Authors: Dana Stabenow
The road ended suddenly in a clearing and she had to slam on the brakes.
The house in the clearing was new and, as Bren had said, nowhere near as large or ornate as she would have expected a man like Dischner to build.
It annoyed her a little; life was so much easier when the bad guys were thoroughly bad, including their taste. This was a house she could live in, at least from the outside. A two story frame house painted white, it had two enormous picture windows on the first floor and a row of smaller ones on the second, so many that almost all of the entire western wall was made of glass that looked out over Turnagain Arm. Dischner had built for the view. Kate didn't blame him.
There had been no attempt to put in a lawn, and trees clustered next to the eaves of the steeply pitched roof. Kate pulled around the circular driveway and parked with the nose of the Escort pointing toward the road. Kate's First Law was Always Provide for a Clean Getaway, a rule she had learned the hard way. She got out, signaled to Mutt and walked to the front door, which opened as she stepped onto the front porch.
"Why, Ms. Shugak, what a nice surprise--"
Kate looked at him without expression and said two words. "Mutt. Take."
Target acquired, Mutt gathered her haunches beneath her and launched herself forward, a hurtling gray projectile weighing one hundred and forty pounds that hit Dischner squarely in the chest and knocked him flat on his back on the hardwood floor of his foyer. She landed lightly with her front paws on either side of his head, back paws solidly against his belly. Her mouth was open and her teeth were bared and a low, steady growl issued from deep in her throat with what sounded to Kate like a lot more enthusiasm than she had shown the night she nailed Gamble, but then she'd always been a quick study.
Mutt was half Husky and half Arctic gray wolf. Viewed from beneath, the Husky half was not predominant. Unlike Gamble, Dischner neither moved nor spoke. It was entirely possible he didn't blink or breathe, either, thereby showing more sense in his dealings with Kate Shugak than he had done thus far.
Kate stepped through the door over Dischner's sprawled legs. The living room was comfortably furnished with overstuffed furniture and built-in bookshelves. An intricately patterned area rug, Persian at a guess, lay before a snapping log fire in a stone fireplace. She strolled toward it and held out her hands. "There's just nothing more comforting than a warm fire on a cold morning, is there, Ed?"
An inarticulate gargle and Mutt's continuing menacing growl were her only replies. The picture window confirmed her outside estimate of the view. "My goodness, how lovely. Why, you can see practically all the way to Kalgin Island from here. And look at Susitna, and Denali, and Foraker just as high and wide and handsome as anything I've ever seen, even in the Park."
Dischner made an abortive effort to move. Mutt barked once, sharply, right in his face, and restarted the growl. A log popped and broke in the fireplace. Kate stooped to put another log on. She gave some thought to raking a few coals out onto the rug, and decided against it only because she didn't know how fast Persian rugs burned. She wouldn't want to have to vacate the premises before the job was complete.
Dischner made a noise. Kate looked around and said, "I beg your pardon, Ed, I'm afraid I was miles away. Did you say something?"
He had. It was a struggle to get the words out. "Call it off."
Kate replaced the poker and rose to her feet, dusting her hands. "It's a she, not an it."
This time the words came out freely. "Call her off!"
Kate wandered back more or less in his direction, pausing to read a few of the titles in the bookcase on one wall. She admired the collection of plaques adorning another wall that attested to his extensive good works in both territory and state of Alaska, and the esteem in which he was held by communities from Anchorage to Juneau. She ran an appreciative finger down a soapstone musk ox, a much better piece of work than either he had on display in his office.
Dischner gave a convulsive twitch and this time Mutt snapped at him, big white teeth nipping at the skin of his throat. They left a drop of blood behind. He screamed.
Kate walked over to look at him over Mutt's shoulder. She heaved a mournful sigh. "Eddie, Eddie, Eddie. Whatever are we going to do with you?" She clicked her tongue, testimony to how hard she was working at solving this obviously insoluble problem. Her head cocked to one side as she considered. "You know, I can't help but think it might be a good thing just to turn Mutt loose on you right here and now." There was an inarticulate whimper, and she squatted down on her haunches next to him, elbows on her knees, hands clasped loosely, and said in a confidential tone, "Did you know that one adult wolf can eat twenty pounds of meat in one helping?" Eddie P's squeal was high and panicked. Kate's head gave a sorrowful shake. "Living way up here, all alone like you do, it wouldn't come as a surprise to most people that you'd been attacked on your own doorstep by a wild animal." She looked down into his terrified eyes and added softly, "And it sure would save a whole lot of people a whole lot of grief, now, wouldn't it." An acrid smell told her he'd lost control of his bladder. She leaned forward to say in a voice barely audible above Mutt's growl, "Tell you what, Ed. I'll call off my dog, if you'll call off yours."
