The Bear Truth by Ivy Sinclair

going to still tell me to stay put. Then he motioned his head and indicated that I should join him and Billy in the office. I stepped inside before he could change his mind. Billy was already sitting behind the sheriff's desk, looking at the desktop as if in search of something.
    "So are you going to let me in on the big secret?" I asked as soon as Lukas closed the door behind me.
    "It isn't a secret, Maren. You know that I think that there was something about Markus's death that suspicious. I am pretty sure I saw Joshua at the hospital right before the sheriff passed away. I don’t believe in coincidences. We need to get to the bottom of all of this as soon as possible.”
    Billy held up a vanilla file folder. Even across the room, I could read the name on the tab. Markus Kasper. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. This had all started because of Markus's death. It had been the event that had brought Lukas home to me. I hoped that was that whatever was inside the file was not something that would rip Lukas apart. He wanted to know the truth so badly, and he believed there was something more to Markus’s death than had been reported. What would it do to him if he found out that it wasn't true, that it was an accident after all?
    I sat down heavily in the chair across the desk from Billy. Lukas paced the floor behind me. I could tell that he was anxious, and I didn't blame him. I felt as if we were on the cusp of something big.
    Billy set the folder back down on the desk. He flipped it open. As he began to spread the documents out on the desk, I saw the pictures from the crime scene. Even though I was a fairly hardened reporter these days, I didn't think I was prepared to see anything around Markus's death. He had been someone I’d known almost my whole life. It would make it too real.
    I felt Lukas pause behind me. Billy looked up at him. "Are you sure you want to do this? I can look over the files alone and let you know if I find anything suspicious."
    "No way in hell. I need to see this. If nothing else to prove my suspicion. This is what I've been waiting to see since I got back. It’s the whole reason that I'm here. Sheriff Monroe should've showed me this file on day one. I deserve to know the truth," Lukas said. His tone let me know that there was not going to be any argument about the matter.
    Billy shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "I looked over parts of this file already. Several times actually. There wasn't anything suspicious. Remember, I'm the one who found his body. Although, of course, he wasn't quite dead yet." Billy grimaced realizing the impact of what he had just said.
    "You said you've only reviewed some of it," I said, catching the nuance in Billy’s words. "What about the rest?"
    "The sheriff was the one who was going to put the finishing remarks on the report. I gave him what I had written up as my statement. I know he spoke to the ambulance drivers as well as the hospital staff and coroner. So it was just a matter of typing those things up and closing the file," Billy said. He picked up different pieces of paper and pictures, looked at them, and then set them down again. I sensed he didn’t know what he was looking for.
    "Walk me through what happened that night. Maybe something will shake your memory and give us a clue,” Lukas said.
    Billy sighed. "It was pretty straightforward. I was patrolling out on Shulman’s Trail, and I thought I saw something in the headlights of the car. So I pulled off to the side of the road. As I got out of the squad car, I heard the moans of pain. I knew that someone or something was hurt pretty badly. Of course, my first thought was that it was someone or something from one of the neighboring clans. You know that trail borders three different territories, including the Loper territory. It wasn't uncommon to pick that as a spot to settle disputes away from the eyes and ears of the clans. So I expected to find somebody bloody and beat up. It wouldn’t have