“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.

He stopped, ashamed of having lost his temper. The Nunapitchuks seemed like nice people: hardworking, self-sufficient, capable, intelligent, everything he admired. He didnt like the thought that he was about to let them down. He sighed. “We wont close the file. The M.E. will be able to tell us about the weapon, and the prints will go into the system. Well put out a bulletin, circulate it among all the air taxi services in the Bay area in case he tries to fly out and gives himself away. Of course, hell have to give himself away because we dont have a clue as to what he looks like. He could be a woman for all we know, or a Texas horned toad, or a little green man from Mars. He felt himself getting angry all over again, and took a deep breath and blew it out explosively.