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Book excerpt: “Bear” by Julia Phillips
Hogarth
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Julia Phillips, whose bestselling debut novel, “Disappearing Earth,” was a National Book Award finalist, returns with “Bear” (Hogarth), a hypnotic, tense story about sisters on an island off the coast of Washington whose lives are upended by the presence of a bear near their home.
Read an excerpt below.
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“You won’t Believe what we saw from the boat tonight,” she told Elena, who was at the sink washing the day’s dishes. It was late, and Elena’s shift had ended hours earlier, but she always waited up for Sam. Elena had brought home from the golf club leftover chili con carne, and Sam was picking at it, shredded cheddar and green onion. Their mother was in her room sleeping. “Will you guess?”
The woods around their house were silent and black. Thick with hawthorn, which grew dark fruit, and Douglas fir. A yellow gleam at the edge of the kitchen window marked the presence of their closest neighbors, the Larsens, who had spotlights tastefully illuminating their landscaping, and who gave too- polite greetings to the girls whenever they bumped into each other in town. Danny Larsen, their youngest son, had asked Elena to homecoming senior year. His mother shut that down immediately.
Elena said, “A dead body.”
“Oh, Jesus,” Sam said. Put down her fork. “Would I talk like this if we saw a body?”
“I don’t know. You get worked up over the weirdest stuff.” Elena pushed her hair from her cheek with one wet wrist. “A whale.”
“We see whales all the time. Guess again.”
“A sea lion.”
Sam rolled her eyes. And though she was behind her sister’s back, Elena couldn’t see her, Elena still seemed to know. The movement must have been felt. So Elena was already on to the next guess: “A merman.”
“You’re never going to get it. A bear!”
“No way.”
“A huge bear! Swimming in the channel!”
Sam had seen it herself: the wet, furred hump of the animal’s back, the line of its neck, its pointed nose and small round ears. The water was silver and the sky was dimming blue, and the creature, against those colors, was a dark spot, but the last light in the air outlined its form, made it clear and shocking and strange. The tourists called out to each other in delight. Exclamations in English, Spanish, Chinese. One of them tossed something in the water toward it, and another passenger scolded them. The ferry chugged on, but for a few minutes, long odd ones, the boat and the bear were side by side, pushing forward, abandoning the mainland together, heading out toward the night. The captain even made an announcement over the intercom so anyone sitting inside could come see for themselves. The bear’s lifted head. Its slicked shoulders. The widening ripples it left behind. It did not look in their direction as it paddled determinedly on.
Elena was drying the plates now, stacking them in the cupboards. “Where in the channel? You don’t think it could reach us, do you?”
“Between Shaw and Lopez.” Sam was tickled by the question. “Why? Are you scared?”
“Of bears?”
“Of scary bears?”
“You’re not?”
“No way.” What was Sam afraid of? Withering away here. Dreaming of chances she’d never be able to take, and shriveling up from that denial, getting poorer and put under more pressure and pushed even farther from the rest of the world. Compared to those fears, getting mauled by a bear seemed a delight.
Elena turned back to the sink. “Our brave girl.”
“How was your day?”
“Fine. No wildlife. Unless you count Bert Greenwood coming in drunk at noon.”
“That’s not unusual, I guess.”
“More of a whale than a bear,” Elena said.
Her hands were under the faucet. Her face was tipped down, making her neck stretch long and the bones bump up at her nape. “Want me to do the pots?” Sam asked.
Elena shook her head. “It’s no problem. Keep talking.”
From the book “Bear” by Julia Phillips. Copyright © 2024 by Julia Phillips. Publishing by Hogarth, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
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On Dec. 15, 2022, Matthew Ecker was headed to work when he said he got a frantic call from his former co-worker and friend Alex Pennig. He said Pennig told him she got in a fight with her boyfriend Shane Anderson and was scared of what he might do. So, Ecker took his gun, which he owned legally, and drove to Pennig’s St. Paul, Minnesota, apartment.
