Officers Kevin Pryor and Kenya Jones from the local police department arrived at Beartown when the crowd from the 5:00 raid was leaving, still revved from the excitement, pointing gift shop weapons at each other and whooping as they streamed past the group of us gathered around a beat-up box.

"What do you say we head down to your hospitality tent, Mr. Compton, to sort this out?" Officer Pryor suggested. He was skinny for a police officer and comically outsized by his partner, a tall, black, observant woman.

"Fine, but first I want you to mark this spot and take any notes that you need for your investigation. Better yet, I want Andy," Bill said, a hard edge of anger in his voice betraying his poise. He was the kind of guy who might hold it together for now, only to do something unrestrained later. Like firing me.

"Detective Bellefleur is off-duty right now," Kevin said.

"Then call him in. They made off with my head and ruined a whole case of anniversary product."

"I know it's been an upsetting evening."

"Upsetting? Do you understand? They took my mascot, the symbol of my park."

"Let's move to the tent so you can show us how they took your mascot," Kenya suggested. "We're going to do everything we can to get it back."

"Then bring in Andy."

"We'll make sure we inform him of all the details." Kevin stood, arms akimbo, his thumbs hooked into his massive belt, a puffed-up posture that made him look like he was trying to fend off a mountain lion attack.

"It's the Brotherhood." Sookie said. She took a small step forward as she said it, though she needn't have done anything else to get their attention. Both officers and the Old Man straightened. "How do you know?" they pressed.

"Because right before those boxes were taken, a man was asking me about our other bears and where we kept them."

"What other bears?" the Ks wanted to know.

Sookie looked to Bill. "There are no other bears," he said. "We do have a facility for rehabilitation of injured bears, but at present, it's empty. The Brotherhood claims that we stockpile bears for our shows and treat them badly. Force them to do tricks, breed, and so on."

The officers turned to Sookie. "Did any of them say they were from the Brotherhood?"

"No, but I could tell. They'd been asking about our animal attractions, and then out of the blue came that question about 'other bears.' No one else would know to ask it."

The Ks nodded as if her logic made sense. I still felt out of the loop. What the hell was the Brotherhood?

"Any threats of violence?" they asked.

Bill's eyebrow arched. "What kind of violence?"

"We're just asking." Then they called in Detective Andy Bellefleur.

"How in the devil did they gain possession of the suit?" the detective wanted to know first off, looking me up and down.

"I wasn't wearing it at the time," I answered. "It was hot, I needed a break, so I came out here for some shade and water."

The detective nodded as though in agreement.

"And then?" Bill asked imperiously. He was only goading; he'd already heard the story.

"I sat down in the shade and drank water," I said.

"He stored the suit safely in a clean box," Sookie added.

"See?" Bill said. "They were watching and waiting for the moment they could steal it."

"That makes no sense," Sookie said. "There was no way they could have known Eric was going to be here at that time with the suit. I think they were just on a scouting mission. Or to stir up a little trouble, like messing with our anniversary freebies. And then they got lucky."

"Maybe Eric is involved with the Brotherhood."

"Are you?" The detective looked at me.

"No," I said. "I never heard of the Brotherhood before today."

"And that was the first time you ever came out here and took off the suit?" the Old Man asked. I nodded, certain there wasn't much I could say to save my job. As much as I didn't want to go back home, I wasn't going to grovel to someone who was going to do what he wanted no matter what I did.

"That was the first time," Sookie added. She was sticking up for me, though I had a suspicion it was more like she was standing up to Bill.

"But if Eric hadn't taken off the suit…" Bill made his point without even finishing his sentence.

"Do you remember what happened to Warren?" Sookie asked, still pushing back.

"How is Warren relevant now?" Bill snapped.

"No one stepped in until he'd passed out."

"Can someone tell me how they got the boxes?" the detective interrupted.

"I was helping a visitor," Sookie said. "I'm sure he was from the Brotherhood because he was the one asking me questions about the safety of our bears. And while I was distracted by him, the other men must have taken the suit. One took the box with the suit. The other took a box of pens. I don't see anything else that's missing."

"And you got the pens back," Andy said.

"In a manner of speaking." Bill pointed out into the lot, where the pens still lay.

"And you got the suit back, but not the head. How is that?"

"I don't know," Sookie said. "There was a group that showed up at the tent at once. They didn't seem to be together, because they came from different parts of the parking lot. They happens a lot, that people come in swells, even if they're not together, so I didn't think anything of it."

"Mm-hmm," Andy prodded. I still wanted to know more about this Brotherhood.

"Maybe one of them took the head separate and made off before we even noticed."

"Right in front of you," Bill said, shaking his head.

Andy looked at me. "And you took down the guy with the suit."

I nodded at Sookie.

"How'd you do that?" he asked her.

"I jumped on him from behind," she said vaguely.

"Are you all right? You got a little..." Andy pointed to her temple, where a streak of blood had dried.

"I'm fine," she said.

"Well," he said, all business-like and authoritative. "We have report of some activity of the Brotherhood in an abandoned church south of here, about a mile from the Wechsler-Diamond trail head. We'll follow up. See what we can turn up. You let us know if you see anything unusual around here."

