Chapter Eleven – Lia

“Blackmailed?” Lia stood in her small kitchen with her mouth open, the shock on her face evident.

“Yes.” Sam nodded and then ran a hand through his hair in exasperation.

“By whom?” Lia asked.

“I’m not sure. But he thinks it’s you.” By the look on his face, this was a new feeling for Sam Spencer, PI.

“Bastards! And you said you would figure this out in forty-eight hours?” Lia asked.

“I did.” His face brightened. “And I will. There’s nothing like a deadline to bring out the best in a man.”

“I only hope I am not that deadline,” Lia replied, unable to hide her fear. What if Sam was followed? What if he had led them right to her door?

“I was so sure it was his wife,” Sam told a shocked Lia.

“No, I told you, there is no reason Mrs. Delamere would set me up. I don’t know her.” Lia took a shuddering breath. “And anyway, why would she blackmail her own husband?”

“Maybe she is having an affair and wants a little nest egg to make a new start?” Sam walked across the kitchen and looked out of the window. The view of the mountain filled it, and a wistful look crossed his face.

“If you are thinking of running, I’m with you,” Lia said.

“You don’t have faith in me?” Sam asked.

“Someone is still out to get me, and we have no idea who. So right now, running seems like a good option.” She moved to stand next to him and laid her head on his shoulder. “I thought it would all go away. When I moved here I figured I’d disappear into the mountains for a few weeks and it would all blow over. That the real thief would be found. But they aren’t even looking for anyone else, they are sure it’s me.”

“I’m sorry.” Sam came to her and pulled her into his warm arms, holding her tight.

“I worked for Mr. Delamere for two years. I even gave him back massages. Why didn’t he believe me?” Lia sobbed. The dam of betrayal that had been building up inside her was about to burst. “He sent those men to my house. When I ran, he threatened me. And now this blackmail thing. Why?”

She buried her face in his chest and sobbed. “I don’t know. But we have to piece it together.”

“How? It’s as if there are fragments scattered all over the place, and they will never fit back together.” Lia wiped her eyes and looked up at Sam’s beautiful face. And he was beautiful. Despite his size, he had the softest eyes, and he filled her with hope. “Running isn’t an option, is it?”

“No, sweetheart, it is not.”

“I know. I’ve always known.” She sighed. “I was so angry, I figured that at least if I ran away I wouldn’t risk going back there and throttling Martin Delamere.” She tightened her fists into balls. “Massages. I wish I’d wrung his neck.”

Sam burst out laughing, which lifted her mood. “I thought you were running away to stay safe.”

“I was.” Lia sighed. “I don’t like getting blamed for the theft, but I don’t much like the idea of going to prison for murder either.”

“So we have to prove your innocence. And to do that, I think you are right about one thing, you have to go back there.”

“Back to the office?” Lia asked. “I don’t see why.”

“No, not the office. You have to go and see Mrs. Delamere.”

“She won’t see me.”

“She will.” Sam nodded. “I have a plan.” He turned and faced the window once more. “But first, we are going to go and run across that mountain. We’re going to feel the dirt in our paws and feel the wind ruffling our fur.”

“I’d like that,” Lia admitted. “I’ve been over the lower slopes, but not much further. Although we should eat first.”

“I have a better idea. Let’s go over the mountains and then drop down into one of the villages, Cougar Ridge. There is a great pub there we could eat in. My treat.” Sam took her hand and led her to the door before she had a chance to say no.

“You paid last time,” Lia told him bluntly. “It’s my turn.”

“But you made me dinner last night. So it’s my turn,” Sam said, giving her one of those angelic smiles.

“I am too tired to argue. But next time we eat out it’s definitely my treat.”

“Deal,” Sam said, as they left the house and turned left to walk along the street, heading towards the outskirts of town, where they followed a trail through the fields where cows quietly grazed. They meandered through the lower hills, steadily climbing up toward the tree line, where they could shift into bears, where no one would see them.

