Part 6 (2/2)
”They're up, are they?”
”They're up and grouchy,” Kate said. ”Can you tell Jim to rod on over here with a body bag?”
70 ”Wasn't he just over there picking up another body?”
”Yes.”
”Breakup,” Elaine said. ”Hang on.” She m.u.f.fled the receiver for a moment before coming back on. ”He's on his way, Kate. Don't you just love this time of year?”
”I downright adore it, Elaine. Tell Jim I've got the remains rolled in a tarp in the back of a truck parked on the Niniltna airstrip next to the post office.”
”Okay. He'll be there inside the hour.”
Mel accepted the handset and signed off. ”Want me to call Dan O'Brian next?”
In Alaska, every accidental death required an investigation and an autopsy, and the ones involving close and fatal encounters with wildlife usually involved a fish hawk or a ranger as well. ”Might as well.”
She visited with Mel for a while before returning to the airstrip. In the post office she checked her mail, avoided looking at the ubiquitous piles of tax forms stacked on the counter and went back outside in time to see Dan's Super Cub lining up on final. He landed, taxied to the head of the runway and got out. ”Just couldn't wait to see me again, could you, Kate?” he said cheerfully.
”It's not pretty,” she warned him as he began to unroll the tarp.
”It never is,” he agreed, but when the body was bared the muscles in his face s.h.i.+fted. Kate watched him in silence. She had been too preoccupied with her own problems that morning to take a good look at him, which was a shame, because the view was not bad.
Armed with a degree in forestry, Dan O'Brian had come into the Parks Service by way of the Everglades in Florida, where he discovered an aversion to snakes, and Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii, where he discovered an even greater aversion to lava.
He transferred to Alaska just in time for the d-2 lands bill, which doubled the size of the Park. He'd been chief ranger for 71 fourteen years, steering a course between the Scylla of the rights of the Natives and homesteaders and miners around whose property the Park had been created, and the Charybdis of his responsibilities as custodian of twenty million acres of public property. He succeeded so well that not once had he ever been shot at on duty, which had to be some kind of record for a federal employee in the Alaskan bush. Off duty was another matter. As much of a skirt chaser as Chopper Jim, he was less successful at it, and thus less irritating to local husbands, but they couldn't shoot at a state trooper. A park ranger made a not disgraceful second-best.
About the time Kate started comparing the blue of his eyes with the blue of Chopper Jim's, she came to her senses and pulled herself together.
She'd always had a healthy respect for the s.e.xual urge but fantasizing over a man she'd known as a friend for more than fourteen years veered dangerously close to the ridiculous. She was angry with herself, and deep down, a little afraid. Control was very important to Kdle Shugak, and over the last two days control seemed to be slipping from her grasp.
”Nope,” Dan said heavily, ”not pretty at all.” He quietly refolded the tarp around the body. He looked up and surprised a look of fierce concentration on her face. ”What?”
”Nothing.”
He waited, but that was all she was going to say. ”So.” He nodded at the still figure in the tarp. ”When did you find her?”
With a slight shock Kate realized that it was almost six o'clock. ”Less than two hours ago. Her husband said they went up to take a look at the mine this morning, and the bear attacked them.”
Dan frowned. ”Tourists?”
”I don't know. That's him.” Kate nodded at the man leaning up against the post office wall just out of earshot. The little crowd of sympathizers had dispersed once the mail started being sorted, and he was alone again, head back against the logs, hands in his pockets, eyes closed. ”He hasn't said much.”
72 ”The bear just attacked them? Without provocation?” ”I don't know,”
Kate said. ”I didn't hang around to see if the bear wanted to make it two for two. And I've got Mandy's parents with me.”
Dan brightened. ”You've got the Original Eastern Establishment Royalty Couple with you?”
”Yes,” Kate said, as the two emerged from the post office, bulging bags indicating that the gift shop that took up the right side of the post office had not gone unpatronized. ”Allow me to introduce you. Mr. and Mrs. Baker, this is Dan O'Brian, chief ranger of the Park.”
”h.e.l.lo,” Dan said, shaking hands and looking over their matching right-off-the-L. . Bean-rack safari outfits, soaked behinds and all, with an appreciative eye. ”Nice to meet you. h.e.l.l of a musher, that daughter of yours. Don't often run into that much guts and talent walking around on two legs. You must be proud.”
That this was not a thought that had previously occurred to them was obvious from the startled expression on their faces. Kate reflected that both generations of the Baker family had a lot to learn.
Dan's gaze wandered past them to the widower, who had remained apart from the rest of them, face averted. ”How's he holding up?”
”He's on his feet,” Kate said.
Dan nodded. ”Shows something. What's his name?”
”I asked. He hasn't said anything yet.”
”Probably in shock, poor b.a.s.t.a.r.d.” Dan walked over and held out a hand.
”Dan O'Brien, chief ranger. I'm sorry about your wife, Mr. . . . ?”
”Stewart.” The man stirred and gave a long, heavy sigh. ”Mark Stewart.”
He shook hands with Dan, and Kate stepped forward. ”Kate Shugak.”
”Oh. Right. I'm sorry, I-I just couldn't talk before.”
”It's all right,” Kate said. ”I understand.”
73 ”Mark Stewart,” he repeated unnecessarily. ”I guess I should thank you.”
”No need,” she said, adding, ”I just wish I could have gotten there sooner.” She didn't mean it, and Dan at least was fully aware that she didn't, but it was the kind of thing one said at times like these.
Stewart's grip was warm and dry and so strong it was almost painful. The man was of medium height with well-defined shoulders topping a rangy frame. He had dark eyes beneath thick dark brows, a wealth of dark hair that fell in a careless swath that must have cost $150 in some Anchorage salon, and a wide, full-lipped mouth that undoubtedly spread into a charming smile. That mouth was held rigidly now in a straight, expressionless line that matched the bleak, unfocused look in his eyes.
At least, bleak and unfocused until they looked at Kate. As their eyes met, a flash of visceral awareness leapt between them. Kate very carefully freed her hand and took what she hoped was an un.o.btrusive step back. d.a.m.n, d.a.m.n, d.a.m.n.
”I know you've just been through a horrible experience,” Dan said to Stewart, ”but can you give us an idea of what happened? If we've got a rogue bear on the roam in the Park, I need to know about it.”
Mark Stewart looked down, long, thick lashes shadowing his cheeks. ”I- You're right, it was horrible. I-” He paused, and drew in a long breath.
”Mr. Stewart,” Dan said, as if he couldn't help himself, ”didn't you bring a rifle with you? A pistol, even? Some kind of weapon for your own defense? Surely you must have known that this was an area known for its bear population?”
Stewart looked at the ground. ”No,” he whispered.
Dan met Kate's eyes and shook his head. Tourists.
”It's all so awful,” Stewart muttered. ”We came up here to be alone, get away from everything. This morning was so nice, we decided to walk up to the mine with a picnic lunch. And then we got 74 to the mine, and the bear came out of the woods, came right at us, and Carol-”
”You said she was on the roof,” Kate said. ”When you first saw us.”
<script>