Talkeetna: Talkeetna

By L.J. Breedlove

Talkeetna, the series

Paul Kitka likes women, fast cars, and his job as a lieutenant in Alaska State Patrol. Unfortunately, life isn't quite that simple. 

Candace Marshall isn't sure what she likes. Years married to an abusive husband does that. She likes Alaska, though, so that's a start — a rocky start.

The set includes the first two books of Talkeetna and a bonus short story.

 

Book 1: Everybody Lies

Candace Marshall came to Alaska to escape her abusive husband. Then her abusive husband ends up dead on her cabin floor. Paul Kitka seems to believe her when she says she didn't do it. But then, who did? When your ex happens to be a lobbyist hated by everyone in Alaska, it turns out there is no end of suspects.

 

Book 2: Somebody's Secrets

Paul Kitka is headed home to Sitka, Alaska, for the first time in 18 years. His brother is accused of murder, and his mother needs him home. To save his brother, he may have to expose the secrets that have haunted him since childhood — secrets people have killed to protect.

Candace Marshall, with a brand new pilot's license, is happy to fly Paul home. Sitka is supposed to be beautiful. It'll be fun, she thinks.

And deadly. Someone forgot to tell her that.

 

Dead Tourist

(A bonus short story.)

It's Candace's first winter in Alaska. When her cabin fever makes Paul crazy, he suggests she needs a railroad trip to Seward. It's a beautiful train ride to a beautiful coastal port. How much trouble can she get into? He forgot who he was talking to. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: L.J. Breedlove
• Release date: Nov 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005700522

L.J. Breedlove

L.J. Breedlove writes suspense novels of all kinds, police procedurals, historical mysteries, romantic suspense and political thrillers. And now a paranormal suspense series — Wolf Harbor. She's been a journalist, a professor, and now a fiction writer. (And a ranch hand, oceanography lab assistant, librarian assistant, cider factory line worker, and a typesetter. Oh, and worked in the laundry of an old folks home, something that inspired her to become an over-educated adult who would never be that desperate for a paycheck again.) She covered politics, among other things, taught media and politics, among other things, and writes political novels. You've been warned.

Book preview

Talkeetna

Books 1 & 2

Plus the short story, Dead Tourist

By L.J. Breedlove

Have you claimed your free story? Sign up here.

Published by L. J. Breedlove

Copyright 2020 L.J. Breedlove

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ISBN: 9781005700522

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License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your ebook seller to buy a copy. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. While place descriptions and news events may coincide with the real world, all characters and the plot are fictional.

Contact Information

For more information about this author, please visit www.ljbreedlove.com. Email address is [e-mail].

Talkeetna — The Series

Table of Contents

Everybody Lies

Dead Tourist

Somebody’s Secrets

Everybody Lies

Editor’s Note

I’ve always admired writers who boasted of their accuracy in describing the place of their novel. If I say there’s a deli on the corner of X and Y, then you can go there and see the deli, they say.

I’m not that writer. I don’t think anyone really is. That deli may have been there when they wrote the book, but is it still there when I read it?

Places change. Talkeetna is not the place it was when I first visited it – or when I last did so. In fact, I saw it the first time in September, the last time in June. June is climbing season – it’s a completely different place then. And winter? Those who experience winter in Talkeetna know the place in a completely different way.

In fact, the Talkeetna I experience and the one you experience will be different as well. Places are no more unchanging than people are.

This Talkeetna belongs to Paul Kitka and Candace Marshall. Enjoy.

Everybody Lies

By L.J. Breedlove

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FROM THE DIARY

OF CANDACE MARSHALL

AUGUST 5. I came to Alaska because I have always wanted to see the state and because it will be an easy place to die. Deciding to die is simple, carrying it out isn't. I thought about pills, but the only thing I had in the medicine chest was aspirin. Where was I supposed to find poison or even sleeping pills? Cut my throat with the butcher knife? My kitchen knives weren't sharp enough to cut up a chicken. Besides, the last time the doctor asked me to prick my finger for a blood test, I couldn't do it — and passed out when she pricked it for me. I bought a gun — a snub-nosed .38 — and took lessons at a range. I liked shooting. I liked the precise, lethal control it gave me. But when I imagined putting the gun to my mouth and pulling the trigger, it seemed messy, and what happens if you survive it? With half a face?