"There will be," the Old Man said.

"Maybe so. You got that 75th anniversary going on this season, and that's sure to draw attention."

The Old Man looked like he'd swallowed something rotten. "I want that head back. I need that head back."

"You know I can't promise you that. But the last thing I want is a big scene. Let us handle this, all right?"

"Then handle it," Bill said.

"We will," he assured Bill again. "But you have to have patience. These things take time."

And then Sophie-Anne showed up, dressed in a long gown with sequins, clearly on her way to a big event.

"Bill?" she asked.

"The bear head got stolen. It's gone."

She actually laughed. "Good riddance. Now we can use the new ones that you've refused to use since I bought them. Two seasons ago." She strolled toward him like Vanna White, about to flip a few letters of the puzzle. "We have three that we'll be able to cycle." She stopped only a foot away from him. "Our lives will be so much easier." She waited for him to say something. Bill looked queasy and meek. "Is that all?" she asked.

I was surprised he let her talk to him that way. Muted, he nodded toward the parking lot, littered with a case of Beartown pens.

"Oh, well, that's an easy fix too. I think Eric and Sookie can take care of it, don't you? All those pens are going to need to be swept up and cleaned off. And I'll see Eric and the other bears tomorrow for a lesson in wearing the new suit. Then we'll be all set to go." Sophie-Anne used Bill's walkie-talkie—Sookie's had gotten smashed in the fight—to call for cleaning supplies, not just a push broom, but also paper towels and spray cleaner, as though she expected us to wipe all of them.

"He's fired," the Old Man said, glaring at me.

"Nonsense," Sophie-Anne said. "He'll do an exceptional job cleaning up those pens. And he has an Alice-in-Wonderland for us. She doesn't even need housing and she can be here in two days tops." She looked pointedly at me. "Right Eric?"

I'd only left a message for Pam that morning, with the promise she'd have a spot in the dorms.

"Right," I said.

"Then we're all set." Sophie-Anne climbed back in her car, neither rumpled nor miffed.

"I can't believe they got the head," Bill said as soon as she left.

"I know," Sookie said with deep sympathy in her voice. At the same time, she was working on her ponytail, pulling it back so tight her head looked bald. "Go on home. Fix something to eat and get some rest. We'll take care of the clean-up and then I'll stop by later."

He stalked off without another word as Hoyt arrived with cleaning supplies. Hoyt started to help, but Sookie asked whether he'd cover for her in the tent, instead. She looked at me expectantly, with the broom held out in my direction. I pushed at it a few times while she retrieved the box.

"This is bad," Sookie said, setting the box in front of me. She actually got down on her stomach and reached for pens under a car.

"We have another suit," I said. "Apparently we have three new ones."

"Yes, and we'll make it work. But it's important to Bill to honor the past. That's why this is such a big deal to him."

"There's a difference between honoring the past and getting stuck in it."

"That might be the most insightful thing I've heard you say," Sookie said.

"But I don't understand it. How could anyone get so stuck?" Moving forward had always been my goal in life, which explained why I was wearing a bear suit for the summer. Things would only get better. Or at the very least they'd change.

"It's complicated. There are parts of Bill's past that he dearly wishes he could have back." She didn't offer any details, and I didn't press for them, though it probably explained why their relationship was so complicated. I hated him for his weaknesses.

"I think nostalgia is a luxury," I said. Not only was it a foolish waste of time, but also there had to be something desirable in the past in order to miss it.

She nodded, without saying anything else on the subject.

I pushed at the broom. "And now we get to play pick-up-sticks."

She waved her hand as though she could make it all disappear. "Do you know how many cases of pens I have? Let's just get these swept up and I'll hide them in the dumpster. We need to get that head back."

"So I've heard."

She ignored my sarcasm. "Then we can take a drive—about a half an hour south—and check out the Brotherhood's hangout."

"The Brotherhood?" It wasn't at all what I was expecting, but this I could get on board with. "Tell me about them," I said, as though I might need to be convinced.

"The Brotherhood of the Sun," she said. "They're no good." She was using a large metal dustpan to scoop a combination of pens, gravel, dirt, and cigarette butts. "They say they're for animal rights, but they draw attention to themselves by making wildly false claims."

"Have they caused trouble here before?"

"They picketed us a few times. Bill's had to call the police to get them off our property."

"And you want to go down there tonight and try to steal the head back." I wondered if more tackling would be involved. I hoped it would. Watching Sookie take down that Brotherhood idiot had been the sexiest thing. I had no doubt she hadn't seen many scraps in her life, but where her skill was deficient, her heart was in the right place. She'd fought with a lot of passion. Freddy had gotten her hands dirty once or twice when necessary, always with great distaste. Not that I was comparing.

"We will get that head back," she said, understanding that I was already in. She stood up and brushed the dirt and gravel from her hands and legs. "I'll see if Hoyt can cover for me until closing, and then I need to run home for a few things. You want me to pick you up at the dorms?"

"I'll drive," I said. Half an hour south of here? We'd get there much faster in my Corvette.