When the police call the slaughter of his mother and brother a home invasion gone bad, Mika doesn't believe it. Because he has no way to prove otherwise, he closes down, refusing to talk about what happened.<br><br>That is until Buck, a bouncer at a local bar Mika visits, convinces Mika to open up to him. When he does, Buck not only learns about the murder, but also that Mika grew up living off the grid until his father died, two years previously, at which point his family moved to the city.<br><br>They begin to bond as they try to figure out the reason behind the murders, which may revolve around the family property in the mountains. All they have to do is prove it, without being killed in the process. Only if they can will they take a chance and move their growing friendship on to something more.

Hunting a Killer

Buck looked at them, saying, “I bet you’re a tracking expert. Aren’t these fairly fresh?”


“Yeah, some of them are,” Mika agreed, frowning.


When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Buck saw three doorways, the doors open. It was obvious from the beds—a larger one in one room, two narrow ones in the second—that they had been bedrooms. Through the third door he saw a bathroom with a claw-foot tub, and a sink set above a heavy, handmade cabinet. Someone had spray painted ‘Dick was here’ on the large mirror above it—the same message that was on one of the walls in the main room.


“I wonder if Dick is a much of a dick as this makes him seem,” Buck commented.


“Probably,” Mika said from the hallway. He had his flashlight aimed at the far end and was shaking his head.


Chapter 17