Nothing gold can stay (26 page)

The howl of the wind, held in temporary abeyance by Moses voice, was back with a vengeance, snarling and snapping, making the trees outside creak and the cabin shudder.

“Im sure glad Im not outside in this, he said unthinkingly.

“Me, too, Amelia whispered.

“You awake?

“Yeah. You?

“Yeah.

She was silent for a moment. “How come you jumped?

“What? Oh. You jumped, too. So did Bill.

“Not then. Before. When he said the story was about the Little Hairy Man.

“Oh. Caught in the spell of the old mans story, hed forgotten his initial reaction.

He was silent for a long time, so long that she thought he had fallen asleep. “In my village, there was this girl, he said finally. His head twisted on his pillow and he looked up at the face pressed against the side of the bunk. “She was teaching me Yupik.

“You didnt grow up speaking it?

“My birth mother wouldnt. She said it was a dead language of a dead people, and if I wanted to get anywhere in life I had to speak English. She spoke only English at home.

His voice was matter-of-fact, but the undertone of bitterness betrayed him.

“But in school, you had to be fluent in both. So the teacher got a girl from the high school to teach me. She was really nice, so nice. She showed me how to learn. I never knew I could learn anything before her, but I could. She gave me that.

He stopped.

“Did you learn Yupik? she said.

“Some. Before she went away.

“Went away? Where did she go?

“I dont know. Nobody knew. One day she just wasnt there anymore.

“Did shehow did she leave?

“Nobody knew, he repeated.

“Nobody found her?

“They looked. But nobody found her. He looked up at her. “Some said it was the Hairy Man. That he came down from the mountains because he was hungry. And he took her.

They were both silent. “Im sorry, she said finally.

“Yeah. Me, too.

“Her name was Christine, she heard him say just before she slid into sleep. “She was pretty.

And then, words so indistinct she might have dreamed them, “She looked like you.

Newenham, September 6

“Im willing to try it if you are, Prince said hopefully.

Liam took one look at the clouds, so low that if he went outside and reached up he thought he might touch them, and said firmly, “Im not.

“Im grounded, Wy said. “At least until this afternoon.

Prince pounced. “Why, did you hear something on the forecast? Is it going to clear?

Wy shook her head, almost amused. “Not likely. Theres a gale warning out for Area 5A. Itll be moving north.

Prince stared out at the dark skies with a gloomy expression. The third interrogation of Teddy Engebretsen and John Kvichak the night before had produced no changes in their story, the result of which was that Prince now wanted very much to talk to Rebecca Hanover. She had shown up at Wys house at first light on the off chance that the weather might look better out of Wys window than it did from the trooper post. Liam had invited her to stay for breakfast.

“At least it isnt snowing anymore, Jo said, refilling coffee mugs all around.

A timer dinged and Bridget opened the oven door. The heavenly aroma of Bisquick coffee cake wafted through the room. Jim and Luke were sitting on the couch with their feet propped on the coffee table, Liam in the armchair. Jo replaced the coffeepot and perched on a stool at the counter next to Wy. Bridget cut the cake into squares and handed the squares around on saucers. For a while the only sounds were the dulcet growlings of Bob Edwards on the radio, the creaking of the house beneath the undiminished onslaught of wind, and grunts of pleasure as the coffee cake went down. Bridget was complimented lavishly all around, and she put her finger in her chin and curtsied in response.

Prince paced restlessly in front of the windows, until Liam said, “Why dont you go on down to the post?

“What for?

He shrugged. “Somebody might call in a triple homicide.

“Like we could respond in this, she said, but she picked up her hat.

When the door shut behind her Jim said, “What a hot dog.

Liam gave a tolerant shrug. “Shes smart and quick and ambitious. All she needs is a little seasoning.

“She had two different homicides, one a multiple, the first day she got here, Jo said. “She got her name in the paper and everything.

“Thanks to you, Liam said.

Jo refused to curtsy, but she did bow her head in arrogant acceptance of what wasnt exactly an accolade. “In fact, you both did.

“Yeah, I was thrilled.

Jo snorted. “If you didnt want your name in the paper, you shouldnt have become a trooper.

