Chapter 2
Tyler
Tyler Gillis noticed the woman before she noticed them.
She was standing in the middle of the trail, bear spray at the ready. Her posture screamed terror, and his first thought was that she’d encountered a grizzly.
His second thought was that they needed to make noise immediately, so whatever spooked her knew they were there too.
“Wait,” he called out, raising both hands slowly. “It’s okay.”
She lifted the bear spray in his direction, and Tyler got his first clear look at her.
Dark hair, athletic build, late twenties or early thirties.
Pretty, even with fear tightening across her expression.
But what struck him most were her eyes, wild with panic but also sharp and assessing. She was terrified but not frozen.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” He took a careful step forward. Behind him, he heard his friends stop moving. “You want to lower the bear spray a little?”
The woman stared at the canister in her hand like she’d forgotten she was holding it. “You’re not a bear.”
“I’m not a bear,” Tyler agreed, keeping his voice calm and even. “We’re not bears.” He gestured back toward his hiking companions without taking his eyes off her. “Are you hurt?”
“No. I mean, yes. I mean— ” She was struggling to get the words out. “I need your help. I found something. Bodies. There are bodies back there.”
Tyler looked her over. She seemed sincere, and she was definitely scared.
“Take a breath.”
“Seriously?” She narrowed her eyes at him, but the next line came out calmer. “I found dead bodies. Human bodies. Two of them.”
Two bodies. Unlikely. But she certainly believed it. Probably an animal. Maybe a deer carcass. Yet somehow, he knew that was wishful thinking. Even though he didn’t know her, his instincts told him she wouldn’t be acting like this if it wasn’t the real thing. “Are you out here alone?”
She took a step back and raised the canister. Brilliant, Tyler, he scolded himself. You sound like a creep.
He cleared his throat. “It’s not safe to hike alone in bear country.
” His eyes flicked to the trees behind her, noting the flashes of orange cording.
Smart. She’d known what to do even when scared.
That said a lot about her and confirmed his fears.
Maybe she really did find a body. “Why don’t you show me what you found? ”
“What do you mean bodies?” his friend asked.
“Dead people.” Her voice shook. “Two of them. Covered with dirt and pine needles. Like . . . like something buried them. Like a bear buried them.”
The pieces clicked together in Tyler’s mind. Buried. Covered. “A cache?”
She nodded frantically. “Bears do that, right? They cover their kills?”
Now the danger made sense. Bodies in a bear cache meant an active grizzly nearby. One that would fiercely defend its food source.
Tyler’s eyes locked with hers. She was holding it together, but barely. “Can you show us?”
“You want me to take you back there?” Her grip tightened on the bear spray. “Why?”
Fair question. Tyler glanced back at his friends. Robert had his phone out, checking for service. He shook his head. No bars in the forest.
“Because if there really are bodies in a bear cache, we need to verify it and mark the location properly before we hike out to call for help,” Tyler said.
He believed her, but still wanted to see for himself, wanted to make sure it was truly human bodies before calling in Johnny Law. Dealing with the police was the last thing he wanted.
Maybe it wasn’t what she thought it was. He knew, probably better than anyone, that when emotions were heightened, grasping reality wasn’t always guaranteed.
The woman’s shoulders dropped.
“I already marked it.” She gestured toward the orange cord.
“Good thinking. That helps.” Tyler took another slow step forward. “Robert and I could go. You can stay behind with Sue.” He motioned to his friend’s wife.
Sue gave a nod and patted the pistol in a holster across her chest.
The woman shook her head. “No, no. I’m—I’ll show you.”
Tyler nodded. “Okay, but listen, we need to stay on high alert. We check it so we can give accurate information to law enforcement. And then we all need to get out of this area as quickly as possible. If there’s a grizzly defending those kills, we’re all in danger.”
The woman seemed to process that, weighing her options. Trust them or run. Tyler saw the calculation happening behind her blue eyes.
