Even the ones we don‘t agree with, even the ones that seem ridiculous, like filing paperwork when somebody spills a quart of oil when they‘re changing the filter on a truck.

Okay, she said.

I will go so far as to say that in certain cases we exceed those standards because we don‘t think they‘re strict enough. It‘s not like we go out shopping for ways for assholes like that to come down on us. He made a gesture that was perilously close to giving the finger to the rapidly receding aircraft.

Okay, she said.

He took a deep breath and made a visible effort at calm. She admired his selfcontrol. He was here for four hours before Holly overheard him asking too many of the wrong questions.

Tell me something, Vern. If he‘d asked for a tour, would you have given him one? We run regular tours one Sunday every month during the summer for journalists and spouses, Vern said, so prompt it sounded rehearsed. Anyone who wants to join it, all they have to do is fill out a form at the office in Anchorage. Kate raised an eyebrow. Representatives of outfits like Gaea get priority seating on those tours?

For a moment she thought he was going to explode again. Instead he burst out laughing. Okay, you got me. Maybe not priority seating. He shook his head. What can I do for you today, Kate?

I need a list of every male employee who walked out on their jobs here for the last two months. Say three months, just to be safe.

Why?

Remember Dewayne Gammons?

Who could forget? He was the dumb fu—the guy who returned his body to nature. Yeah, well, it turns out not so much. He‘s alive.

Truax‘s head came up. What?

Didn‘t Lyda tell you?

Tell me what?

Kate could understand Lyda not wanting to talk about Dewayne Gammons‘s return from the dead. Such aloser, she had said. Once recovered from the shock of seeing him alive, she had probably been angry with herself for showing so much emotion. As for everyone else on her plane, true to form Gammons‘s presence on the airstrip had not registered with his coworkers. He‘d erased himself from the camp‘s consciousness before he‘d even left. He‘s alive, she said. He walked out of the woods on the Fourth of July.

Truax stared at her for a moment. Gammons is alive.

Yes.

And you want the files because—

Because our best guess is still that the body is one of your ex-workers. Just not Gammons.

Great. Yeah, okay, I‘ll get Lyda to pull the files for you. I sure hope— He broke off when Holly Haynes came running up over the rise to where they were standing. She looked wild and she was breathing hard, and she rushed straight at Truax like he was her last hope of heaven, certain of succor, of comfort. Vern, come quick, something awful.

He gave Kate a fleeting glance and caught Haynes by her arms, holding her away from him. Holly, what‘s wrong? When she didn‘t immediately answer he gave her a shake that was less than loverlike. Holly. What‘s wrong?