Who the hell was it?

Kostas McKenzie.

The Gaea guy?

Yes.

You‘re sure?

She thought of the solid shoulders, the square set of the head, and compared them to the man she‘d met on the Suulutaq airstrip and in his office in Anchorage. Yes. Okay, he said, pretty much at his last tether of self-control, you‘re saying she‘s been turned to the green side by an environmental group?

Yes. But there‘s more.

What?

She ignored his long-suffering tone for the moment. She and Truax have a thing going on, I know I read the body language right on that.

So? I would think selling out her lover would be the last thing she‘d do. Yeah, but Mrs. Truax spent the Fourth of July at Auntie Vi‘s B and B with Mr. Truax, and Haynes wasn‘t happy about it. It‘s one of the reasons I think she came out to the homestead. She was staying at Auntie Vi‘s, too, and she probably didn‘t want her nose rubbed in it. Kate thought back over the conversation, pulling and tugging at every word, and said, Son of a bitch. You know what else?

What?

She felt me out about Allen‘s body, wanting to know if it had been positively identified. And then later, she tried to convince us that it wasn‘t Gammons who came stumbling out of the woods. She turned and looked at him, and then had to shove Mutt‘s head out of the way so she could see him. Because if it was Gammons, she knew we‘d have to identify who the body really was. Why didn‘t she want us to identify the body as Allen‘s?

She faced forward again. I don‘t know.

They flew in a tense silence for a few minutes. She was right there while he was stealing the data, Jim said.

She saw him, Kate said.

Maybe that‘s what gave her the idea, Jim said.

And Lyda saw her, Kate said. Theremightbe something else,another reason

Wa ynetook off, she heard Lyda‘s hesitant voice say. There was something Lyda tried to tell me just before I left the mine that day, something about maybe Gammons didn‘t try to commit suicide.

Why not?

She shook her head. I put my foot in it, said something smart-assed, and she froze up on me.

He looked at her.

Don‘t say it, she said. I know. There is no excuse. I could have gotten Lyda killed, she thought, and knew he was thinking the same.

They were halfway to the mine, the two arms of the Quilaks enclosing the valley looming larger through the windscreen.

Maybe Gammons caught Allen thieving, Jim said a few minutes later. Kate readjusted her ideas. And maybe Allen marched him into the woods at gunpoint?

Maybe. Maybe just speeding up the last part of the plan.

But before Allen disposed of him, Gammons said something to Lyda, and then Lyda started keeping watch. Wait a minute. She turned to look at him and again had to shove Mutt‘s head out of the way. She didn‘t know Lyda and Gammons had a relationship.