Close to Home: A Bear and Mandy Logan Mystery (Bear & Mandy Logan Book 1) Read online

  Even though she didn’t know everything, Mandy seemed to understand. Sasha’s death had devastated them both, and they’d spent more than a few sleepless nights crying and trading stories. Mandy’s ability to bounce back amazed Bear, but he had to question how much of it was real and how much was bluster. She was a tough kid, but there was still a lot she didn’t understand about the world. Hopefully, going to school would kick her off in the right direction.

  Somewhere between thinking about Sasha and wondering what Mandy’s future would bring, Bear’s shovel struck something solid. It reverberated up his arm and made his teeth rattle. He looked around the yard like someone was waiting to step out of the shadows and offer him an answer to his questions. But when no one presented themselves, he kept digging.

  The shape of whatever was beneath the soil spilled beyond the rough outline of his garden bed. He kept digging. The sun lowered in the sky, and the surrounding air cooled in response. Sweat still soaked him from head to toe. He could feel it dripping off his forehead and stinging his eyes. It evaporated from his back and sent goosebumps scurrying along his arms.

  It didn’t take him long to realize he had hit an old concrete septic tank cover. He knew where the current septic was buried, which meant no one had used this one in at least a decade. No one had mentioned something buried here. Was there a reason? The likely answers were laziness or negligence. Nevertheless, curiosity got the better of him.

  Bear grabbed a crowbar from the garage and used it to pop open the cover. What would he find? Nothing alive, that was for sure. The remnants of human waste, bacteria, and a headache. He’d have to cover the tank back up tomorrow and find another place for his garden. But it didn’t hurt to look.

  You were never too old to hope you’d find buried treasure in your backyard.

  The sound of the top grating against concrete echoed across the yard. As soon as Bear lifted the top out of the way, a rancid smell hit him that invaded his nostrils and burned his eyes. Ten-plus years of desiccation would make anybody tear up. Some things were meant to stay buried.

  Bear pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and peered into the hole.

  “What the hell?”

  Rainwater, debris, and a buildup of bacteria couldn’t hide the bones jutting up above the surface. He’d seen enough dead bodies in his day to know they didn’t belong to an animal.

  Before Bear could decide what to do, Mandy stuck her head out the back door and called for him. “Dinner’s ready. I burned the garlic bread. Again.”

  “Yeah. Be there in a minute.”

  She took one step out of the house. “What’s that?”

  “An old septic tank.” He pocketed the flashlight and reseated the cover. “I’ll deal with it in the morning.”

  Mandy scrunched up her nose. “That’s disgusting.” She backed away as Bear approached the door. “You need a shower.”

  He looked down at his muddy hands. “I think you’re right. Don’t eat all the burnt pieces. You know they’re my favorite.”

  “You’re so weird,” Mandy said, but with a hint of affection.

  “I thought I was lame?”

  “You can be both, you know.”

  Bear grunted and trudged upstairs to the shower. The last thing he needed was another dead body on his hands. It had to have been over a decade since the person had died. Would another few years matter? He could leave the poor schmuck down there until it was time to move on. Then it would be someone else’s problem.

  As Bear turned the handle for the shower and waited for the water to warm up, he sat on the edge of the tub and looked down at his mud-caked hands. Dirt was better than blood, and he didn’t miss a life of looking over his shoulder. Not that the habit was easy to break. He’d always be worried about someone finding him or Mandy. And calling the cops to his house to check out some human remains was less than ideal.

  But what kind of example would he be setting for Mandy if he didn’t do something about it?

  3

  Bear had waited until Mandy got on the school bus before calling the police. Not that Mandy couldn’t have handled it. She’d seen worse in her short life. But they were supposed to be lying low, and the less she knew, the less he had to worry about.

  He watched from a second-story window as the sheriff’s vehicle pulled into the driveway and crept toward the house. Sixty seconds passed before a woman stepped out, looked around, and approached the front door. From his vantage point, he couldn’t get a good look at her features.