“More coffee, anyone? Bridget said brightly.

Jo gave Wy a long look. Wy wasnt talking much, and she noticed that her friend was keeping to the opposite side of whatever part of the room Liam was in. She wondered what had happened out at Nenevok Creek. She noticed Jim looking at Liam and wondering the same thing.

Bridget was still standing in front of her with the coffeepot and a smile. “Sorry, Jo said, and held out her mug. “Sure, and thanks.

Wy and Liam had come in separately the night before, and had exchanged perhaps ten words total before Liam went out to his camper for the night. There was no sneaking back in, either, not that there would have to be with Tim out of town. It wasnt like there hadnt been plenty of noise already to contend with from the back bedroom, she thought acidly. Not that she hadnt done her best to put Luke through his paces on the living room couch.

She looked at Luke. She should have known better. Beautiful men, like beautiful women, knew that their faces were their fortune. They didnt have to do anything but be beautiful. Luke, it must be admitted, was extremely beautiful, but beauty went only so far in bed, and even less far out of bed.

Bridget was beautiful, too, but she was also smart and funny. Jo hated to admit it, but Jims taste in the opposite sex might be better than her own. “So you think Rebecca Hanover killed her husband and ran off because she didnt like being stuck out in the Bush for three months? she said out loud.

“Thats not for publication, Jo, Liam said sternly.

Jos fair skin, the bane of her existence, flushed right up to the roots of her hair. “I heard you the first time, she said between clenched teeth.

He examined her expression for a moment, and then, amazingly, backed down. “I know. Im sorry, Jo.

She managed a brief nod, and to salvage her pride added, “I didnt say I wouldnt write about it. But I wont use anything you tell us here today without your say-so. She looked at Wy, who was glaring at Liam.

“I know, Liam said again.

“I thought Woodward and Bernstein used two sources for every story, Jim said.

Jo appreciated the effort he was making to lighten the air. “They did.

“You dont?

She matched his effort. “Not if the first source is a state trooper with twelve years on the job and a reputation for upholding truth, justice and the American way.

There was a round of nervous laughter. Everybody looked at Liam, who sighed. “Yeah, okay. He looked at Wy, who was studiously examining her coffee mug. His lips tightened.

“From the beginning, Jo prompted him. She didnt know what was going on there, but she was willing to act like the lightning rod for the time being.

Liam didnt strike. Instead, he told the story simply, beginning with the Mayday intercepted by the Alaska Airlines flight deck crew and his and Princes arrival at the scene. He put together the case against Engebretsen and Kvichak in clipped, disinterested terms, including their passionate denials.

“I never met anyone who was arrested who ever was guilty of anything, Jo observed.

“Yeah. I know.

Liams smile was thin and strained, and Wy tried not to feel guilty. What else could I do? she thought. He had to know. Maybe hes right, I should have told him sooner, but its only five months since I saw him again, only a month that weve been together.

She thought back to the afternoon at the mining camp. I love you, Wy, Liam had said, and so she had told him, then and there, and he, at first disbelieving and then enraged, had stalked up to the cabin in a huff, ostensibly to search for evidence to help solve the mystery of Mark Hanovers murder but really, she knew full well, to put her far enough out of reach that he wouldnt be tempted to deck her.

She didnt blame him, but she wouldnt fall into the trap of blaming herself, either, not a second time. Shit happens. You cant let it define you, you cant let it define the rest of your life. She hadnt, and she wouldnt let him do so, either.

Jos voice recalled her to the present. “But you still dont like them for it.

The trooper shrugged his shoulders. “I dont know. It doesnt feel right. Whyd they call in the Mayday? According to Wy the Hanovers werent due to be picked up until Labor Day. If they did it, they could have left the body lying where it was, ready for the nearest grizzly to wander out of the woods and eat the evidence.

“In that case, wheres Rebecca? Jo said.

Labor Day, Wy thought, and remembered the last time shed delivered supplies to Nenevok Creek. Three fishermen getting restive as she fought the cargo netting and the bungee cords. Rebecca watching with a wistful expression on her face, arms cradling the stack of magazines Wy had brought in for her. Mark Hanover coming up the path andoh. “Oh hell, Wy said.