But Alaska. In Alaska you could just pick a trail and start hiking. Something would eventually get you — the animals or the weather or the terrain. Hiking into oblivion, now that had possibilities.

I asked myself if there was anything I wanted badly enough to stay alive for and remembered as a child I always wanted to go to Alaska. Back then, I collected everything I could find about the state. I sent away for all the tourism information, wrote to the Native tribes asking for literature. I wanted to go to Alaska. I had the trip all planned out. We would drive up the AlCan Highway, tour the state, take the train to Seward, and then finally come back down the Marine Highway. I poured over the pictures of the Southeast Islands' pine-covered beauty. I studied glaciers. I wanted to see the tundra. I drew pictures of igloos.

We never went. My mother died, and my father was so busy trying to be both mother and father to a twelve-year-old girl that the trip to Alaska kept getting postponed. He and I camped all over the Northwest together from our home in Seattle, but we never made that trip.

Now I was here. Alone. My father... well, I don't want to think about him right now. I don't want to think about any of the people in my life. I want to think about Alaska.

I got here yesterday morning by Alaska Airlines and took the bus out to the Eagle River campgrounds. I figured out the bus schedules by myself. No one sneered at me or called me stupid or said there was a better way. I feel as if I am a plant stretching toward the sun, embracing a new-found freedom.

The Eagle River campgrounds were beautiful, but full of campers — families with kids, retired couples in RVs, a tour group of Asian teens. I got there early enough to find a spot and set up my tent. It's been awhile since those days of camping with Dad, and I fumbled around a bit. But I got it up by myself. It felt pretty good to do that.

I hadn't planned on the tourists. I envisioned wide-open spaces, untouched wilderness. It is that, but the wilderness edges are clotted with tourists in Winnebagos and Caravans.

The magnitude of the wilderness stuns me. Here I am, in the most developed part of the state, and last night I listened to wild animals rummage through the garbage cans.

I expected to hike two or three days to reach Montana Creek where I planned to stay. But I met this character — no other word describes her — and got a ride. So, I am settled in along the banks of Montana Creek. It is so wide it looks more like a lake. More about that later. I want to keep a diary, but I have never been good at writing. A friend, back when I had friends, told me she recorded her thoughts. I bought a small Sony recorder and a whole sack of tapes at the Goodwill for a buck, and here I sit talking to myself. That's fine. It's what you're supposed to do when you're crazy, right?

So, I got a ride with this trucker. I have to describe Mickey, she’s something else.

I was walking along the Glenn Highway on my way toward Wasilla, about 40 miles away, when the roaring sounds of an 18-wheeler startled me. I swung around to look, and the truck slowed to a stop beside me. The thing was huge — it had three trailers and there seemed to be more wheels and axles than normal. The passenger side door opened, and the driver leaned across the seat.

Howdy, this woman called to me. She was a substantially sized woman whose face said 'trust me' under her tightly permed gray hair. She had on a plaid flannel shirt and jeans. She offered me a ride. I hesitated, but truth tell, my shoulders were beginning to ache under my pack.

Her name was Sarah McIntosh; she said everyone called her Mickey. I told her my name was Dace, short for Candace. She didn't comment on the lack of a last name.

Mickey said — I hope I can get it right, because I loved listening to her — Not Candy? I don't blame you. I've got an Aunt Candace, down Seward way. She's 70, I'd guess. Still goes out on her boat every day during fishing season. She wouldn't stand for Candy either. God, she's a tough old bird. Can't imagine calling her Candy. But Dace, that's different. That's a strong name.

I wondered if she saw a strong woman when she looked at me. I doubted it, knowing the basics of what she would see: a slim woman of average height, with brown hair in a braid down her back. Did my thirty years show yet? Probably not. I still get carded in bars, and the white T-shirt, blue jeans and hiking boots I was wearing wouldn't help.

I asked her about her truck.