  The doorbell rang. Bear didn’t move. He watched the street to see if any of the neighbors were peering through their blinds. When he realized he was the only one being nosy, he left his perch, lumbered down the stairs, and opened the door.

  The sheriff was an attractive red-haired woman with dark eyes and a smattering of freckles across her face. She had an athletic build. He figured her to be a decade younger than him. She peered up at him, taken aback by his height.

  “Riley Logan?”

  He reached out a hand, which she shook without trepidation. “Call me Bear.”

  “Bear.” She looked him up and down. “Because of your size, I take it?”

  “‘Cause I’m as cuddly as a teddy bear.”

  “Right.” Her face remained passive, but there was a twinkle in her eye. “My name is Josephine McKinnon. May I come in?”

  Bear remained still and quiet for a moment. He hadn’t given a second glance to a woman since Sasha’s murder. It had only been a few short months, though his life had changed in every way since. This woman standing in front of him stole his breath. A complication he didn’t quite understand because of his grieving. A complication he couldn’t have in his life. Not now.

  “Mr. Logan?” McKinnon tilted her head and smiled. “Bear?”

  He shook his head. The thoughts of what McKinnon would look like out of her uniform dissipated. “I’d rather just take you around back, if it’s all the same to you.”

  She hesitated for a fraction of a second, and Bear saw her gaze flick over his shoulder to the inside of the house. But when he stepped forward through the doorframe, she backed away and gestured for him to lead.

  “On the phone, you said you found human remains?”

  “That’s right.”

  “In an old septic tank?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “How do you know they’re human?”

  They rounded the corner of the house, and Bear made a beeline for the hole on the other side of the yard. “Too big to be an animal.”

  “Could be a deer.”

  “Hunted all my life. I know what a deer looks like. This ain’t no deer.”

  They stopped next to the tank. Bear picked up the crowbar he’d placed nearby. When he popped the lid, he took a step back and gestured for the sheriff to take a look. They both waved away the smell, not that it did any good. They’d have to acclimate to it.

  McKinnon pulled out a flashlight and clicked it on. She squatted down and allowed the light to flood the inside of the tank. Bear heard her suck in a breath when she found what she was looking for.

  “It stinks,” she whispered.

  “They didn’t mention this when I bought the place.”

  “People who hide bodies usually want them to remain hidden.”

  Bear laughed. “Our working septic has been around for at least ten years, so I imagine this one is older. Don’t know how a body ended up in there, but between the groundwater seeping in year after year and the tank being closed off, it’s done nothing but rot for at least a decade.”

  “I see a thigh bone and a foot.” She looked up at him. “You’re right. Definitely human.”

  “Like I said,” he replied. “Ain’t no way it’s a deer.”

  McKinnon crept closer and shone her light around the edge of the cover. Bear hadn’t been able to see it in the fading sun last night, but in the middle of the day, his eyes caught the shine of a clump of hair attached to the edge of the lid. “Lucky us.” McKinno
n pulled out a baggie and a pair of tweezers. “Must’ve gotten caught between the metal and the concrete. The seal kept it from degrading.”

  “Lucky us.”

  McKinnon stood. Bear could hear her knees creak. She tucked the baggie into her vest pocket. “Walk me through how you found this.”

  “Pretty straightforward.” He pointed to the area he’d outlined in the grass the night before. “Was planning to dig a vegetable garden there when I hit this thing. Didn’t know what it was, so I kept digging.”

  “A vegetable garden, huh?” She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t strike me as the type.”

  Bear shrugged. “I’m a man of many surprises.”

  “I bet you are.” McKinnon tapped her notebook as she looked over at the outline of the garden, then back up at Bear. “How come you didn’t call it in last night?”

  Bear had his excuse ready. “It was late. I have a daughter. Didn’t want her to see. Figured that poor soul’s been in there a while. Another day wouldn’t hurt.”

  “You’re new in town.”

  Bear grinned. “Is there a question in there?”