Everyone looked at her.

“Im sorry, she said sheepishly. “I totally forgot.

“What? Liam said.

“The fishermen were in a hurry to get to the lodge and I was humping it to get the plane unloaded and wed hit an air pocket on the way in and the cargo had shifted a little in flight, you know, just enough to wedge itself into

“Wy, Liam said. “What did you forget?

Wy took a deep breath. “The last time I made a supply run into Nenevok Creek, Mark Hanover pulled me to one side and said they might need another order of supplies, a big one this time. Like I said, my passengers were in a hurry and I wasnt paying much attention. I told him to get me a list and he said he would and we took off.

There was a brief, electric silence.

“You only just remembered this now? Liam said.

“Im sorry, Wy said helplessly. Ive had other things on my mind, she thought, and knew by the shift of expression on his face that he had seen that thought reflected in her eyes.

“A big order of supplies, Jo said, her eyes bright, her nose all but twitching. “At the end of the summer? Nobody orders supplies at the end of the summer. Youre just inviting the bears in, leaving a bunch of food sitting around your cabin.

“Unless, Liam said.

“Unless, Jim said, “youre ordering up enough to see you through the winter in that cabin.

“From what her friend Nina said, Liam said slowly, “Rebecca Hanover wasnt more than lukewarm about spending the summer out there.

“If he told her about this wonderful new idea just before they were scheduled to leave Jo said.

Liam looked at Wy. “Tell me everything you remember about Rebecca Hanover.

“I already did.

“Tell me again.

He was all trooper now, firm, implacable, totally focused on the job. He bore no resemblance whatever to the furious man who had raked her over the coals at Nenevok Creek. In one way, she welcomed it. In another, she did not. She got up and went to the corner desk from where she ran her business, and pulled out a tall red book filled with dated, lined pages. She opened it and flipped through May, until she found the day she wanted. “Here it is, May twenty-ninth, the Saturday before Memorial Day. Passengers Mark and Rebecca Hanover, along with two hundred pounds of freight, to Nenevok Creek.

Wy looked up. “She was frightened. First time shed been in a small plane, I think. But he jollied her on board. They sat in the backwe had to take the Cessna because of all the freightand I strapped some of their canned goods into the front seat to balance out the load. It was a clear day, maybe an eight-knot wind, easy flight, eighty-five minutes there and back again, no problem.

“How did she strike you?

Her eyes narrowed in memory. “As a dyed-in-the-wool city girl, she said after a moment. “Shes beautiful, blond hair, blue eyes, great figure. Immaculate manicure. Soft voice, called him honey a lot. Shes not your typical Bush rat. Her husband had the gold bug, and she was along for the ride.

“Willingly?

She considered. “If you mean by that, did he have a pair of handcuffs on her, no.

“But?

“But. She met Liams eyes straight on for the first time in forty-eight hours. “But she wasnt happy about his decision.

“She think it was pie in the sky? Gold mining is, mostly.

Wy shook her head. “Wasnt the money. She just didnt want to be out there. It was like pulling up a hothouse orchid and trying to transplant it on the moon. She knew it. He didnt. She looked down at the Day Timer, leafed through some more pages. “I dropped off supplies half a dozen times. Every time, she was waiting at the strip. I took her some newspapers and magazines and she was, well, almost pathetically grateful.

She closed the book and raised her head. “I dont think she killed him, Liam. She isnt the type.

“Everybodys the type, Wy, given the right provocation.

“I know you always say that, she said stubbornly, “but she loved him. They had this kind of, I dont know, sexual thing going on that practically gave off sparks. He was gorgeous, too, one good-looking hunk of man. Whats more, Id say he loved her as much as she did him.

“Never underestimate what three months in the Bush will do to a relationship, Jim observed. “You see the results in the front pages of her rag every day. He hooked a thumb at Jo.

“Hey, she said, faintly protesting. “I resemble that remark.

Wy put the book back on the desk. “Are you still absolutely sure Hanovers death has nothing to do with Opals?

His eyes went from her to the map on the wall behind her. “Different weapon. A long way to go on foot in a very short time. I could be wrong, but I dont think so.