“You hush up, Lorne, Im trying to get off shift here. She jerked her chin in the voices direction. “Lorne Rapp. Roger brought him in at three-thirty for beating up on his family. Drunk and disorderly, and he tried, I say he tried, to assault an officer.

“I trust he didnt get away with it, Liam murmured.

Mamie gave the trooper an indignant look. “Not on my shift he didnt. Hes got a lump on his head the size of Gibraltar to remind him not to if he ever gets the yen again. The nerve!

Any woman who could single-handedly raise five children and still string words together in a coherent sentence commanded Liams respect and admiration, and he held the door for Mamie on her way out.

“We want to talk to Engebretsen and Kvichak, he told Nick Potts, a skinny young man who barely looked old enough to vote. Nick was working day shift. Nick didnt look like he could punch his way out of a paper bag, let alone keep order among the Newenham criminal element. He knew this, and compensated by trying to grow a mustache, which after two months still looked like something applied with a number 2 pencil. “You want the interview room?

“Please, Liam said. Prince smiled at the young man, who blushed hotly and dropped his keys.

The interview room was a narrow rectangle with one barred window, a table and four chairs. Liam and Prince sat on one side, Teddy and John on the other.

Teddy and John still smelled faintly of beer, but after a night in jail they were stone-cold sober. John was tight-lipped and angry, Teddy terrified. “You never charged us with anything, John said. “You never even told us why you were locking us up.

“Legally, Ive got twenty-four hours to charge you with anything, Liam said soothingly, “and as for telling you why I was locking you up, I was afraid if I left you at home youd get drunker and I wouldnt be able to talk to you at all.

“We didnt do anything, Teddy said.

“Shut up, Teddy, John said.

“But we didnt do anything, Teddy repeated.

“Let them tell us all about it, John said. “Dont you say a word unless I say so. Cops always twist everything you say to make it fit how they want. Dont say a word, okay? He glared at Liam and Prince.

Prince waited long enough to see that Liam was giving her the lead, and opened the folder in front of her.

“Youve got a history with us, gentlemen.

Teddy shifted in his chair. John stilled him with a glance.

“Most of it regarding the Nuklunek Bluff, which you seem to regard as your personal, private property.

John snorted. “Aint no such thing as private property out here.

As if she hadnt heard him, Prince said, “Youve been questioned regarding several incidents involving campers and hunters in the area, resulting in, at minimum, destruction of private property and, at most, the threat of bodily harm.