Chapter Twelve – Sam

She was gaining on him. Sam pushed on harder, but his bear was large and the climb steep. He had the stamina to last for hours, but not at a sprint. As she closed the distance between them, he wasn’t consumed with a need to beat her to the top of the trail. He’d never been a competitive guy. And anyway, he quite liked the idea of watching her ass wiggle up the trail in front of him.

Sam chuckled at his bear. They were so alike.

We are one, his bear reminded him.

Lia crowded up behind him and he moved over to the side of the trail and allowed her to pass. She slid by, her nearness making him shudder with longing. Then she broke away from him, small stones spewing up to cover him in a shower of dirt.

He smiled, if a bear could smile. To anyone looking on it might have looked more like a snarl, but there was no one else here, only a bear and his mate.

As they ran, he forgot about diamonds, he forgot about safes, and he forgot about the Delameres. But he did begin to understand why Lia had thought running away was the best option. There was something about the pure freedom the mountain offered that awoke a yearning inside him. Here, where the mountain peaks rose up to the sky, they were surrounded by nature, by simple things they could understand.

The trees grew as they had for millennia before; the sun shone down to warm the earth and snow capped the highest peaks. There was no trying to figure out how other humans thought, and why they behaved the way they did.

But that was not who Sam was. And he truly believed that Lia had realized the same thing. They belonged in the world, not hiding away from it. Not hiding from a lie. As they reached the wide grassy plateau and slowed to a jog, he reaffirmed his promise to help Lia, and solve this case once and for all.

Good, since you said we could solve it in forty-eight-hours, and we have already lost a good chunk of it, his bear reminded him.

The key is Mrs. Delamere, I am sure of it, Sam replied.

You think she is planning on leaving her husband? Maybe for one of the foreign gentlemen that visit? his bear asked.

I don’t know. Sam made a mental note to ask Lia if her boss or his wife were shifters. That might give him some clue as to what was, or wasn’t, going on here.

Ah, so you think Mrs. Delamere might have found a mate. She married her husband for his money. She liked the life he provided, and now she is willing to blackmail him to find a new life with her mate.

Sam chuckled. I think you have an overactive imagination.

Lia had stopped a few feet ahead and turned to look at Sam’s bear. Then she looked along the trail that crossed the plateau, breaking off onto small paths that led to all the different towns and villages dotted around the mountain range.

She didn’t know the way. Sam took charge, and skirted around her, nipping her hind legs playfully before loping off to the east. They had to skirt around one of the peaks, and then cross through a ravine, before they finally dropped down to Cougar Ridge.

He was looking forward to having dinner with Lia, but this evening was also about business. The ad was set to run in this week’s edition of the Bear Creek News, and Sam wanted to prepare Lenny Grimes for any news they might hear, good or bad.

Visiting Lenny wouldn’t take long; Sam would just knock on Lenny’s door and check in on him. OK, so Sam also wanted to make sure the guy was eating and looking after himself. It would do no good for them to find the sister, and for her to lose a brother to malnutrition or plain uncommon sense.

“I have never been to Cougar Ridge,” Lia said as they shifted back into their human forms and made their way down the trail and into town.

“Shifters lead a different lifestyle here,” Sam warned Lia as they reached the road into town.

“A different lifestyle?” she questioned.

“They are free to roam the streets in their shifted form,” Sam told her.

“Doesn’t anyone ask questions?” Lia asked.

“The people in Cougar Ridge don’t encourage visitors, there is no tourist trade, and the road up here is not easy. In short, they do everything to prevent visitors.”

“Maybe this is where I need to come and live,” Lia said, only half joking.

“Nope, we are staying out in Bear Creek.” They walked side by side along the street, looking in the shop windows as they passed by. Not that the shops were open. It was past seven and the people who traded in town had long since gone home. However, the streets were far from deserted. All around them, bears played in the fountain, while lions and other big cats rolled on the ground or chased their tails in the deepening twilight.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it,” Lia confided.

“It is a special place.” Sam looked at her apologetically, before saying, “While we’re here. I have one stop to make. Do you mind?”

Lia laughed, her face relaxed as she watched a parrot and a raven feed each other tidbits. “My mom would love it here too.” She turned her smile on him. “Go do your thing, Mr. PI. I am going to have to get used to your life, just as you have gotten used to mine.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You help people. I get that. Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing you in action.”

“Then watch the master at work.” He crossed the street, and Lia followed. Threading his way down a narrow alleyway, they eventually stood outside a small house, with a front door in need of a new coat of paint.