Terri Randall/Mary Jo Pennig
Ecker arrived around 2 p.m. He would later say his only reason for going to Pennig’s was to protect her.
Early the next morning, Pennig was shot dead in her apartment. Detectives used surveillance footage to piece together her final moments.
The altercation
Ramsey County District Court
Pennig and Ecker went out to a few bars that evening and ended up at Camp Bar at 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2022. Anderson was at the bar. Surveillance video shows he walked over to Pennig and began talking to her. Ecker walked over to the two of them. Things got heated, and when Ecker stepped in between Pennig and Anderson, Anderson punched him. Anderson was kicked out of the bar and Pennig and Ecker stayed for about an hour drinking and chatting.
Matthew Ecker and Alex Pennig arrive home for the night
Ramsey County District Court
At 2:05 a.m., Pennig and Ecker arrive at her apartment building after walking there from Camp Bar.
A return to the lobby
Ramsey County District Court
At 2:24 a.m., Pennig and Ecker are seen back in the lobby as they walk out of the building. Ecker would later say he was going to his car to get his headphones. Pennig (pictured) returned first and waited in the vestibule for Ecker. She paces around looking at her phone.
Alex Pennig last seen alive
Ramsey County District Court
Ecker returns two minutes after Pennig at 2:30 a.m. The two then walk through the lobby and go back up to Pennig’s apartment. This is the last time Pennig was seen alive.
St. Paul police officers arrive on scene
Ramsey County District Court
At 2:50 a.m., Ecker called 911 and reported that Pennig shot herself in the head. St. Paul police officers raced to the apartment building and Ecker let them inside at 2:56 a.m.
Matthew Ecker’s story
Ramsey County District Court
After leading police officers to Pennig’s apartment, Ecker sat in the hallway, appearing distressed and emotional. Officer Justina Hser approached him and began asking him what happened. Their conversation, which lasted nearly an hour, was captured on her body camera. Ecker told her everything was fine between him and Pennig and that they did not have an argument. He said she grabbed his gun out of his backpack, backed into the bathroom and locked the door. Moments later, Ecker said he heard a shot, so he broke open the bathroom door to find Pennig laying on the floor with a gunshot wound to her left temple.
The weapon
Ramsey County District Court
Responding officers located the gun. It was on Pennig’s chest with her left hand resting on top. They noted that this seemed odd. One officer then moved the gun to the sink (pictured) to place it in a safe position.
Notable evidence
Ramsey County District Court
Ecker had told officers he washed his hands after trying to help Pennig, which is why his hands were clean. But the officers noticed that the bathroom sink was dry when they arrived. If Ecker had just washed his hands, detectives believed the sink probably would have still been wet.
A lack of evidence on Matthew Ecker
Ramsey County District Court
Ecker was interviewed by detectives around 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2022. He had no visible blood on his body or his clothes. It was later discovered that Ecker also had no gunshot residue on him.
The defining evidence
Ramsey County District Court
While Ecker was being interviewed at the police station, the forensic unit processing the scene notified detectives that they had found a new piece of evidence once Pennig’s body was moved. It was a metal piece of the bathroom door lock, and it was discovered on the floor where Pennig’s head was. The detectives suspected that when Ecker broke open the door, that small metal piece landed on the bathroom floor. According to the detectives’ theory, Ecker broke open the bathroom door, then Pennig was shot and fell on top of the piece. They say this proves the bathroom door was forced open before Pennig was shot, and that Ecker had lied to them.
The accused: Matthew Ecker
Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office
On Dec. 19, 2022, Matthew Ecker is formally charged with second-degree murder. Ecker denies killing Alex Pennig.
The trial of Matthew Ecker
CBS News
On Feb. 8, 2024, Ecker’s trial begins. Eight days later, on Feb. 16, 2024, he is found guilty of second-degree murder.
Matthew Ecker sentencing
CBS News
On April 3, 2024, Ecker is sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is appealing his conviction.
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