There was a look on her face that he didnt like. “Rebecca, I know it hasnt come as easily to you as it has to me, but

She pushed back her chair and walked around him to the door. She flung it wide, and he heard the splash of the neighborhood grizzly as he went into the creek for supper.

Rebecca stood on the doorstep for a long time, but she never stepped outside.

Kagati Lake, September 1

An hour later they had the body bagged and in the plane, and the rolls of film out of the camera and carefully labeled. The prints Prince had lifted were in an envelope, also labeled. The family was gathered around the kitchen table, a fire in the fireplace shared by both kitchen and living room, and all the lanterns in the house lit. Leonard had insisted on cooking everyone a meal, fried salmon steaks, salad from the garden out back and boiled potatoes, also from the garden out back. Simple food, well cooked, it tasted of dust in Liams mouth and he knew from Wys expression that she felt the same. Prince cleaned her plate and asked for seconds.

“Who could have done this? Leonard said for what had to be the ninth or tenth time.

“We dont know yet, sir, Liam replied. “It looks as if your wife was getting ready to open the post office for the day. What time might that have been?

“She was always early, one of the daughters-in-law volunteered. “She was always at the counter by nine oclock, catching up on the books, ordering stamps, stuff like that.

“What time do you normally get here? Liam said to Wy.

Wy pushed away her plate, still full. “Depends which way I fly the route. Sometimes I start here and work south, sometimes I start at Mable Mountain and work north. Today I started at Mable Mountain.

“Anybody know which way youre flying on any given day?

She shook her head.

“Who else lives in Kagati Lake?

Leonard answered. “Not that many. This area is just a collection of homesteads, but not the normal kind of homesteads, you know, buying land from the state, proving up with a cabin in seven years and then its yours. A bunch of gold miners came through around the turn of the century, on their way to the Yukon, and some of them stopped off to do a little panning. They found color, so they staked claims. Some stayed, like my great-grandfather.

Leonard pointed at a row of gold pans lined up on top of the kitchen cupboard that looked as if they had seen long and hard use. “He always said he was a gold miner, but he never did pack out much gold. Other than the one big nugget. He got to his feet. “Ill show you.

The rest of them waited. “What the hell? they heard him say, and then he reappeared in the kitchen door. For the first time he looked angry. “Is that what this was about? Opal killed over a lousy goddamn gold nugget?