Vern, you said you‘d worked with her on other jobs, Kate said as Jim opened and closed drawers in methodical fashion, tagging and bagging some of the contents, discarding others. Do you know her family?

Truax shook his head. No. One of the things I liked about working with Lyda was that it was all about the job. I never had to worry that she would allow personal problems to get in the way of what we had to do every day. She was a good worker. Damn it. He smacked the desk. Damn it! She made this camp run. She processed new employees, she assigned rooms, she ordered supplies. I don‘t know how the hell I‘m going to keep to schedule without her. He looked up. If she was in trouble why didn‘t she say something to me? She should have said something. She wouldn‘t have, not to a boss who was so pleased that she kept it all business all the time on the job, Kate thought. She could have said it out loud but what was the point other than making Truax squirm, and that wouldn‘t help. On another topic. Since Dewayne Gammons is alive, it follows that we have to identify the body we found. Best bet is he was another of your employees. I‘ve been asking around today. You had an employee, a Rick Allen, who walked off the job the same time Dewayne Gammons did. Do you remember him?

Rick Allen? I don‘t—Wait a minute, was that Holly‘s gopher? He consulted a computer, and after a few blasphemous moments managed to locate Rick Allen‘s room. Kate made Vern hand over Allen‘s personnel file and declined his escort to the room. They left him staring after them with a pronounced set to his jaw. Johnny and Van were waiting outside the doors to the admin building. Walk with us, Kate said, and they fell into step next to her. Did you know Lyda Blue? Johnny and Van exchanged glances. Sure. She processed all of the roustabouts from Niniltna in, helped us with the forms, introduced us to our bosses. You spend any time with her?

They both shook their heads.

Anybody say anything about her?

I heard somebody say that she looked pretty friendly with the dead guy you found off the Step road.

Turns out he‘s not so dead after all, Kate said. Who was it said that? Johnny shook his head. I don‘t know who said it. It was a bunch of guys sitting around the TV room talking about the women in camp. He glanced at Vanessa. When the women weren‘t around. Hers wasn‘t the only name mentioned. Okay. Keep your heads down and your eyes open. Job okay?

They both nodded. It‘s not make-work, we‘re really doing stuff. We‘re busy all the time and we‘re outside a lot. It‘s all good, Kate.

All right. Scoot.

They headed for the mess hall and their dinners and Jim and Kate went to what had been Rick Allen‘s room.