Up here, there aren't all those regulations like the Lower 48 has, Mickey explained. You can haul whatever you think you can. I'm a sloper, so I want to haul as much as I can any trip I make. Just add another axle or two. Make sure the strobes are attached and I'm on my way.

A sloper? I asked.

That's what they call us guys who haul things up to the North Slope oil fields, and the guys who work up there. Slopers.

Mickey said it took her eight hours to drive from Anchorage to Fairbanks and another ten up the haul road to Dead Horse Camp. It was gravel part way.

Mickey asked me how I'd gotten this far from Anchorage and I explained about the bus and Eagle River. I didn't say where I'd been before that. She frowned a bit, and asked bluntly, You going to tell me about it?

I tried to hedge, and then to change the subject as we turned off the Glenn Highway and onto the George Parks and rolled into Wasilla.

Mickey said she was always glad to get through Wasilla because it meant she was finally out of the city. Strange to think that people commuted from Wasilla into Anchorage, 45 miles away. But Mickey said they did; there was even rush-hour traffic.

Wasilla was a blur of strip malls and convenience stores. I didn't see much to recommend it. People move out to get away from the city and then they bring the worst of the city with them.

As soon as we were out of town, Mickey reverted back to her previous subject: How dangerous Alaska was for a person alone.

Last fall, I was driving this road in my pickup and came upon a bear just waddling down the road ahead of me. I figured he'd head for the bush when I got up on him. Instead, he turned back and walked right up to my vehicle. I stopped. He gets up on his hind feet, puts his paws on the hood and looks at me, like, 'what do you think you're doing, gal?' I sat very still until he'd made his point, and he turned and started back down the road again.

You'd be safe in a vehicle, wouldn't you? I asked. Turns out that isn't necessarily so. Mickey said a bear could knock out a window. I saw a bear once who was cornered by some wolves. Up on the haul road. One wolf got too close and that old bear got a swipe at him. Knocked the wolf 70 feet. They can pop open a car if they get mad.

Staying near the highways was no guarantee of safety, Mickey warned me. You can run into bear in the Anchorage suburbs. Other animals too. Moose, for instance. They can be dangerous as a bear. They come right into Anchorage as well. One of them walked into a bank lobby last year. Panicked everyone. Finally, someone was smart enough to open a door at the other end of the lobby, and the moose sauntered on out.

I assured her that I planned to be careful and that I carried a gun. She said the gun was a good thing. I could tell she was still troubled. Finally, she said, If you need a friend, tell old Mickey here. Us Alaskans, we're used to pulling together. Maybe I can help.

Why should you? You don't know me. I turned to stare out the window, hoping she'd take the hint. She didn't.

Curiosity, partly. I want to know what a cheechako like you is doing wandering around loose like this.

Cheechako?

Newcomer, Mickey explained. It's a Russian word, I guess. The Native Alaskans, they call newcomers — all whites really — gussaks. And when that 's' sound starts to hiss, you know you're in deep shit.

I couldn't help but smile.

Are you vacationing or headed to a job? she persisted.

Just headed, I said, deliberately vague. I'll camp for a while, but then I want to find a job. Maybe Fairbanks.

Mickey frowned. You aren't going to be able to camp for long, she said. Winter's going to be early this year. Already had a freeze. And the fireweed is blooming to the top.

Freezes in August?

Mickey raised an eyebrow. The Slope's had snow already. Summer isn't very long.

I read everything I could get my hands on before coming to the state, but still, actually being here was different. I wondered if this would affect my plans much; if anything, an early winter would make dying easier.

You got a job lined up? Mickey pressed. I shook my head. She drove in silence for a bit as she digested that. I know a guy in Talkeetna, she said finally. Runs a flight service there. He needs an office manager. You interested?

Purdue Flight Service was almost always in need of an office manager, Mickey said, and she figured chances were good that the one from last month had given up in disgust. Bets had been against the guy to last through July. Men didn't stay long in that position; women didn't fare much better.

Why would he hire me? He doesn't know me.

He'd hire anyone who's willing to put up with his shit. Purdue isn't an easy man to work for. He goes through three, four office managers a year. Pilots stay longer — they're out in planes most the time.

