“Did you go through my desk, Ms. Petroff?”

Her shoulders slumped a little, and then straightened again. “I did, sir. I wanted to see what your thoughts were on Erik’s murder.”

He stared out the window for a long time with no appreciation for the view. Finally he looked back at her. “I’m a cop, Ms. Petroff. People lie to me all day long every day on the job. I expect the truth from the people I work with. I rely on it. I can’t do my job without it.” He stared at her.

There was a chin wobble, instantly repressed. “I understand, sir. I’ll clean out my desk in the morning.”

“You’ll show up for work at eight a.m. and do your job,” he said firmly, “and every day afterward.”

“Sir?”

“You heard me, Ms. Petroff.” He met her eyes with a hard stare. “Don’t let me down again.”

She stood up and held out her hand. “I won’t, sir.”

They shook on it. Ms. Petroff got in her Jeep and crept down the hill while Wy and Liam extinguished the lantern and made sure the door was on the latch. Liam had been right; there was no lock.

They stepped out into the soft fall evening and stood in the middle of the small, cleared area. “Gloriosky,” Wy said.

Liam, like her, surveying the view, couldn’t disagree. The sun was an hour away from setting but it was setting at their backs, so that the light was crawling up the Kenai Mountains and leaching away into the deepening blue of the sky. Termination dust encroached only on the very peaks so far. The light of a boat approached the head of the Spit, making for the boat harbor and home. If there was a swell on the water’s surface it was hidden by distance.

“The first time I met Sybilla I took her back to the post,” Liam said.

“Yes?”

“She asked Ms. Petroff how her father was. Ms. Petroff said he was fine, and Sybilla said, ‘Such a nice boy, Erik. So polite.’” He looked at Wy. “Sybilla knew Erik was Sally Petroff’s father.”

“She was a teacher. They always know everything. She said she warned him. I’ll bet it had something to do with not stirring up old trouble.”

“Yeah, and see how well that turned out,” he said. “I knew she reminded me of someone the first time I saw her. Erik had given me a tour of his dig the day before, and I didn’t put it together. Some detective, me.”

“You got me off the hook, not once but twice. Your detecting skills are okay by me.”

He put his arm around Wy and pulled her in, smiling into her upturned face. “I love you.”

She smiled back. “I love you, too. And the sooner we’re home the sooner I can demonstrate how much.”

“Motivation,” he said. “I fear for the springs on my Penis Extender.”

There was a rustle from the side of the clearing and they looked around to see a lynx with five kittens coalesce out of the undergrowth. They took no notice of Liam and Wy, and the two of them stood very still, watching the dappled cats with their enormous paws pad silently by, to melt into a copse of scrub spruce as if by magic.