Kate nodded. About what she‘d figured. If I can find Petey a job, will you spring him?

He looked at her in surprise. Since when did you start saving Jeppsens, Kate? So far as I know you haven‘t spoken to Petey since he helped Cheryl shoot up the Roadhouse.

She shrugged. I went back to say hi to Willard and saw Petey there. It‘s not easy for him, trying to come home after prison and make some kind of life for himself. It shouldn‘t be, Jim said with an edge to his voice. Good boys aren‘t convicted of felonies. Elvis weighed in on Jailhouse Rock.

Kate couldn‘t disagree with him, but she said again, If I could find him a job, would you spring him?

Jim growled. In sympathy, Mutt growled, too. It forced a chuckle out of him. He scratched behind her ears, an effective therapy for irritation caused by idiots. I suppose so. Maybe. If the job was in another state. He looked at her. You know, Kate, a smart judge once told me I could either be a cop or a social worker, but I couldn‘t be both.

I‘m not a cop, she said. It sounded pretty lame even to her own ears so she changed the subject. So, who is the bigamist? Somebody from the mine, I take it? After Mandy fired Howie, she needed someone pronto to mind the site, so she flew to Anchorage and hit Job Service.

Oh god.

Yeah, I know. She did check with me to see if the two guys she hired had records. They were clean, so far as I could tell without fingerprints. She put ‘em to work caretaking the site, and kept them on after breakup when the drill rigs and the building modules and the crews and the rest of the outfit showed up. It‘s one of them. Baker by trade, so they put him to work in the kitchen when they went into operation. Name‘s Randy Randolph.

Kate laughed.

Yeah, I know, kind of, what‘s the word? When something sounds like it means? Onomatopoeic?

Kate cast her mind back to those ghastly days in seventh-grade English. Homophonic, I think you mean.

Yeah, whatever. Randy is Randy. Jim shook his head and drank more beer. What he‘s look like? Kate said, curious. Is he some kind of Greek god, or what? I don‘t know. I haven‘t talked to him yet. I haven‘t even seen him yet. Listen, Kate.

No, she said.

All I want is for you to talk to him, get his statement.

No, she said.

Both Suzy and Bonnie had marriage certificates. Suzy‘s was in February and Bonnie‘s was in March. Randolph‘s name and signature on both. Didn‘t even change it. Guy‘s either gutsy or dumb, won‘t know which until somebody talks to him. Kate reflected, covering the two loaf pans with Saran wrap and setting them in a warm corner to rise. Mandy couldn‘t have hired him before December. He didn‘t waste any time.