Mickey was searching for the right thing to say as they entered the city limits of Willow. Downtown Willow, she said, gesturing to four or five buildings clustered together along the side of the road.

The storefronts were cute, too cute for my tastes. Mickey said the buildings were from the attempt in the '70s to move the capital nearer to Anchorage, instead of in Juneau. The voters said no, but there had already been much land speculation. The result was a strip of five overly cute buildings along the highway.

I think you ought to consider taking the job. Besides, if you can keep Lanky in line, you'd be doing us all a favor.

Lanky? That's his name? I didn't want to offend this woman. I liked her. But I didn't want a future. I want an end.

Lanky Purdue, Mickey said. He's an old sourdough — some one who's been here a while, she explained at my questioning look. He came in with the military during the early '60s and stayed when his hitch was over. He's a damn fine bush pilot, even now. Crazy of course. They all are. But he saved his money and bought a couple of planes. He's an expert at flying in the expeditions to Mt. McKinley. He takes in hunters and hikers and anyone who needs to go somewhere by plane. Which is most of Alaska. Like most flight services, he flies passengers and cargo — anything that needs moving.

And you call him Lanky. I wondered if that meant he was tall and thin, or if like most male humor, he was fat.

Yeah. He's about six foot five, and thin as an Alaska spruce. Wait 'til you see him unfold out of a cockpit.

There was a moment of silence.

Look, Mickey said. Talkeetna's just a bit down the road. We'll swing in, I'll introduce you to Purdue. If the two of you hit it off, you're all set. If you don't, you climb back in the rig, and I'll drop you off wherever you say.

I almost took her up on it. It mattered that someone — even a stranger — cared. But I couldn’t say the words.

Talkeetna's kind of an interesting place, actually, Mickey said as if she was trying to sell me on the idea. It's an international crowd. Expeditions going up the mountain. Hunters and fishermen going up the river. Some mining and trapping. But it's primarily a bunch of left-over hippies. God knows how they got up here. You sure you don't want an introduction to Lanky?

I shook my head. Talkeetna. Of all places. No.

If you change your mind, you look him up in Talkeetna. Tell him I sent you, Mickey said, recognizing defeat.

Mickey was listening to some of Garrison Keillor’s stories about Lake Woebegone. Even though she must have listened to them a million times, Mickey chuckled as she repeated the closing line, where the women are strong, the men are beautiful and all the children above average.

Makes me think of Alaska, specially that about the women being strong, she said.

I wish I was strong.

Chapter 1

Paul Kitka was trying to keep his Corvette at 100 mph on the George Parks Highway, but the road just wasn't designed for that speed. The road was straight enough and, in the late summer, without ice, but the tourists, their Winnebagos and the tour buses, made it an obstacle course. Still, the day was crisp and clear, and it suited his mood. He grinned at himself in the rearview mirror. It had been a fine weekend; he told his mirror image. A fine September weekend.

He wasn't so euphoric that he forgot to keep his eye on the radar detectors on his dash. One detector pointed forward, the second to the back. State troopers were always embarrassed when they had to stop other troopers. Not to mention that his captain got a bit bent the last time he'd been clocked at 120 mph. He'd gone out and bought the second after that. You weren't supposed to need two radar detectors, but the back range was only a mile. At 120 mph, that gave you 30 seconds warning — not much reaction time. He hadn't been clocked since he installed the second one.

As Paul Kitka pulled into range of the station, his cellular phone rang. Figures, he thought, scowling at it. He rolled up his window, and turned down Peter, Paul and Mary blaring from his CD player.

Kitka, he answered.

Lieutenant, we just got a call of a dead body in Talkeetna, the dispatcher said. Woman asked for you. Do you want to grab it, or should I get someone else?

Who is it?

Victim unknown. Gun shot. The person who found the body is Mary Abbott's new boarder, Candace Marshall.