Lia struggled to drop the habit of looking over her shoulder. Something Sam noticed. “They aren’t here. It’s just you and me.”

“Until I know who set me up, I don’t think the feeling of being followed is ever going to go away. The first few days after I ran from my apartment, I barely slept. Only when I arrived here in Bear Creek did I feel safe.” Lia stopped and looked down over the town. “I don’t want them to find me here, I don’t want my memories of the town to be tainted.”

“It’s a special place.” Sam took in a deep breath. “After I worked for Chrysi and then Harlan, I began to think about setting down roots here. I figured if they had moved from outside of town and been accepted, then there was no reason I wouldn’t be too. And I was right.”

“I bet it helps that people are nice to you because they worry that you might go digging around on their pasts if they are mean to you,” Lia said as they continued walking.

“I’d never do something like that,” Sam said, half shocked.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t, but let me tell you, the threat of something happening is nearly as bad as it actually happening. Look at me, my stomach is in knots every time I go out in case they have found me.”

“What exactly do you think they’ll do if they do find you?” Sam asked.

“I figured I’d be arrested.” She cocked her head at him. “Why, what did Mr. Delamere say?”

“That he had neither informed the police nor the insurance company.” Sam stopped under a big oak tree that clung to the side of the mountain for the last hundred years or more.

“Why not?” Lia asked.

“He has something to hide. Total Solutions is not squeaky clean.” Sam gave her a penetrating look. “You worked for him for two years, didn’t you suspect there was something else going on there?”

“Now you are accusing me?” Lia asked indignantly.

“No. But it’s like you said, there are all these fragments floating around and I think if I can grab them all and piece them all together, we will have the answer.”

Lia sighed. “No. I didn’t know there was anything underhanded going on. I did my job, I did it well. But that did not mean I was privy to everything that happened inside Mr. Delamere’s office. I didn’t sit in on every meeting.” She frowned. “Although, that should have been a clue.”

“What? Tell me, it doesn’t matter how insignificant it is.”

“Mrs. Delamere would often attend meetings with a couple of men from out of town. She used to be his PA before they got married. She took the minutes of these meetings and typed them up, I presume. I never saw those minutes. They were stored on Mr. Delamere’s computer.”

“This didn’t raise your suspicions?” Sam asked.

“No, the men were foreign. Mrs. Delamere has the same accent. I was told they spoke little English, so Mrs. Delamere was able to take the minutes, whereas I would have needed a translator.”

“That is it!” Sam said. “That is the missing link.”

“I don’t understand.”

He kissed her lips and then took her hand and dragged her under a thick belt of trees. “You don’t have to. But I think I have all the pieces, and running as a bear often gives my mind enough space to put them all together.” He let go of her hand. “Race you.”

With that, he shifted into his bear and took off up the steep trail. Taking one last look around, Lia shifted into her bear, giving herself a shake before she ran off after him. She liked to race, and it had been a long time since she had shifted in company. Her bear was thrilled, it brought back memories of when they were young and she would race her siblings across the meadows, and drink in the cool, clear river that ran along the bottom of the fields. In the winter, the river would burst its banks, and when it was cold, really cold, it would freeze and they would skate on it. Or slide on it as bears when it was really thick.

Lia stopped and looked back down over Bear Creek, understanding why the town had pulled her in. The creek from which the town was named meandered through the town, and from here it looked like a silvery snake. She missed the river of her childhood home; she missed the fields and open spaces.

Working for Mr. Delamere had been fulfilling. But she was ready to leave it all behind now. She was a changed woman. She didn’t mind if her life mirrored her mother’s: Lia knew she would be happy being a homemaker, just as she was happy working. It did not define you, it did not mean you were a doormat.

As the realization filled her, she was refreshed and her legs pumped hard to carry her up the side of the mountain. Lia was strong, whether woman or beast, and with Sam at her side, she felt invincible.

Tomorrow, she would go back to her old life one more time. And she would not return to Bear Creek unless she had finally put the past behind her.