“Look, I know you don’t know us,” he said. “But I’d like to think you know that if we were going to hurt you, we would’ve already done it instead of standing here talking. Let’s get this done. We all work together. We stay safe.”
The logic seemed to reach her. She lowered the bear spray—not putting it away but no longer pointing it at him.
“Okay,” she said. “But we need to be fast.”
“Agreed. Let’s keep talking. Loud voices. Make sure we don’t sneak up on anything out here.”
She led them through the trees, moving with the efficient stride of someone who was comfortable in the wilderness despite her obvious fear. Tyler followed, his senses on high alert.
Every sound in the forest suddenly felt threatening. Every shift in the wind made him tense.
He, Sue, and Robert kept up a steady stream of words.
He wanted to include the woman, but it wasn’t a true conversation, just noise to alert a bear they were there.
If a bear was defending a cache, it wouldn’t matter much.
But if one were strolling along, it might make them keep moving away from the group.
The smell hit first. Not overwhelming, but present. Death and decay, unmistakable.
His stomach tightened.
Then he saw it. The mound of disturbed earth. The bright blue fabric. A high-heeled shoe with a pale leg still inside it.
“There,” the woman whispered. “And there’s another one. I fell onto it.”
Tyler moved closer, careful to watch his step.
The caches were exactly as she had described, mounds of dirt and forest debris covering most of the bodies.
One revealed a leg, the other a hand with painted nails, some torn off.
The caches looked fresh, and the covering was methodical, the way bears hid meat to save for later.
His stomach turned, but he forced himself to look, to assess. Females, obviously. The faces were covered. There was about ten feet between the caches. And bear prints were everywhere, scat along the edges of the small clearing. Staying there was dangerous. Too dangerous.
Sue stepped closer to the second cache. “I don’t think it’s a second body. I think . . . this is only an arm. Part of the first body.”
“We need to go. Now,” Tyler said quietly. “Robert, can you add another marker? Make sure officials can find it.”
The woman was already moving, putting distance between herself and the bodies.
“Go with her,” Tyler said to Sue. She nodded and followed.
As soon as Robert had a piece of his own paracord in place, they followed the women. He was impressed to see they’d stopped ahead and were tying an additional marker into place.
“It’s about two miles back to the cars,” Robert said, his voice steady but tense.
“Right,” Tyler replied. He turned to the woman. “Are you parked at the main trailhead?”
“Yes.”
“You driving the blue SUV?” he asked.
“Why?” She narrowed her eyes.
“Just . . . I saw it when we pulled up.”
After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded. “That’s mine.”
“We’ll stick together until we get back to the cars.”
They started moving back toward the main trail, with Sue leading the way.
The woman followed, then Tyler. Robert was at the rear of the group, paracord and small knife still in hand to mark the trail along the way.
It probably wasn’t necessary on the main trail, but they didn’t want there to be any issues with finding the body. Tyler gave an involuntary shudder.
Even though he was familiar with death, he’d never seen anything like this. And Sue’s suggestion that it was one body in two caches added to the grossness of it.
How’d it end up in two parts?
He supposed the bear did it, but still. An even bigger question was what she was doing out here, hiking in the wilderness dressed like that. His mind ran through the likely scenarios and settled on one.
She was dumped. Killed somewhere else and dumped in the woods. Then the bear found her and did what he did. Took advantage of finding his next meal. His next several meals.
Tyler’s eyes settled on the woman in front of him.
From the way she held herself, it was obvious she was still tense.
Of course she was. He was tense. No doubt so were Sue and Robert.
Their simple hike in the woods, a way to enjoy a day off, had turned into something else entirely. And it was only going to get worse.
Now they’d be forced to call the cops. Who exactly to call, he didn’t know.
Probably 9-1-1, and they’d send whoever had jurisdiction.
Would that be the state police? Maybe, but most likely it’d be the Basin County Sheriff’s Department.
He frowned at the thought. He knew many of the deputies.