Mary was easily the best cook within a hundred miles, and she always was willing to put on another plate for a stray cop. Paul Kitka edged up his speed. I'll take it. I'm about 20 minutes out. He rummaged under his seat, found his emergency flasher and set it on the dashboard. A bit disgruntled, he also flipped off the radar detectors. Legitimate speeding wasn't nearly as much fun.

The dispatcher answered him with crisp professionalism. Roger. I'll call for a back-up team to meet you.

Thanks, Jonesy, Kitka said, disregarding protocol. Captain would be annoyed if he overhead, Kitka thought, then smiled. He flipped on the CB, listening for chatter, but no one was gossiping about the murder yet. It’d be a rare thing for him to get to a murder scene before the gossip got out.

Kitka passed the stretch of road where'd he'd helped a redheaded tourist fix a flat last Thursday. The flat tire had led to other things. A true redhead, too, he thought, smiling at the memory of the weekend. He'd gotten a later start out of Fairbanks this morning than he'd planned. He figured the late start was a worthy price.

He looked at himself in the rearview mirror again. Vanity, vanity, all is vanity, he quoted out loud.

Paul Kitka knew he was considered a good-looking man. At 35, he was grateful for it. He didn't have problems attracting women even in this state where women could be fairly scarce. A good thing. He wasn't into commitment and most women were, leading to a constant turnover problem. He wondered if he would run out of available women one day. Of course, there were always tourists.

Tourists were not particularly valued in Alaska, except for the money they brought in. Kitka found their ignorance about the state appalling, but it didn't interfere with his dalliances with the female version. They found him exotic with the Tlingit-white heritage that produced pale brown skin, straight black hair and broad muscular shoulders. He was taller than most Natives at five feet 10 inches. Being of mixed blood had to have some advantage, he thought with a snort. He'd learned its disadvantages growing up. His mother was white; in a matrilineal society like the Tlingit, he really hadn't been accepted. The whites saw only his Indian blood. His dad.... Kitka shut down those thoughts. No good thinking about the past. Just be grateful for female tourists.

He tried to focus on the dead body. Jonesy hadn't told him much. Gunshot wounds were not unusual. Damn fool tourists went hunting and shot each other as often as they did any game. He wondered about Mary's new boarder. He'd heard a little about her but hadn't met her yet. It must have been a shock to find the body. He wondered where she found it. Jonesy hadn't told him that either.

He braked sharply for the turn onto the Talkeetna Road, and slowed to a more sedate pace of 70 mph. Wouldn't do to come screeching into town in a vehicle everyone knew was his. A red Corvette was just a bit noticeable, although he wouldn't give it up for anything. Hell, he had too much money invested in parts to give the damn thing up.

Talkeetna was a very small town, 400 people according to the census. The mountain climbers and the tourists swelled the number considerably during the summer. Of course, during the winter months the whole state of Alaska was essentially one small town, Kitka thought with some sourness, as he dropped his speed to 60.

The road from the highway to town was a good road and it went through some pretty woods. But Kitka traveled the dang thing several times a day and had forgotten to look out in years. Still, the leaves of the birches were changing color, and the fireweed was in bloom along the road. Kitka glanced at Mount McKinley looming ahead, a sight he never got tired of. He slowed down some more.

Kitka nodded at the hand-lettered wooden Welcome to Beautiful Downtown Talkeetna sign at the south end of town as he always did. Even after ten years, the sign made him smile. Talkeetna was one paved main street, a couple of gravel side streets, and more planes than cars. The town was mostly a collection of log cabins, clapboard houses and a few businesses made prosperous by the foolhardiness of climbers from all around the world. The town and the road ended on the banks of the Susitna River to the north, where Kitka's house nestled back from the riverbanks.

Someone had a new Cub at the Talkeetna Flight Service, Kitka noticed as he went by. He could see ahead that the historic Fairview Inn with its international banners had its usual tourists standing around out front, and across the street Sally's Cafe appeared to be doing good business, especially for September. People were wandering toward the old schoolhouse museum behind the Park Service Building. Thank God, the tourists would be gone soon, Kitka thought as he slowed to a crawl to avoid a family too busy gawking around to notice that a red Corvette with a police light was about to run them over.

