She looked at Kate, begging for understanding, for sympathy. I couldn‘t sleep at all that night. And then when Vern told me to check on her, and I found her like that . . . She shuddered. It was so awful. You saw how upset I was that day, didn‘t you? When I came running up to the airstrip to tell Vern what had happened? Yes, Kate said. I saw. When did you buy the peanut oil, Holly?

Haynes looked confused.

The day we met, Memorial Day in Niniltna, remember? I saw you with grocery bags from Bingley Mercantile. You said that camp food no matter how good it was palled after a while, that everybody squirreled away snacks in their room. Did I see some peanut oil in one of those bags? A whole month before you used it? She‘d seen nothing of the kind, but it was worth a shot.

I—, Haynes stuttered, and the expression on her face told them she was only now beginning to comprehend their lack of sympathy. And what it meant. I‘m going to check, Holly, but I‘m betting you were on the same job with Lyda Blue the last time she had an anaphylaxis. She almost died, her father told us. You had to know how violent her reaction to the peanut oil would be.

Kate. Jim‘s deep voice held a warning note.

Kate mastered her fury and stood up. You saw the body. Lyda Blue died hard, Holly, and I promise you, I‘m going to make it my personal crusade to see that you go down for it just as hard.

In his office, Jim backed up the taped confession to his computer and saved it, and then he made a couple of copies just to be sure. He looked at Kate, sitting in silence across from him. Mutt was leaning up against her, offering her the comfort of her body weight and warmth, a sure sign of Kate‘s mood. You okay?

She took a minute to answer. Yeah, she said at last. She rocked her head from side to side, stretching the tension out of her neck, and knotted a hand in Mutt‘s conveniently placed fur. The texture of the gray hairs, so familiar, so necessary, steadied her. She looked across at Jim, who watched her with a steady gaze without sympathy, but with all the understanding she could wish for.

You couldn‘t have known.

No, she said. No, I couldn‘t. But it doesn‘t change the fact that Lyda Blue is dead, and I couldn‘t save her.

He thought of Old Sam and the conversation in the woods. You can‘t save everybody, Kate.

She didn‘t argue with him, she just changed the subject. You going to run her into town?

Hell no, Jim said. She can sit in the cell overnight. I‘m not missing Old Sam‘s barbecue. He looked at the clock on the wall. Time to go or it‘ll all be et. The last thing Kate wanted to do was go to a party, but she knew it would be the best thing for her. Can‘t have that, she said.