The door closed behind her with a soft sigh. Prince looked at Liam. “Domestic disputes, she said with loathing. “God, how I hate them. Give me an old-fashioned ax murder any day. He remained silent. “Whose kid was she talking about, do you know? Whos the she in she wont let me see him?

Liam looked at Prince. “Go on down to the jail and give Art and Dave a talking-to and turn them loose.

“We could leave them where they are until their twenty-four is up. Suspects had to be released after twenty-four hours if no arrest warrant had been sworn out against them.

He pointed a finger at her. “Better. He stood and reached for his hat. “Ive got a few errands to run. Ill take lunch and then come back and relieve you for yours. He paused at the door and grinned at her. “Monthly reports due today. She groaned, and he added, “Hey, Im the corporal, youre the trooper. Low man does the paperwork.

The answering smile on her face faded as soon as the door closed behind him, and Prince was left to wonder what had produced the lines of strain around her bosss eyes, lines that hadnt been there when he first walked in the door.

THREE

Nuklunek Bluff, September 1

John Kvichak and Teddy Engebretsen had been sworn companions since kindergarten. Theyd studied grammar together beneath the beady eye of Mrs. Johnson in the fourth grade, stood shoulder to shoulder against the bully boys in the seventh grade, theyd lusted after the same girls in high school and theyd graduated together attired beneath their caps and gowns in the same jeans and gray sweatshirts, ready to party as soon as the diplomas were given out and the caps tossed into the air. They fished salmon together, hunted caribou and moose together, trapped beaver together. When they reached legal age, they drank together. It was said in Newenham, their hometown, that they would never marry because they could never find a woman capable of putting up with both of them, and although the saying began as a joke, there was probably some truth to it.

They owned a drift netter together now, the Isabella Rose, named for both of their mothers. Isabella, Teddys mom, won the coin toss for whose name came first. Rose, Johns mom, took it well, frying up a panful of bread and bringing it down to the christening. Of course, it was all charred to a crisp. Isabella laughed and laughed, and made John and Teddy eat up every bite.

Each fall, after the fishing season was over and the Isabella Rose was hosed down and put into dry dock for the winter, John and Teddy would go hunting together in the Wood River Mountains. They concentrated on moose and caribou, but took time out on occasion to bring out the shotguns and go for geese, ptarmigan and spruce hens.

Neither one of them was a pilot, so they chartered Wy Chouinard to fly them into their preferred hunting area, the long, level plateau between the broad plain that sloped down into the Nushagak River in the east and the Wood River Mountains in the west, where a small but fecund herd of caribou fattened on lichen, where the occasional moose wandered up the narrow chasms and canyons. Birdlife was plentiful, and one year Teddy even brought down a brown bear with a beautiful coat, which now hung in a place of honor on his mothers living room wall.