Nobody knows. He‘s got what the doc thinks might have been a bullet hole in him. Jim found a .22 pistol at the scene that may or may not have been used to fire the bullet, which we don‘t have, and have no way of recovering. The dead girl had what we think is the gun‘s holster in her desk drawer. According to the baker at the mine, these two guys knew each other well enough to share a morbid fascination with death, and how to get there. She drained her cup. Honest to god, Kurt, I don‘t know what the hell‘s going on here. The best that can be said is I‘m doing it on the state‘s dime.

Well, you know more now than you did when you came, he said, stacking the paperwork together and putting it into a file. He handed it to Kate as her phone rang. She listened, said, Thanks, I owe you one.

She hung up. That was the ME. Blood samples from the skull matched the records in Gammons‘s file, which is to say the skull belonged to Richard Henry Allen. What about the pistol?

It belongs to the holster found in my vic‘s room.

And still no way to prove it fired the shot that wounded Gammons? Circumstantial, sure, the gun was there, Gammons was there, Allen was there. Oh. She sat with her hand outstretched, the cup motionless about an inch from the tabletop.

What?

She shook her head. I don‘t know, exactly. I think I just said something smart, but I don‘t know what. Her phone rang again.

It was Lempe at Providence Hospital. Ms. Shugak? I‘m calling to let you know that Mr. Gammons spoke this morning when he woke up.

I‘ll be right there. She closed the phone and stood up. Doc says Gammons woke up. Thanks, Kurt. Bill for your time included?

In there. He nodded at the folder.

Good. She went over to stand at his window, looking down at K Street. A beige four-door sedan was idling in one of the fifteen-minute meter spots. One other thing.

What?

I was followed here this morning.

What!

Yeah, a beige four-door sedan. Actually, it followed me home last night from Gaea. Gaea?

Start-up environmental group. The director‘s pretty ballsy, he smuggled himself out to the mine a couple of days ago.

Why?

Because Gaea has taken on the Suulutaq Mine as their primary cause. I think McKenzie—that‘s their executive director—wants to use it to make Gaea‘s name and get lots of donations. Anyway, the sedan was parked outside the townhouse when I woke up. I stopped at City Market to see if they‘d stay with me, and they did. He joined her at the window. Well, you‘re flying home today. Be hard to follow you in that.

Yeah, but I‘m curious. Gammons wasn‘t going anywhere in the next hour. I like to know who‘s following me. And why.

Can‘t say as I blame you. He looked at her. There‘s a back door out of the basement.