundred pounds and if spooked and became aggressive, he could kill a man if he tried. However, cubs this age are still dependent on their mothers and didn’t stray from them, the fact that he was here and his mother wasn’t, concerned me.
“Max,” I said calmly to keep from spooking him. “Nala should have been close by. She wouldn’t let her cub wander off.”
“Could he have wandered off from her?”
“They stick like glue to their mothers until their third year.”
“Then, if he’s here. . .”
“Something’s happened to her.”
“Jesus, are you tellin’ me I’ve got an orphaned cub on my hands?”
I searched the forest to west of his house, looking for any sign of Nala. Then I kneeled, put out my hand, and waited to see what he would do.
“Mia,” Max hissed and took a step forward, but I shook my head. Booboo cried out when he did and took a step back, but didn’t leave.
“In the fridge is a package of strawberries can you get them for me?’
“I’m not leavin’ you alone with a bear,” he bit out.
“I’m fine, just get me the strawberries.”
Max hesitated, then trusting me for once, he moved to the door and retrieved the berries, handing them to me. I opened the package, pulled one out, and then tossed it to the cub. Booboo sniffed it, opened his mouth, and ate it in one bite. Then I tossed another and another until the cub was right in front of me. Slowly, I reached out and let him sniff my hand and when he licked it, I giggled and carefully ran my hand over his head.
“Where’s Muttley?” I asked Max as Booboo took strawberry after strawberry from me, making a purring sound as I carefully ran my hands through his fur.
“Out chasin’ rabbits I suspect.”
“Would he attack if he came home right now?”
“If he thought I was being threatened, yeah.”
“Do me a favor and go find your dog, I don’t want him scaring off my bear.”
“Explain to me what you’re thinkin’?”
“I’m thinking this cub needs protecting from your dog and the other predators in the forest, and it’s up to me to protect him, so go find your dog, please.”
“Mia, you can’t adopt a grizzly bear,” Max warned.
“Max, I’m not adopting him I’m just keeping an eye on him till I can figure out what to do.”
Just then, I heard tires on the gravel drive and I looked up and saw Brian and Jess had pulled up. Just like I feared, Booboo was startled by the noise and bolted, heading back into the forest.
Jess ran up and then shouted, “Was that Booboo?”
“Yeah, and Nala is nowhere to be seen. I’m afraid something’s happened to her.”
“Should we go after him?” Brian asked.
“No, it’s best if we wait for him to come to us, that way he’ll be more trusting.”
“If Nala’s dead, how will he survive?” Max asked.
“He’s close to two and Nala will have taught him how to find food, so it’s not so much food that’s the problem as much as it’s the other bears. If he enrages one of the males, he could be killed. Tomorrow we need to look and see if we can find Nala.”
“I’ll have some of my men come up in the morning and comb the woods for her. You need to keep moving the bears,” Max replied.
“Okay, thanks, Max,” I smiled and then looked towards the forest. I prayed the little guy would be ok until we could find Nala, but if she was gone, then we needed a plan for him and fast. Cowboy would be coming over in a day or two and if any of the bears would take out the cub, it would be his father.
Since there was nothing else I could do at this point, I focused on Jess and Brian and chicken fajitas a la Mia, but with a watchful eye on the forest and a prayer that Booboo would stay safe.
The next morning while Max searched for Nala with his men, Lucy, Frank, Shane, Jake and I stood at the edge of the meadow watching Cowboy run the other males off of his favorite fishing hole. Max had surprisingly let me take his truck this morning, but with one condition, Jake had to come. His constant supervision was cute, yet a little frustrating at times. We were trained professionals who knew what we were doing, but he’d spent his whole adult life taking care of people and now that I was in his life, well, he was bound and determined he would take care of me as well. Problem was, I didn’t need to be taken care of and after a few days of him ordering us around I’d snapped this morning when he was trying to figure out how he would schedule his day. The result of my sharp tongue had earned me the right to take his truck and cage without his “supervision” as long as one of his trusted men was with me. It wasn’t a huge victory since I had a babysitter, but in four days he’d gone from ordering me to stand on the sidelines to watching me drive away without him in tow. Considering who he was, and how he ran his life, that was a victory.
I caved when I thought it was necessary and fought when I thought it was important. He was stretching himself thin keeping up with his business and dealing with my bears, he still had orders to fill and a town to help run and I was determined to carry more of the load.
My people and I were capable of moving the bears with a few strong men to help, so he didn’t need to be there standing over me and I’d told him so. He’d crossed his arms and stared at me then, after a moment or fifty of reflection, he’d nodded and said okay.
“Just make sure the bears are out cold before you approach,” he ordered, his finger pointing at me like an errant child.
“As hard as this may be for you to believe, Max, I don’t as a general rule walk up on a grizzly without knowing I’m safe!” I snapped back.
“You’d hand feed them all just like Booboo if you thought you could get away with it.”
“Not all of them,” I smiled. “Cowboy would stomp me.”
“I find out you took unnecessary risks I’ll stomp you.”
“Will the bed be involved with said stomping?”
“Don’t be cute thinkin’ you can change the subject.”
“Did it work?”
“For about a heartbeat,” he grinned and then pulled me into his arms. “We clear? No unnecessary risks.”
“I promise to only do what is completely necessary.”
Max wasn’t reassured by that since his reply was, “In that case I’m sendin’ Jake.”
“Max—”
“You want my truck, you take Jake.”
“Is he gonna be on the phone the whole time reporting back to you?”
“Now you’re gettin’ the picture.”