The words burst out of him. "Yes, yes, yes, anything, just get it off me." There wasn't much left of the dapper man in the three-piece suit and the silk rep tie. His usually elegant mane of hair was plastered to his head and his face was running with sweat.
The sight pleased Kate deeply, and she said in an almost affable tone,
"If you've got a quarrel to pick with me, Ed, you send your goons after me. You don't send them to shoot up a suburban home with a child inside.
People could get hurt, people who have nothing to do with what's going on between you and me. That's a no-no. You understand what I'm saying?
It's just not done. It is beyond the bounds of decent behavior." She reflected for a moment, and added, "Well, at least it's beyond the bounds of most decent people. I understand you put yourself outside those bounds on occasion." She raised her brows in polite inquiry.
Dischner choked out something unintelligible that Kate did not bother to translate.
"And no more loosening the lug nuts on a car I'm driving, especially when I'm driving it in traffic." She wagged a reproving finger. "I could have killed somebody. Shame on you, Ed."
The words burst out with a force that sprayed Mutt with saliva. "All right, anything, anything, just get it off me!"
Mutt didn't like being sprayed with saliva and barked again. A new smell informed Kate that Eddie P. had lost control of his sphincter muscle.
"Now, Ed," Kate said, "let's not be hasty. I wouldn't want you to make any promises under duress, because as I'm sure you as a legal practitioner are aware, promises made under duress are not binding. Are you sincere about this? Can I trust you to keep your word?"
"Yes," he sobbed.
She patted his shoulder. "Good. Very good, Ed. That was the right answer. I'm proud of you. Mutt. Off."
As if she'd thrown a switch the growl ceased and Mutt backed off, yellow eyes fixed on Dischner. He didn't move.
"Sit," Kate said.
Mutt sat, eyes watchful, not straying from the target. Dischner couldn't see her from his prone position. "Can I sit up?" he said humbly.
Eddie P's present submissive demeanor only confirmed two of Kate's long-held and, if the truth be known, frequently-tested beliefs: One, that one-inch fangs were a great leveler, and two, that people who had to lease out their fighting were always lacking in personal backbone. It was time for more carrot. "Certainly you can sit up, Ed," Kate said cordially, and even gave him a hand. "That's far enough, though," she cautioned, motioning him to remain on the floor. " We aren't quite finished." One shaky hand raised to smooth his hair back, and Kate was almost amused that his first thought was of his appearance. Mutt, no less intimidating on defense than she was on offense, shifted her gaze from his face to his hand. Dischner's face lost what little color it had regained, and the hand froze before returning very slowly and very carefully to his lap. His voice was dull and defeated. "What do you want?"
"Well now, Ed. We've settled the personal business. Haven't we?" Kate waited until he gave a mumbled answer that might have been yes. "Good," she said, giving his shoulder an approving pat. "I was sure we had. What I'd like to discuss now is this little professional problem we have."
He looked bewildered. "Professional problem?"
"Yes, I think we could call it a professional problem." Kate pursed her lips. "Ed, I couldn't help but feel that there was something going on between you and Lew and Harvey Meganack and Enakenty Barnes and maybe even Billy Mike." She paused. "Something to do with Iqaluk, perhaps?" He started and dropped his eyes. She signaled to Mutt, who gave a sharp, warning bark. Dischner started again. Kate reached across his chest to give Mutt's head a soothing pat. "That's okay, girl, calm down, Ed's no danger to us."