The Abbott house was just north of the center block of town. A big, white, two-story affair, it had an air of permanence with its front porch and flower beds. Kitka pulled into the driveway and got out, being careful to lock the car. Car thieves were not a problem in Alaska particularly, although he didn't trust tourists. He'd grown up in Sitka where the police chief had prided himself on never having had a car stolen. Of course, the only way off the island was the twice-a-week ferry. The worst it got was teenagers joyriding, something that usually resulted in the car being returned to the owner with a $10 ticket for leaving the keys in the ignition. Kitka smiled.

Still, it paid to lock the car anyway, he found, especially at the Abbotts. He'd had a bad experience with one of the kids crawling in to play and releasing the brake. Scared years off his life.

A small woman stood on the porch and watched him walk up the path. Candace Marshall, he guessed. She was wearing a white T-shirt, snug blue jeans and boots, much the same as what he was wearing himself. She was very still. No gestures, no fidgeting.

Ms. Marshall? he asked as he took the two steps to the porch. I'm Paul Kitka.

He catalogued her braided brown hair, gray eyes and perfect, pale skin. Her face betrayed no emotion, however, not even the expected shock. He realized she wasn't as small as he'd first thought, probably close to five foot six. If he was any judge, and in Alaska he was a recognized connoisseur, the slim body had all the right curves. She sure didn't draw attention to them. She seemed withdrawn into herself, and that, along with her stillness, made her appear smaller than she really was. As if she didn't want to be noticed.

You found the body? he asked.

She nodded.

Where? You want to show me? He waved to Mary, hovering with concern at the front door. Now there was a woman whose curves were impossible to miss, he thought, hiding a grin.

Dace just nodded again and headed around behind the house. He fell in stride beside her, noticing that she moved away from him a bit, instinctively putting more space between them. He saw her sidewise glance at him, taking in his appearance. She almost smiled, probably at his T-shirt, he guessed, looking down at his chest. It read: Alaska, where men are men and women win the Iditarod. A gift from a woman friend who had a dog team.

Kitka realized they were going to the tool shed Mary had converted into an apartment. You found the body in here? he asked, silently cursing at Jonesy for not mentioning that. He'd figured she'd stumbled over it hiking or something.

I told the dispatcher, she said softly. He had to strain to hear her.

Kitka put his fists in his pockets and walked along behind her. She was a very contained young thing, he thought, especially for a woman who just found a dead man in her apartment. He was reminded of an otter pup he'd found in a snare once when he was a teenager. The animal had stared at him in the same long-suffering, resigned look. The pup hadn't moved, hadn't fought. Just looked. He never set another snare.

When Candace inserted the key in the door, he asked, Was the door locked when you got here earlier?

She nodded, then hesitated. I think so. I used the key because I expected it to be locked. I suppose it could have just been shut, and I didn't notice.

She opened the door and let him move by. Again, she made sure he didn't brush her as he passed through the door and into the room. He tried not to breathe deeply, but the stench still reached him. A dead man is in here indeed, he thought, as the smell of urine, stale blood and death hit him. The body sprawled across the narrow, built-in bed just behind the door. Blood stained the front of his shirt. Shot from the front at close range? Kitka frowned.

Kitka kept his hands in his pockets to avoid touching anything. He slowly walked around the room. The room was tiny; it wasn't hard to see everything in one glance. The shed was probably 10 feet wide and maybe 20 feet long. Bill Abbott had added a kitchen across the back, if you could call a two-burner stove, a sink, a half-sized refrigerator and one cupboard a kitchen. A small closet in the north corner turned out to be the bathroom. He peered inside, but there wasn't room for anything beyond the toilet and a shower.

When he turned around to look again at the body, Candace Marshall was still standing in the doorway, her arms by her side, fists clenched. She didn't say anything as he continued his inventory of the room. The bed was on the north side of the door, on the south side was a pot-bellied wood stove and a simple table and chairs. She'd had a jar with wildflowers in it, but whoever had torn the room apart had knocked the table over, and the jar was on the floor. No wet spot on the plank floor; the flowers were wilted. This happened a while ago.