“This is it.” Sam lifted his hand and knocked carefully, afraid he might put his large fist through the wood. There was no answer. He tried again. No answer.

Kneeling down, he lifted the brass mail slot and called. “Lenny. It’s me.”

“Maybe he is out?” Lia asked.

“Maybe he is.” Sam stood up, his face full of concern.

“Hey, what do you want to do?” Lia asked, laying her hand on his back, trying to comfort him.

“I might try around the back.” Sam smiled weakly. “If you want to wait here, I understand.”

“Does trying around the back mean we are about to commit breaking and entering?”

“I may try to get into the house. Just to check that Lenny isn’t lying injured on the floor.”

“Shall I get my broom?” Lia joked, trying to make light of her nerves.

“You might need it.” Sam winked at her. “Come on, the first time is always the worst.”

They walked further along the alley until they came to a narrow pathway leading to the back of the houses. Sam crouched down so that his head couldn’t be seen as they followed the fence, trying to figure out which was the back of Lenny’s house.

“This one,” Sam said, pointing to a dilapidated gate.

“How do we get in?” Lia asked.

Sam put his hand on the gate and rattled it. “I don’t think we’ll get over, so I’ll have to push the gate in.”

“You really did mean what you said about breaking in,” Lia replied.

“Yep.” Sam pressed his shoulder against the wood. “But I will come back and make good on the work as soon as I have solved your case.”

“Oh, so I am a case now. Does that mean we shouldn’t be seeing each other? You know, not mixing business with pleasure?” Lia teased, trying to hide her nerves.

“Since you are not a paying client, I think I can make an exception.” The lock gave way suddenly, but Sam used his immense strength to keep himself on his feet, and propped the broken gate open wide enough for them to squeeze inside.

“There are no lights on,” Lia said, as they made their way toward the house.

The garden surprised Sam: even in the dim light as the sun finally set, he could see that it was well tended. The grass was neatly cut, the borders filled with shrubs, and Sam could imagine the fall flowers would fill the garden with color in the shortening days. It was a well-loved garden. The kind a person did not simply leave.

An unease settled over Sam as he knocked on the back door, and waited for a reply. There was none. Framing his face, he peered in through the window. From what he could see of the kitchen it had not fared as well as the garden. Pots and pans filled the sink, the cupboard doors were left open, and were mostly empty.

“I think Lenny has been trying to look after himself,” Sam said.

“So his sister is still not home, and neither is he?” Lia asked, and then let out a yelp.

Sam’s hackles rose up, his bear threatened to burst out from under his skin to protect their mate. But then he felt a cat against his legs and realized the reason she had screamed. “Lenny?”

“This is Lenny?” Lia said, looking down at the tabby cat that was brushing against her legs and then rolling on the ground to have his tummy tickled.

“This is Lenny. He and his sister are cat shifters. Not your usual big cat, but a small domestic cat. You’ll never look at cats the same way now,” Sam warned.

“You are probably right.” Lia stroked the cat and tickled his chin. Lenny purred.

“Come on, enough fuss. We need to talk to you, Lenny,” Sam said firmly.

The cat sat down and looked at Sam with his big amber eyes, and then proceeded to curl himself around Lia’s legs. A wave of jealousy hit Sam, but he pushed it away. Although it was a struggle. The cat might look like your friendly neighborhood stray, but Sam knew there was a man in there, a man who was pressing his body against Sam’s mate.

“Lenny,” Sam warned.

The cat gave a meow and then stalked away, before the air shimmered and the cat disappeared, to be replaced by a man. “Sam, have you found her?” Lenny asked excitedly.

“No.” Lenny’s face fell. “But there is an ad running in the paper in a couple of days. I want you to be prepared for whatever information we might get.”

“She never left me willingly,” Lenny protested.

Sam looked at the garden, now shrouded in darkness. “I know.”

“I just need you to be prepared.”

“I…I can’t.” Lenny shook his head and the air shimmered once more. But before he had a chance to shift back into cat form and run away, Sam reached out and grabbed hold of the young man.

“Have you eaten?” Lia asked suddenly.

The static electricity in the air dissipated, and Lenny stood calmly, studying Lia. “I got into a house a couple of doors down and ate some cat food.”

“Nice,” Sam said, but Lia shot him a warning look.

“We were going to have dinner, do you want to join us?” Lia asked.

“They do really good fish and chips over at Rodney’s.” Lenny nodded.

“Then let’s go and get some. If that’s OK with you, Sam?” Lia asked, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

“Great idea,” Sam replied. It wasn’t exactly how he had planned the evening; however, he was proud that his mate showed such compassion when faced with the pitiful Lenny.