You think he went looking for Gammons? Jim said after a moment. I do. I think Allen knew from the get-go he wouldn‘t be able to get away with it forever—Brendan said he was a pretty good con man, only one conviction with three months served—and I think he was looking for a fall guy among his fellow employees from that day forward. Hell, he may have scouted Gammons in Washington, may have been the one to talk Gammons into coming to Alaska and applying at Suulutaq in the first place. True North was probably looking at keeping him in place for the long term, which he knew increased the chances he‘ll get caught. He looks at Gammons and thinks, Wouldn‘t it be convenient if I died? Nobody comes after a dead man.

She sat back. Remember, Jim, we wouldn‘t even have known that the guy who stumbled out of the woods into my yard was Gammons if Lyda hadn‘t been at the airstrip that day. No, Gammons was right where Allen put him, a virtual twin with chronic depression. Allen only had to nurse it along, and according to Randy Randolph he did that right well.

Randy, by the way, did not begin his career in multiple marrying in Alaska, Jim said. I ran his record, too, and he‘s got wives strung out in a line from here to North Carolina.

Kate laughed. Just don‘t tell Bonnie, or Suzy. Or that third one—what was her name?—who took you out in front of the grocery store.

Mrs. Randy Randolph, Jim said, with dignity, and I was not taken out, I tripped. You went ass over teakettle, Kate said.

Getting back to the subject at hand, Jim said. Allen switches the medical reports, cleans out Gammons‘s room of anything approaching a life just to be sure, and drives out to see his best buddy off into the next life.

What he doesn‘t know is that Gammons has made friends with one Lyda Blue, and life is not quite as dark and hopeless as it once was. Gammons changes his mind, Allen pulls out the pistol and fires it to change Gammons‘s mind back or to kill him and maybe, I don‘t know, make it look like suicide. Only one of the bullets hits Gammons. One of the others hits or frightens a moose who, unfortunately, takes exception to this injury to his or her person, and stomps Allen to death on the strength of it. He sat back in his chair. It‘s all very tidy.

Except for Lyda Blue, Kate said.

If she was murdered, Kate, she either saw something or she was a part of the scam. She had guilty knowledge she couldn‘t live with, or she was aiding and abetting and she was afraid she was going to get caught.

You don‘t think she was taking a cut, she said, and it wasn‘t a question. Maybe she did it for love. It‘s been known to happen. He leaned back and rubbed his face. I need more coffee. Getting up to refill his mug he said, Speculating is fun and all but how much hard evidence do we really have?