  “Where are you from?”

  “A little bit of everywhere.”

  “That’s not an answer.”

  Bear shrugged again. “It’s the truth.”

  “Where were you before this?”

  Bear stared her down before he answered. He gave her credit for not looking away. “Overseas.”

  “And you chose Upstate New York to settle down?”

  “Good a place as any. I like my space.” He wasn’t trying to be subtle as he spread his stance.

  McKinnon put her hands on her hips and peered into the hole again, then up at the sky. “Might rain tonight. We should wrap this up sooner rather than later.”

  “I’d appreciate that. For my daughter’s sake.” It wasn’t his only reason.

  “How old is she?”

  “Fourteen.”

  “They’re fun at that age, aren’t they?” She shook her head. “They love you and hate you, depending on the hour. You’ve got your hands full.”

  “You have no idea.” Bear chuckled despite the situation. He could handle Mandy now, but in a couple of years, that was going to change. She was a spitfire. “But she’s a good kid. I’m trying to keep her away from all this.”

  “So, you said.” McKinnon brought out her phone. “We’re a small sheriff’s department. I’m gonna have to bring the state police in on this.”

  Bear’s stomach clenched. It was the last thing he wanted to hear. “Look, I appreciate that, but I don’t love the idea of Staties traipsing across my lawn.”

  “Why?” She looked up at him with a smile, but there was a hardness to her eyes. “You got something to hide?”

  “It’s a small town. People talk.”

  “That they do.” McKinnon blew out a breath. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any officers to spare. Considering this may be a homicide from over a decade ago, we’re gonna need manpower. I empathize with your situation, but—”

  “—your hands are tied.” He held his hands up and pressed his wrists together.

  “Pretty much.” She tapped a few numbers on her phone but didn’t press the dial button. “I’ll try to get them out of your hair as soon as I can, all right? Unless you’ve got any other bodies hiding out around here.”

  “Plenty of skeletons in the closet, but no bodies that I’m aware of.”

  McKinnon stepped away to make her call.

  Bear cursed under his breath. This was the last thing he needed. The idea of a bunch of New York State Troopers lining his driveway was enough to raise the hair on the back of his neck. He was supposed to be lying low. For a second, he wondered if this was all part of Clive’s plan—get Bear a house with a body in the backyard and then frame him for the murder. It’s not like Clive didn’t have the resources to pull that off.

  Bear shook the thought from his head. It made no sense. If Clive wanted Bear dead or in prison, he would’ve done it before sending him to Rochester. And even if he did, Clive wouldn’t do that to Mandy. Leaving her out on the street. The guy could be an asshole, but he wasn’t heartless.

  When McKinnon returned, she wore a grave expression. “They’re on their way. I’ll need you to stick around and answer some more questions.”

  Bear sighed. “Don’t suppose it’d be a good look if I had a beer in my hand when the troopers showed up, huh?”

  McKinnon chuckled. He liked that she had a sense of humor. “No, I don’t suppose it would.”

  “All right then,” Bear said. “Coffee it is.”

  4

  Mandy didn’t like school, but still it fascinated her. She’d never been around so many kids her age. There was a constant learning curve. She soaked up information from every interaction and stored it in the back of her mind for future reference. Bear was always telling her to stay vigilant, and she instinctively knew that went double for when she was at school.

  Ninth grade was no joke. Every class offered her another window into the world, and she found her brain bogged down with questions she didn’t know the answers to. She had more real-world experience than any of her classmates, but for some reason, none of what Bear had taught her helped her pass her English exams or the pop quizzes every week in math class. That was partly why she hated sitting through an entire day of useless information—she already knew it wouldn’t help her survive out in the real world.

  But there was one highlight to her days at Crossroads High School, and that was Laura Lynn Weinberger. Despite her unfortunate name—or maybe because of it—Laura Lynn was one of the nicest people in school. On the first day of classes, she walked right up to Mandy and introduced herself. Mandy blew her off at first. Never trust anyone who is too nice to you, Bear had told her. But the next day, Laura Lynn sat down at her lunch table and offered half of her turkey and cheese sandwich. It felt like such a luxury compared to Bear’s sloppy PB&J.

