Hominid (31 page)

CHAPTER 105

D
ev was furious as he followed the mayor and sheriff out of the meeting room and back to the mayor’s office. As soon as the door closed he turned to the mayor. “What the hell was that?”

Catherine narrowed her eyes. “Watch your tone, Deputy.”

“With all due respect, there is nothing in the ME’s report or on the tape that proves a bigfoot killed those two men.”

Catherine took a seat behind her desk. “You’re missing the big picture, son.”

Dev imagined vaulting over the desk and strangling her. “And what might that be?”

She smiled. “Tourist dollars. Bigfoot is a huge money-maker. People are fascinated by him. And if we have proof of a bigfoot in the area, it will bring tons of people to our little town.”

“Do you have any idea how reckless you’re being?” Dev said.

Catherine frowned. “I don’t see that at all.”

Dev gripped his hands behind his back to keep them from reaching for her neck. “Every year when hunting season starts, we have a massive increase in gunshot wounds. Why? Because people get drunk and then fire at their friends, thinking they’re a deer. Now you’re going to have every yahoo within driving distance, and probably beyond, heading here with a gun and a case of beer.” Dev was yelling by the end of his rant, and had to rein in his anger.

“Now son, I think you’re exaggerating,” Hank said. “Most hunters are decent, responsible individuals.”

“Yeah, and the key word there is ‘most.’ Because the few that aren’t will be out there too. Not to mention people who’ve never hunted before. And then there’s the bigfoot investigators. They’ll show up here, banging trees, making calls, and someone will take a shot at them thinking they’re the real deal.”

“Well, it’s your job to keep the peace then,” Catherine said.

“My jurisdiction does not extend into the woods. We can’t patrol the woods. You
do
get that, right?” Dev said.

Catherine’s eyes narrowed. “I warned you once about your tone, Deputy. If I have to do it again, there will be repercussions.”

Dev curled his fists, his anger only growing hotter. These two were going to get a whole lot of people hurt, if not killed. He turned to Hank. “I have some vacation time coming. I’d like to take it beginning now.”

Hank looked between Dev and Catherine. And Dev knew what he was thinking. He was lucky to have Dev, and bigger enforcement agencies would be happy to get him. If he didn’t keep Dev happy, he was likely to lose him. What’s more, he knew that everything had Dev said was true. And Hank was going to need a good deputy when everything went to hell.

Hank stared at a spot on his tie. “Well, maybe just a few days. But then I’ll need you back on duty.”

“Fine.” Dev turned on his heel and headed for the door. He yanked it open, and it took a herculean effort to not slam it behind him. He stormed down the hallway past small groups of people talking excitedly. Others were quickly heading for the doors.

Dev stepped out into the fresh air. An angry car horn drew his attention to the right. An old F-150 slammed to a stop as a black Tahoe cut it off. Both drivers launched themselves from their cars, screaming at each other over their hoods. And both were out-of-towners.

Dev shook his head. He knew this was only the beginning. It was going to get worse from here.

CHAPTER 106

T
ess and Pax rushed back to Tess’s cabin after the meeting. When Tess opened the door, Shawn and Missy looked up from the puzzle they were doing on the coffee table. Missy ran over and hugged Tess.

Tess ran her hand over Missy’s hair. “There’s my favorite girl. You and Shawn have made a huge dent in that puzzle.”

Missy grinned and retook her seat.

Shawn smiled. “She’s good at these. I thought I’d have to help her, but
she’s
helping
me
.”

Pax moved over and sat next to Missy. “Can I help?”

“Sure.” Missy pushed some of the puzzle pieces toward her.

“Uh, Shawn, could I talk to you for a minute?” Tess asked.

Shawn frowned before a quick glance at Missy had him covering it and getting to his feet. “Sure.”

They stepped out onto the porch, and Shawn closed the door behind them. Shawn crossed his arms over his chest. “What happened?”

Tess quickly filled him in on the meeting. Shawn’s face grew grimmer and grimmer as she spoke.

Tess looked out into the trees. “I know they’ll probably be safe. But I feel like we need to warn them.”

Shawn nodded. “I agree. But do you know where they are?”

“I’m guessing at the valley. And if they’re not, well, that would be great, because that would mean they’ve moved on.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Tess smiled at him. “I was hoping you’d say that. But that still leaves the bigger problem: how do I make them understand they’re in trouble?”

Shawn considered. “Yeah, that is a problem.”

Tess looked through the window at Missy. She looked like any other six-year-old—but she wasn’t. “Missy could get them to understand,” Tess said quietly.

Shawn held up his hands. “Whoa. We can’t take her out there. It’s too dangerous.”

“I know. But I also don’t have any idea how else to make them understand. She’s the only one who stands a chance of doing that.”

Shawn looked inside at Missy as well. He blew out a breath. “There’s no good option here. If she doesn’t come with us and we can’t convince them, and then they get killed, she’ll be inconsolable.”

“But if we take her, we place her in danger. And it’s our job to keep her safe.”

“What do we do?” Shawn asked.

Tess felt completely out of her depth. “I really don’t know.”

CHAPTER 107

D
ev was emptying a few things out of his desk, and he frowned when a man in a dark suit walked past the double glass doors of the sheriff’s office. They normally didn’t get people dressed like that around here. He slid his drawer closed and stepped around his desk to get a better view. The man disappeared into Catherine’s office.

