Gear left by workers who never come back.

Ah. The first load of luggage—

Belonged to Gammons. According to the tags, this load belonged to Richard Allen. Haynes was at the truck with Lyda‘s body in the back, face now drawn and tired. Figured somebody should keep watch.

Somebody was, Kate said. Mutt, up! Mutt jumped into the back of the truck, landing light of foot and not coming within a toenail of any of what was back there with her.

Wait a minute, what‘s all this stuff? Haynes said.

Evidence in an ongoing investigation, Jim said, scribbling a receipt and handing it to her. We‘ll get it back to you as soon as we can.

I don‘t know if I can let you take all that, she said, staring at the pile of luggage. It‘s someone‘s personal property, the mine could be liable for—

Investigation of a potential felony supersedes pretty much everything, including private property rights, Jim said, and gave her a cheerful smile. You want to ride up to the strip with us? You can bring the truck back.

I— She cast a glance over her shoulder in the direction of the admin building. All right. Haynes climbed in after Kate. You pretty much cleaned out Lyda‘s desk. We might need some of it for day-to-day operations, especially the hard drive on her computer.

We‘ll return everything when we‘re satisfied we have all the evidence we need to close the case, Kate said.

Haynes frowned, not liking the answer. It‘s not too much to say that she ran this camp. There will be a lot of operational stuff on that hard drive, pay sheets, meal plans, work schedules, flight manifests, equipment maintenance.

Surely you have backups of the files and programs you need for the day-to-day business, Jim said.

Haynes gave a heavy sigh. Yeah, of course. It‘s just that Lyda handled most of them through her computer. She‘ll have a lot of shortcuts that the rest of us don‘t. Kate was beginning to wonder just how competent Vern Truax and Holly Haynes were as managers.

We‘ll get it back to you as soon as possible, Jim said. They came up over the rise and stopped next to the Cessna.

When everything had been loaded, Jim slammed the tailgate. Okay, we‘re good to go.

Kate, Mutt, and Jim got into the aircraft. Haynes stood next to the pickup, watching them, still subdued and pale.

They had to wait for the Beaver to land, and it was unloading before they began to taxi for takeoff. What the hell? Kate craned her neck to see as they went by. What? Jim said.

What the hell is she doing here? Vern Truax himself came up the hill to meet her, holding out both hands to clasp hers.

Who?

Ulanie Anahonak, Kate said. And Vern Truax is greeting her like a long-lost friend.

Other board members aren‘t allowed to visit the mine without the chair‘s say-so? No, Kate said.

Think Harvey Meganack tells you every time he comes out here?