And that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
If he was smart, he’d slip away before the call was made. Let Robert, Sue, and the woman handle it. He stifled a sigh. As tempting as it was, he wouldn’t do that. Besides, he rode with Robert and Sue. What was he going to do, walk the fifty-odd miles back to his hometown of Irma, Wyoming?
Not only that, but he also knew he’d never leave. Not until he was certain the woman and his friends were safe.
Reaching the vehicles would eliminate the danger from the grizzly, for the most part. They’d be far enough from the cache, and that would help, though it was common for bears to saunter through parking lots and campgrounds. Especially if there was a chance food might be left out.
The hike back felt longer than it should’ve. Every rustle in the underbrush sparked new concern; every crack of a branch sent him scanning the tree line. Sue and Robert kept up a steady conversation, and he added a word here and there while the woman occasionally chimed in.
She kept pace easily. He couldn’t help but think she was some kind of athlete. She was built like one and moved like one. A runner, maybe. He noticed her arms. She probably did some strength training too.
She’d dressed for the occasion of a long hike. A backpack with paracord, water bottle showing in an outside pocket. This wasn’t her first time in the mountains, though she had made the mistake of coming out alone.
Everyone with a lick of sense knew better than to do that. At the very least, those who enjoyed hiking alone usually brought a dog with them. But this woman, out here fully alone, what was she thinking?
“What’s your name?” he asked as they walked.
She glanced back at him, and for a moment, he thought she might not answer. Then she said, “Brooke.”
“I’m Tyler.”
“I’m Sue.” Sue turned her head briefly to give Brooke a smile. “My husband is Robert.”
“First time I’ve found something like that,” Brooke said, and there was a slight tremor in her voice that she was trying to hide.
“I’d hope so,” Sue said, keeping her attention forward but bobbing her head.
Tyler stayed quiet. It was a first for him, too, but not the first time death had touched his life. Not even close.
They reached the spot where the trail divided into a loop. The path widened, and Tyler felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. The path was clear and well-marked. They weren’t far from the trailhead now.
“Any chance you have service?” he asked Robert.
Robert checked his phone and shook his head. “Still nothing.”
“I told you we should’ve got one of those satellite trackers,” Sue said.
“Yes, dear,” Robert replied.
Tyler sighed. He wasn’t certain there would be reception at the parking lot. They might need to drive up the road and make the call from the little store where they had a landline.
Brooke stumbled slightly on a root, and Tyler’s hand shot out automatically to steady her elbow. She glanced back at him, and their eyes met for a moment. Blue eyes, he noticed again. Clear and intelligent, despite the fear still lingering there.
“Thanks,” she said.
“No problem.”
She pulled away gently and kept moving. Tyler told himself to focus on the trail, on getting everyone to safety.
But part of his mind kept circling back to her.
The way she’d handled herself, the strength in her despite the terror, the fact that she’d had the presence of mind to mark the location even while panicking.
The parking area came into view, and relief washed over Tyler. They’d made it. No bear encounter, nobody else to worry about. Just the quiet horror of what they’d left behind in the forest.
“Two bars,” Robert said. “Maybe it’ll be enough. I’m calling it in.”
Brooke stopped near her blue SUV, leaning against it like her legs might give out.
Tyler moved closer, not crowding her but staying near in case she needed help. “You okay?”
She looked at him, and he saw the adrenaline crash starting. “No. But I will be.”
That simple honesty struck him. No pretending, no bravado. Just the truth.
“The police will want to talk to all of us. Get our statements about what we saw.”
“I know.” She took a shaky breath. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Neither can I.”
Robert was on the phone now, talking to what sounded like a 9-1-1 dispatcher, giving their location and explaining what they’d found. Sue stood beside him, adding occasional details.
Tyler stood beside Brooke, the perfect August day suddenly feeling off. Finding a body like that was nothing close to right. At least they were out of danger.
She pulled the water bottle from her pack and took a drink, her gaze meeting his over the rim. The look in her eyes sent a wave of something almost unfamiliar through him, a feeling he hadn’t known in years and never expected to feel again.