Someone had been looking for something — drawers were emptied in the kitchen and from the stowaway under the bed. Even all of her belongings thrown about didn't make for many things, Kitka thought. He bent over and touched some white granules on the floor. Sugar.

The one small window in the south wall was open, and Paul Kitka eyed it to see if it was wide enough for the victim to go through. Barely, he decided. The man would have to want in pretty badly. Why not jimmy the door? That door wasn't particularly secure.

Did you touch him? he asked as he finally approached the body.

No, she said, barely above a whisper.

Not even to make sure he was dead?

She shook her head. He is, isn't he? I mean, he didn't die because I didn't get help, did he?

No, he's been dead a while, Kitka said, taking pains to keep his voice reassuring. He didn't want her to fall apart, now.

The dead man was probably near 50 years old, and was about Kitka's own height, but slimmer. He had brown hair streaked with gray hair, which he wore long, probably in a ponytail, although it was mussed now. Gray eyes. He looked to be in good condition, especially for his apparent age. Good enough condition to feel comfortable wearing a T-shirt and jeans, anyway. Kitka had noticed that men of a certain age started avoiding those clothes as too revealing. He was doing everything possible to keep that day at bay, himself. Kitka glanced at the victim's shoes: Birkenstocks? He grimaced.

The victim wasn't from around here unless he was very new. He hadn't heard any gossip about such a stranger moving to town. Tourist? He'd never had a tourist murdered before. Took something to piss off the murderer, and tourists moved around too much to make that lasting of an impression. Although he'd met a few who almost qualified.

The gun, probably the murder weapon, Kitka thought wryly. Alaska State Patrol duck rule: if it looked like a duck, squawked like a duck, walked like a duck, it was probably a duck. If you have a dead body with a gunshot wound and a gun on the floor — a .38 revolver, it appeared — it probably was the murder weapon.

Do you know who this man is, or why someone killed him in your apartment? Kitka asked, not really expecting an answer. He looked up in surprise when a denial wasn't immediately forthcoming. Ms. Marshall? You know him?

She closed her eyes briefly before answering. His name is Stephen Whitaker, she said. Her voice was barely audible. She paused, hesitating as if she had something to add but didn't really want to. With obvious reluctance, she said, He's my husband.

Chapter 2

Kitka looked at her, noticed the knuckles on her hands were white as she clenched them together. Were you both living here? he asked, baffled by the situation. The house didn't seem big enough for one, let alone two.

No. She hesitated and glanced over her shoulder at the evidence team coming down the trail. Mary was with them. Kitka saw her glance, guessed at her reluctance to talk with so many people on their way. He waited until the evidence team was inside working.

Kitka gestured the team commander over. Can you do a paraffin test on her? he asked in a low tone. He had Candace Marshall hold out her hands. Fingerprints, too, Kitka added.

Mary hovered anxiously outside the door; her eyes tight with concern. Make sure the kids don't come wandering out this way, Paul Kitka said to her. She nodded, uncharacteristically quiet. You got any coffee on? he continued, moving her away from the shed and toward the main house. I've got a lot of questions for Ms. Marshall here, and coffee would probably help both of us.

Mary nodded. I put some on a bit ago. You'll stay for dinner too? The kids will be disappointed if you don't.

Thanks. Is this Bill's rotation on or off the Slope?

Off. It was an odd shift. He got back last night.

We'll be along shortly, Kitka said, with a glance at the front porch. He could see Lanky Purdue and Bill Abbott standing there and the kids as well. You'd better get them in and settled down, he added, gesturing to the kids. We're going to have tourists here any minute.

The flashing lights and the ambulance were drawing a crowd. An officer was struggling to keep the sightseers off the yard and behind the yellow police tape being strung as a barrier. Mary said something to him as she walked by, and he smiled, touching the brim of his hat.

Kitka grimaced at the spectators and turned back toward the investigation behind him. Candace was wiping powder and gunk off her hands.

She's clean, the crime scene tech said briefly.

Let's go to the house, Kitka said to her, using his arm to guide her along but being careful not to touch her. Mary's got coffee on.