But he was starting to regain some spirit and his eyes narrowed at the slur. Kate let her hand rest on Mutt's head, so that Dischner had Kate on his right, Mutt on his left and Kate's arm barring his way. "Ed,"
Kate said, dropping her voice to a low, confidential tone, "you know Mutt is only half Husky." Dischner looked at her. "Sometimes--" she sighed regretfully, "sometimes, the wolf half just takes over. Wolves, now--" She shook her head. "An appetite with attitude, that's what I call them. Did I mention she hasn't had breakfast yet today? Remiss of me." She smiled. "But then, Mutt always works better on an empty stomach. Don't you, girl?" She patted Mutt again. Dischner swallowed hard.
"Now about Iqaluk, Ed. I spent some time at the library yesterday afternoon. You knew that, of course. However, you might not know what I was doing there."
She waited, and he croaked, "What?"
"I was looking at maps, Ed. Maps of Iqaluk, and the Ragged Mountains.
The area east of the Kanuyaq River delta." She snapped her fingers. "Oh, and Katalla, of course."
Again, the tiny jerk of reaction gave him away, and she smiled. "Yes, 1 thought you might be interested. It took me a while to put it together, but once I saw those claim forms in your files I knew I had the key to the whole problem." Her smile thinned at his reaction. "Yes, that was me in your office night before last. But you knew that, too, didn't you."
It wasn't a question, and, wisely, he didn't answer it. "I know what's going on here, Ed. I will not permit it to continue. You are free to muck around in state and local politics as much as you like," she said, feeling extremely generous, "in fact, there are some who would say that you and the legislature deserve each other. I myself have always thought a small nuclear device detonated beneath the Capitol when all the real Juneauites are in Douglas on a sleepover would solve the legislative problem just fine, but I've never been able to get my hands on enough plutonium to do the job properly."
His eyes shot again to her face, clearly too near believing her, and she almost laughed. "But I digress. Ed." She put a hand on his shoulder. He flinched beneath it. "You keep away from Iqaluk. You keep away from Niniltna. Whatever connection you have with Harvey Meganack and Billy Mike, sever it. Today. If you floated the loan to remodel Harvey's house, sell the paper to NBA. If you've promised Billy you'll finance his run for state representative, renege. Any construction bids UCo has under consideration with the Association, contact the board formally and withdraw them. Any projects currently under construction, I will give you until close of business on December 31st, this year, to either complete or subcontract. UCo is fired, Ed. Consider this your sixty-day notice."
She was gutting a large piece of his financial substructure, and he mustered up enough nerve to produce a travesty of a sneer and say, "And if I don't?"
Her smile was without humor, no more than a stretching of her mouth into a thin line. From his left, Mutt duplicated the expression, with more teeth showing. Kate patted his shoulder again. "I don't think we have to worry about that. Do we?"
In all his sixty years, Edgar P. Dischner had never before felt physical fear. The kind of board-and courtroom piracy in which he usually engaged involved a three-piece suit, an easy chair, a telephone and a stockpile of political ious. Over the last forty years he'd been threatened with felonious prosecution, political evisceration and social ostracism, depending on how far the state government was into the current administration, but none of those things involved physical harm. He might have been able to face down the threat of a beating, but the sight of that cold, yellow gaze and all those teeth had convinced him the way even the muzzle of a gun would not have. To his shame and fury he found his head shaking violently back and forth. "No," he heard himself saying, "no, no, no, no worry, no."
Kate gave his shoulder another approving pat before rising to her feet.
"We'll be going now, Ed. You really do have a beautiful home here. I'm almost envious of your view. Magnificent. It's enough to make me consider relocating to town. But you know what they say." She smiled.
"Once a Park rat, always a Park rat." She paused in the doorway. "Oh, just one other thing, Ed." He looked up dumbly. "Arctic Investors. From what I could tell from your files, a profitable concern that bought up a lot of repossessed condominiums during the Anchorage real estate crash in the mid-eighties."
"What of it?" he muttered, eyes on Mutt.
"Is John King a partner in it?"
His silence was her answer.
They were getting in the car when they heard him shout, only it was more like a wail. "Bitch! Fucking, fucking bitch!"
"Who does he think he is," Kate told Mutt, "calling you names like that.
Want to go back and teach him a lesson?" Mutt yawned hugely and gave herself a brisk shake. "You're right," Kate said, "he's too skinny. Not really worth the effort." She jammed the Ford into gear and headed back down the mountain.