“Stomping!”
“You want the keys, you take Jake,” he explained again.
“I’m sleeping at my place tonight.”
“I’ll be there by seven,” he grinned.
“Alone!”
“We’ll see,” was his aggravating response and then he kissed my nose, pulled out his phone, and dialed Jake.
That brought us to now and as we tried to decide which bear to neutralize.
“I hate to say it, but it looks like Cowboy is today’s victim,” Frank told the group at large.
“Yeah, I’d hoped to save him for last but who knows when we’ll have this clear a shot,” I agreed.
“I need to increase the dose,” Shane threw out, “with his massive size he won’t go down as easily as the others.”
As Shane withdrew a dart and then filled it with the appropriate dose, the rest of us kept our binoculars trained on Cowboy. He was currently dive-bombing what remaining salmon were in the river. Because of his age, he was a skilled fisherman, and that helped maintain his weight and muscles. This also meant we were going to need more help than we had to get him into the cage. We needed a winch to move him and, luckily for us, Max’s flatbed had just such a feature rigged to the back for moving logs.
With the dart dosed and loaded in the gun, Shane was ready to take his shot. But, the beast of a bear kept moving. After five minutes of waiting for the perfect shot, I got tired of waiting and grabbed the air horn releasing a loud blare in a short, quick burst. Cowboy stopped what he was doing, then turned our direction and stared.
“Got it,” Shane whispered and then fired.
Cowboy barely flinched when the dart stuck in his neck, but he definitely felt it and he definitely blamed us for the pain.
Here’s the thing about Cowboy, he wasn’t a sneaky attacker ‘cause he didn’t need to be. He knew he could take anything in the forest without blinking an eye. Problem was, he ran faster than we did and he was pissed.
“Oh shit,” Lucy whispered.
“Is that supposed to happen?” Jake asked
“Not unless you want to die,” Frank replied and then shouted, “In the truck now.”
I, of course, don’t walk well under pressure let alone run, so when we took off for the safety of the truck, I stumbled, fell, and lost my glasses. Everyone was in front of me so they hadn’t seen me fall, and by the time I got to my feet and made it to the truck, I only had time to dive in. Thankfully, the door closed before my legs were mauled, unfortunately, for me, my face landed in Shane’s crotch.
I pulled my head up and tried to right myself, but fell face first again. If I hadn’t been so terrified, I would have blushed, but my mind was still back with the roar Cowboy had, well, roared at me before I took a nosedive into the cab.
“Easy,” Shane bit out when I raked him again with my nose.
“Help me up; I don’t want my face in your crotch any more than you do.”
Cowboy was head-butting the cab, causing the truck to rock back and forth, and even over all that noise I could hear a pissed off Max shout, thanks to Jake calling him, “Why does she have her face buried in Shane’s crotch?”
Seriously? Bear, possibly mauled to death, and that’s what he focused on?
Shane pulled me up, planted me in the seat next to him and then I turned, grabbed the phone from Jake and yelled, “Stop stomping and rescue us for God sakes.”
“Where are the fuckin’ keys to the truck and why the hell isn’t he armed?”
“I don’t know, where are the keys to the truck, Jake and why aren’t you armed?”
Jake at least had the decency to look embarrassed as he pointed out the back window.
“He left them outside, some babysitter you saddled me with. Are you coming or what?”
“Luckily, for you, I was still at the house so I’m on my way,” he bit out, “but just so we’re clear, those unnecessary risks you promised not to take, startling a bear with a fuckin’ air horn is one of them.”
“Yeah, yeah, if I live to argue about it then we’ll argue about it.”
“Prepare, if I get there and that bear is even close to takin’ you out I won’t hesitate to kill him.”
Cowboy roared again and tried to chew through the door. Then his paw came up, slammed against the window, cracking it. I was closest to the door and when it cracked, Shane pulled me across his lap and sandwiched me between him and Frank.
“Max,” I cried out, “please say you’re close.”
He must of heard the panic in my voice ‘cause he told me to, “Breathe, baby, I’m almost there,” and he wasn’t lying, I could see his rusted old truck spitting dust behind it as he raced up the path from his land. He blew his horn to get Cowboy’s attention and then came to a sliding stop, pulled a rifle from his gun rack, and opened his door getting out. Cowboy took in the new threat, turned his back on our truck, and then took a few steps towards Max. Max raised his rifle, took aim on Cowboy, and then we all watched as Cowboy took a few more steps, wobbled, and finally went down.
“Should have used more juice,” Shane mumbled.
“We’ll know next time,” Frank replied.
“I think I’m changing my major,” Lucy whispered
“You can change it to lumberjackin,’ I can teach you all you need to know,” Jake chuckled.
Max still had his sights on Cowboy as he made his way around the bear and to the truck. When he reached us, he pried open the door, scanned the cab, and then put out his hand pulling me from the truck. Instead of yelling, which I was expecting, he wrapped both arms around me and held on tight. Then he buried his head in my neck, took a deep, ragged breath, and whispered, “Jesus, I’ve never been that scared in my life.”
And there it was, even Thor, God of Thunder had a weakness.
“You and me both,” I whispered back.
“If you think I’m lettin’ you catch the remaining bears without me right by your side, you’re nuts.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“A big bear almost mauling me changed my perspective. A large, God like man can be handy in a pinch.”
“You just want me for my brawn,” Max told me.
“You just want me for my ass,” I replied.
“And your sweet rack.”
“You’re such a guy,” I giggled.
“That, I am . . . Now, about your face in Shane’s crotch."