Dev stepped back and caught the eye of the other deputy in the room.

“What’s going on?” Becky Martin asked. Becky had been with the department for twenty years and knew all the ins and outs of the town.

Dev shook his head. “I don’t know. Some suit just went into Catherine’s office.”

Becky came over and leaned on the desk across from Dev’s. “I can’t believe you’re leaving me with all this going on.”

“Sorry. But I think I’m going to be needed more elsewhere.”

“I agree. You need to watch out for Tess and Missy. Lord knows, people will probably be fighting each other trying to get in to speak with them.”

Dev groaned, picturing exactly that. “I know. But I
am
sorry to be leaving you with this mess.”

Becky grimaced. “Hey, it’s not your fault. It’s her royal highness.” She tilted her head toward Hank’s office. “And Sir Sits-a-lot.”

Her radio squawked and she pulled it off her belt. “Go for Martin.”

“Becky, we’ve got a report of a fight over at Poor Richard’s.”

Becky rolled her eyes. “Great. I’ll be right there.”

She gave Dev a hug. “Take care of them and I’ll see you in a few days. And give me a call if I can help.”

“Will do.”

Just as Becky was heading out the door, Catherine came storming through it, and Becky had to step quickly aside. Becky looked from Catherine to Dev. Dev knew she wanted more than anything to stay and find out what was going on. But she blew out a resigned breath and headed down the hallway.

Catherine stormed right past Dev to Hank’s office. She slammed the door behind her, but it didn’t catch. Dev sidled up next to the door to listen.

“I can’t believe this!” Catherine yelled. “Finally something good happens in this town, and now this!”

“What are you talking about?” Hank asked.

“I just got a visit from one of the governor’s people. He told me the governor has said we cannot offer a reward for hunting down bigfoot. In fact, he’s just declared that anyone going out and searching for bigfoot should be arrested.”

Dev smiled.
Finally, cooler heads.

“Why would he do that?” Hank asked.

“He says he doesn’t want California looking like a bunch of idiots who believe in bigfoot, so he won’t let any public funds be used for a reward. And
I’m
certainly not forking over twenty grand. Instead he’s sending in a private military group. Some private donor offered their services.”

Dev’s mouth fell open. This just kept getting worse and worse.

“When are they arriving?” Hank asked.

“Sometime tomorrow,” Catherine said.

“How many of them?”

“I don't know, but it sounds like a few dozen. And they’ve apparently got a half dozen or so helicopters as well. They’re going to turn the park into a war zone.”

Dev had heard enough. He gathered his bag from his desk and hightailed it out of the office. He all but sprinted for his truck. He needed to warn Tess.

And she needed to warn her friends.

CHAPTER 108

D
inner was finishing up, and Tess still wasn’t sure what to do. The tribe had survived for centuries without her help. They could survive this, right? Wasn’t she just being self-centered to think they needed her to look out for them? Besides, they were incredibly attuned to the sounds of the forest. They would know the hunters were coming.

By the time the dishes were cleaned and put away, she had just about convinced herself they would be all right.

Then Dev showed up.

As soon as he walked into the cabin, Tess knew things were even worse than she feared.

Pax took one look at Dev’s face and said, “Hey Missy, have you ever seen
The Little Mermaid
?”

Missy shook her head.

“Well, that needs to be rectified right now. Tess, is it okay if we use the TV in your bedroom?”

“Sure, no problem.”

Shawn, Dev, and Tess waited while Pax disappeared into the bedroom with Missy and closed the door behind them.

Then Tess whirled on Dev. “What happened?”

“There’s a private military force coming out to search for them.”

Tess’s jaw dropped.

“What? How the hell did
that
happen?” Shawn asked.

Dev shrugged, but his eyes were hard. “The governor has some affluent friend who convinced him it was more politically advisable to allow him to conduct the search than to use public funds.”

“Hayes,” Tess said quietly.

“That’s my guess, too,” Dev said.

Tess sank onto the couch. “It makes the most sense. He was
not
happy when I returned the grant money. He’s really interested in bigfoot. And then there’s the hair sample that went missing and the guy he sent after me. Obviously he’s not opposed to violence. It has to be him.”

Shawn took a seat across from her and Dev sat beside her.

“So what do you want to do?” Shawn asked.

“Missy will be destroyed if something happens to them,” Tess said. “But how can I risk her out there? And without her, how can we convince them of the trouble coming their way?”

“I’ll go with you,” Dev said.

“Me too,” Shawn added. “And if they care about her as much as you say, they’ll help make sure nothing happens to her.”

Tess stared at the framed picture she’d put on the mantelpiece. Missy had drawn it a few days ago. It showed Missy with Tess, Shawn, Pax, and Dev. But if you looked closely, you could also see the shadowed figures in the background. Missy was beginning to accept that this was her world now, but her other family was never far from her thoughts.

And Tess knew that if they didn’t help the bigfoot now, Missy would forever hold it against her—and herself. “If we do this, keeping Missy safe comes above everything, right?”

“Yes,” both men answered.

Tess turned to Dev. “When is the force arriving?”

“Sometime tomorrow.”

Tess blew out a breath. “Well, I guess than means we’re leaving at first light.”