Stray Fears - Gregory Ashe Page 0,94

could figure out why that kind of girl had been where she’d been, had died the way she had died.

Hannah nodded, tears in her eyes. “I know. It’s just—she was my friend, you know? And it doesn’t seem real.”

“I’m sure they’re doing all they can,” Tean said.

Nodding, Hannah wiped her cheeks as the tears came faster.

“I’m so sorry,” Tean said. He moved in for a hug, reconsidered, but was already committed. He ended up giving her an awkward, one-armed embrace from the side, and Hannah laughed brokenly and patted his arm.

“I went through her logs and reports,” Tean said as he stepped back, “and I made some calls. Nobody could tell me anything out of the ordinary. And I gave all the information to the police.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know; the detectives would have looked at it on their own eventually.”

“No, I mean, you’re a good guy for doing it.”

“I’d be a better guy if I weren’t planning how to ditch this blind date.”

Hannah slapped his arm. “Sorry. I told myself I wasn’t going to bring Sook up again.”

Scipio and Bear had both gotten hold of a rope, and Bear was dragging Scipio around in an uneven version of tug-of-war.

“We could talk about books,” Tean said.

“Pass.”

“If you ever read a book . . .”

“Let’s talk about the very exciting date that I’m setting you up on. Why do you think you won’t like Rand?”

“Because his name’s Rand. Why can’t Utah people name their kids anything normal?”

“You are Utah people. And you have a weird name too. Anyway, he’s a nice guy, and he’s cute. I showed him your picture, and he said you were hot.”

“That doesn’t say much for his taste,” Tean muttered.

Hannah slugged him.

Across the park, Scipio and Bear were wrestling. Bear’s owner was a young guy with a lot of muscles and who apparently owned only tank tops. A couple of times he and Tean had talked. He had a faux-tribal tattoo on his shoulder. Between the tank tops and the tattoo, he was the closest thing to a bad boy Salt Lake City seemed capable of producing.

“That guy’s straight,” Hannah said.

“Straight’s a twentieth-century term. Everybody’s on a sexual spectrum now.”

“Not on the Wasatch Front they aren’t.”

“Hence my point,” Tean said. “People suck.”

“Ok, sweetie, get it all out of your system.”

“If you insist—”

“I was talking to Divorcee.”

The Yorkie was pausing every eighteen inches to investigate another clump of grass, obviously trying to choose the best spot.

“Oh. Well, I’m going to tell you anyway.”

Sighing, Hannah nodded.

“In the ocean—” Tean began.

“So help me, if you bring up the whale thing again, I will kill you, and then I will kill myself.”

Divorcee trotted back toward them, steering straight for Tean. She had some sort of obsession with using his shoes as her personal potty pad, and he darted behind Hannah. “I wasn’t going to bring up the whale thing.”

“Uh huh.”

“I wasn’t.”

“The ocean was just a logical place to start,” Hannah said.

“Exactly. Where all life began,” Tean said. “As a biologist who specializes in native aquatics, you should know that.”

“Oh my gosh,” Hannah said. “I might honestly have to kill you.”

“Do you know how many people get murdered on first dates? Especially blind dates?”

“How many?”

“A lot,” Tean said.

“Just because you saw one Lifetime movie about it doesn’t mean it happens a lot.”

“He might want to harvest my kidneys.”

“Rand doesn’t need your kidneys; his kidneys are perfectly healthy. That’s the first thing I ask every guy before I set you up with him.”

“He could traffic me. I could wind up in sexual slavery.”

“Heaven help whoever buys you.”

A breeze picked up; crabapples lined one side of the park, and the too-sweet stench of rotting fruit floated on the air. Tean decided to try a different tack. “Do you know how many bear-related fatalities occur every year? In the United States, anyway.”

“On average, three,” Hannah said.

“You only know that because you work at DWR too,” Tean said. “Other people would be suitably shocked.”

Hannah paused long enough to tuck her chestnut hair behind her ears and arrange her features in an expression of surprise.

“That’s better,” Tean said. “And do you know how many homicides occur every year?”

“Five.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Hannah asked.

“Four hundred thousand, globally. Every year. In some countries, it’s the leading cause of death. People killing each other is the leading cause of death.”

“Please tell me this is not what you’re going to talk about with Rand.”

“And do you know how many bears kill other bears?”

“It’s rare,” Hannah said.

“Again, insider knowledge; unfair