Dace nodded; Kitka was getting used to her silence now. It was the silence of the timberlands, he thought, not antagonistic, just waiting. He decided he liked it.

Mary ushered them into the kitchen. Two men were seated at the wooden table with coffee mugs in front of them. The younger of the two looked up at Kitka and nodded. Kitka, he said. The older man just grunted.

Bill. Lanky, Kitka said. He poured himself a cup of coffee, offered another mug to Dace who took it without comment. She sat down at the table, Mary hovering protectively behind her. Kitka leaned back against the counter, took a slow sip of coffee, and then swallowed gratefully because it was Mary's coffee. Purdue's coffee substituted as a general-purpose solvent at Purdue's Flight Service.

So, some guy got himself shot in the tool shed, Lanky Purdue said. He was a tall, thin man in his mid-60s; bald, Kitka figured, but he'd never seen him without a gimme cap on. This one advertised Pennzoil.

What's going on, Paul? Lanky Purdue asked.

Bill Abbott said nothing, content to let his father-in-law carry the conversation. Bill was the size of a small mountain, with a full, brown beard and shaggy hair that showed no gray or receding hairline, even though he was probably forty-five. The town joke was that Arco hired him because it was cheaper to use him to move pipe on the North Slope than to fuel a truck.

Kitka hesitated. He supposed he should take the woman down to the station for questioning. He most certainly shouldn't let the others stay in the room while he asked his questions. He looked at Lanky, who showed no signs of leaving; Bill, who hadn't moved an inch since he'd walked in, and Mary, who had her arms crossed over her full bosom. Kitka gave in.

Ms. Marshall? Do you mind if they stay? he asked as he took out a small notebook out of his back pocket.

She shook her head, holding on to her coffee mug with both hands as if for support.

You told me the victim was your husband, he said gently, mentally noting Mary's surprise.

Dace nodded. Kitka stayed silent; she haltingly tried to explain. I didn't know he was in Alaska. I... I didn't tell him where I was going. I hoped he wouldn't find me.

Kitka winced. Shit, he thought. He knew where this was headed. But he did.

She nodded, shrugged, nodded again. I guess so. I don't know how. Why did he come here? How did he find me? And..., she stopped.

So, you were hiding from your husband, Stephen Whitaker? All three of the others jerked slightly when he said the name. You all know the name?

Could be more than one Stephen Whitaker, Lanky said slowly as he and Bill looked at each other. Mary sat frozen in her chair, not looking at anyone.

Fiftyish, long graying hair, Birkenstocks? Kitka said.

Lanky Purdue rolled his eyes. Sounds like there's only one.

I'm going to check on the children, Mary said abruptly. She left quickly; Bill made a move to go after her, but Lanky stopped him with a shake of his head. Bill settled back into his chair. He glanced at the door and then back to the others at the table.

Kitka hesitated, torn between continuing to question Candace Marshall or finding out more about what they knew about the victim. The scowl on Bill Abbott's face told him he'd have better luck questioning Ms. Marshall. So, your husband shows up. Then what happened? Did he threaten you?

She looked puzzled for a moment and then indignant. You think I killed him! she said. Two red spots formed on her cheekbones. I didn't even know he was in the state until I walked into my apartment after work and found him dead. I didn't kill him!

Kitka blinked. He had thought the story was headed there. He still thought it was the most likely scenario.

Start at the beginning, Ms. Marshall, he said. He wondered if that was her real name. Why did you come to Alaska without telling your husband? How did you get to Talkeetna?

Dace started with the last question, telling about meeting Mickey McIntosh and learning about Purdue Flight Service. She told him about staying out at the lake for a couple of weeks and then talking to Purdue about a job. That had led to Mary and the Tool Shed. Kitka made notes to talk to Purdue and Mary separately, and to track down Mickey, although that might take a bit longer. No telling where she might be.

And Alaska? Why did you come here?

Dace looked at her hands and then back at Kitka. I came here to get away, to escape. I was planning to walk into the woods and not come back.

Why? His voice was gentle.

Dace bit her lip. A stubborn look crossed her face. Am I being charged with anything? Do I have to answer?

Now why