“Okay. Liam squeezed her hand and let go. Prince pretended not to notice, and continued to pretend not to notice as Liam stood watching Wy climb into her plane, start the engine, taxi and take off to the north. The plane banked left and came back down the strip at two hundred feet and waggled its wings. Liam raised an arm in reply and turned back to Prince. “So nothing else, no similar incidents reported out this way?

“No, sir.

“No burglaries, robberies, no assaults?

“And no murders.

“I dont like it, Liam said.

“I dont either, but we dont have a lot to go on, she said. “I sent the prints in with the body. Maybe well get lucky. She paused.

“What?

“You sure about the family?

“Yes. They were all at fish camp, anyway, all except Opal. She stayed behind to do her duty by the U.S. Postal Service. Come rain, shine, sleet or fish camp, the mail must go through.

“Who checks their mail here, sir?

“There are about thirty-two people in the immediate vicinity. He caught her eye. “Well, okay, within a days hike. From the look of things, most of the people with mailboxes here dont make the trip over that often, they let the mail pile up and come in once or twice a month to collect it. She ran a little sundries store, too: over-the-counter medicines, magazines, candy, like that. It would be known, so shed get the occasional stranger.

“Maybe somebody else saw him.

“Maybe somebody else did, he said.

They borrowed a couple of four-wheelers from Leonard and set off. It took them the rest of the morning and all of the afternoon, following the map Leonard had made for them. Everyone was shocked at Opals murder. No one had seen anyone strange. Very few had alibis, but then very few had motive, either.

Dusty Moore was a man in his fifties with a much younger Yupik wife and five children under the age of eight, all of whom swore that Dusty had been right there with them every day since coming back from a supply run to Newenham in May. He didnt deny wanting the postmaster job, but in an eerie echo of Leonards own words said, “Jesus, who would want it this way?

He escorted them firmly to the edge of his property and left them there.

“Hell, Prince said.

“Hell, Liam agreed. “Well, I guess they cant all be easy.

“If this yo-yo

“I know. And chances are we cant do anything unless and until he hits again.

Princes lips were tight. “I dont like it.

“What do you want to do, Prince? Set out across country? In what direction? We looked everywhere on the Nunapitchuks homestead for a trail and didnt find squat, except for game trails. We cant follow them all. Maybe we could bring in some dogs, pick up a trail that way. Chances of that are, oh, maybe a trillion to one, and its even odds theyll track down the local grizzly first, which would be bad for the dogs and worse for us.