  The two had been friends for only a few weeks, but Mandy couldn’t imagine getting through the day without the other girl. Laura Lynn had other friends in other social groups, but she chose to spend most of her time with Mandy.

  “You’re different,” Laura Lynn had said when Mandy asked her why. Mandy had taken offense at first, but Laura Lynn just shrugged. “You make things more… interesting.”

  Mandy liked that. She knew she’d have to hide her true self from her classmates—there was no way they could know who she really was or what she’d been through as a child, losing her family, being abducted, surviving—but at least she could show Laura Lynn part of the real her.

  Today, Mandy had stolen two lollipops from the nurse’s office on her way into school. They weren’t supposed to have any candy in the hallways, but Mandy didn’t care. Didn’t they know there were worse things she could be doing? As Mandy unwrapped her cherry lollipop and stuck it in her mouth, Laura Lynn slipped hers into her backpack.

  Laura Lynn stopped short and drummed her fingers on the nearest locker. “Oh no.”

  “What?”

  “Pete and Jamie.” She pointed down the hallway. “They’re right next to my locker.”

  “So? We’ll tell them to move.”

  “You can’t just tell them to move.” Laura Lynn said this slowly, as though Mandy barely understood English. “They’ll beat us up.” She gasped. “Look. See what happens?”

  A boy with thick glasses and a button-down shirt was pressed up against the lockers, courtesy of Pete and his goons. Jamie was holding one of Marcus’ arms while Pete had an arm across the boy’s neck. There was another boy Mandy didn’t know, and he jeered from a safe distance. He kept looking around, making sure no teachers would spot them.

  When Mandy took a step closer, Laura Lynn grabbed her arm and hissed, “No, don’t do it.”

  Mandy shook her off. She hadn’t been at the school long enough to call Pete her true arch nemesis, but he was a contender. The first day she got there, he spread a rumor that her mom
had been an alcoholic and that was why she wasn’t around. How he had already found out that it was just her and Bear, she had no idea. But ever since then, she’d been looking to settle the score.

  Pete now had Marcus’ face pressed up against the lockers. The boy had a tear streaming down his cheeks, and Jamie was pointing and laughing at him. Pete looked like he thought he was king of the world.

  Mandy was about to change all that.

  She tapped on Pete’s shoulder. The other boys hadn’t seen her approach. He was so shocked someone had dared to interrupt him; he released his grip on Marcus. But he still held the other boy by one of his wrists.

  “Hey,” she said. “Let him go.”

  Pete looked over his shoulder. He threw his head back and laughed. “What are you gonna do about it? Go cry about it to your mom.”

  “I will once you let him go.” Mandy shook off the barb just as easily as she’d seen Bear do countless times. She’d learned from him that violence was acceptable only after all other avenues had been explored. “Come on, Pete. It’s not worth it.”

  Pete let Marcus go, but the other boys still had him trapped. “What’s not worth it?”

  “Getting beat up by a girl.”

  Pete smirked and looked at his friends like, can you believe her? “And who’s going to beat me up?” He looked over Mandy’s shoulder. “Laura Lynn?” He sneered her name. Laura Lynn was popular because she was pretty and her family was rich, but some of the kids saw her kindness as weakness. “Is she going to have her daddy pay me off?”

  “Just let him go,” Mandy said. “And we can settle this outside.”

  The other boys snickered, and Pete took a step closer. “Why wait? Let’s do it right here. Right now.”

  Mandy didn’t bother giving him another warning. Two was enough. When he raised his arm as if to slap her, she grabbed his right wrist with her right hand and yanked it across her body with all her might. She put her left hand on his shoulder and pushed as hard as she could. Her speed surprised him. He yelped and tripped forward, allowing Mandy to shove him into the lockers face first, just like he’d done to Marcus.