“It’s archeologist and you know it.”

“Hey, look, a cave! Grab that flashlight, Logan. Man, it’s dark in here.”

“Duh. It’s a cave.”

“How far back does it go?”

“I have a bad feeling about this, Kyle. We should go.”

“Man, this goes back pretty far. I thought this side of the Bay was all sand.”

“Silt. From the glaciers.”

“Whatever. Hey, there’s a little crack here. I think I can reach through it.”

“Careful, there might be something waiting to munch you on the other side.”

“Shut up. I think I can—”

“Kyle, wait, what are you doing?”

“Hand me the flashlight. Hey. I think there’s another cave.”

“Kyle, I don’t think you should—”

“I think I can—”

“Where are you going? Kyle—”

A high, excited giggle. “Man, you think it’s dark out there!” Scrabbling sounds. “Oh shit!” A trip, a startled cry, a thunk, some more swearing.

“Kyle! What happened? Are you okay?”

Kyle screamed.

Nine

Tuesday, September 3

“NICE PLACE.”

“Nice, my ass, it’s gorgeous.”

Jo laughed. “You win, it’s gorgeous. How big?”

“About fifteen hundred square feet, I think Liam said.”

“Not necessarily a McMansion.”

“Don’t need one. Let’s check out the garden.” They went through the door that opened onto the deck and perambulated around the yard that stretched to the edge of the bluff. Someone had been ruthless in keeping the brush trimmed pretty close to the ground between the deck and the edge of the bluff, and Wy glanced back at the house. Of course, to protect the view.

The yard was edged with flowers, almost all of them bloomed out by now but there were a few Shasta daisies left. “I think these are mostly Alaska wildflowers,” Wy said when they came to the end of the circuit. “Cranesbill, Arctic iris, sedum, starflowers. Is that a daylily?”

“Since when are you an authority on Alaska wildflowers?”

“I know a forget-me-not when I see one.”

Jo came to a stop at the front of the yard and looked out at the view. The airport was front and center, with the Spit pushing out into the Bay in back of it. “What’s the elevation here?”

“About a thousand feet, Liam said.”

“Spring is gonna be late and winter will be early.” Jo turned to survey the house and grounds. “How much land comes with the house?”

“Twenty acres, ten more or less on each side of the road.”

Jo smiled. “Enough room to mow your own strip.”

Wy smiled. “Liam said there was one put in by the original homesteader. It wasn’t maintained and the fireweed overran it. We’ll have to buy a mower or hire somebody with one.”

Jo turned to face Wy directly. “What’s next?”

Impossible to pretend to Jo. “I don’t know, exactly.”

Jo gestured at the airport and at the lake that hosted the seaplane base. “Plenty of flying available here, it looks like.”

“There are already two air taxis and half a dozen flightseeing operations in business on the Bay.”