THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS - BWS

one

It took Dee and I a couple of days to reach the United Kingdom. I hated leaving her in a cage for such a long trip, but there was unfortunately no alternative this time. Crossing the Atlantic ocean by boat would have taken a lot longer, and I wasn't sure passengers would have appreciated being snarled at by my travel companion.

The last time I was in the UK, I was a baby. My parents moved us to middle of nowhere Canada before my first birthday, looking for a quieter life. And that was exactly what they found in Blue River. Lost in the Rocky Mountains, there was absolutely nothing to do in our town except watch vegetables grow. I hadn't missed the quiet town after I moved to the US to live with Rick. Only the memories of the time I spent with my parents.

"Second door on your right," the middle-aged lady behind the reception desk said, her arm stretched in that direction.

I smiled politely and gave her a small nod before making my way to the Chief's office. I needed to learn what the police knew about the 'bear attack' and gather enough information to be able to find the creature who killed that innocent man. A case always started at the police station.

I knocked on the door before pulling at my pencil skirt. It had a bad habit of sliding up, but money was tight and I couldn't afford a tailored suit.

"Agent Parker, please come in," whom I assumed to be the chief of the station said as he let me in his office. He closed the door behind him before turning around, glancing at me from head to toe not very discreetly. "I was surprised to learn that the FBI finds interest in a bear attack in my city", he said as he offered me a seat.

He walked around his desk and sat on the black leather chair facing me. The dark circles underneath his eyes and the unkept scruff on his jaw told me he hadn't had a good night of sleep in a while. He was looking at me the way most law officers did, with intrigued and sceptical eyes. I couldn't blame them, I was barely twenty-five and pretending to be an FBI agent. Some questioned it, but most went with it, too scared of being reprimanded by the Bureau.

"Is that what you classified it as?" I asked as I sat down on one of the two chairs facing his desk.

"That's what the autopsy report said, yes. The injuries couldn't have been inflicted by a man. We thought of a wolf maybe, but the force required to leave such–" he hesitated, as if lost for words. "I've just never seen anything like it."

I could tell by looking at him that he'd indeed never faced any creatures before or the aftermath. His aging skin was paler now, his eyes wide as he thought of the victim. Seeing a body in such a state was traumatizing, I knew it from experience. And it never got easier.

"Did you find any footprints near the body? He was found at Royal Victoria Park, correct? Has any DNA samples been retrieved from the wounds?"

"There was little left of the body, Miss– agent," he quickly corrected himself, his cheeks warming to a brighter colour. He cleared his throat and added, "It was pouring that night and our team wasn't able to find anything on the scene."

"Not even on the body? I am sure your medical examiner must have found hairs of some kind, no?"

I really wondered how the British police could think a bear attacked a man in Bath, or even in the country. They must have known how insane that sounded. Bears had been extinct in the United Kingdom since the 16th century.

"Nothing identifiable," he answered, frustration clear on his face.

My eyebrows furrowed. It was nearly impossible that a creature hadn't left some kind of DNA on the body. Skin, hairs, a claw maybe?

"Where's the body now?" I asked and the look on the man's face changed to disapproval.

"At the coroner's office. But trust me, agent, you do not want to see it."