A Grave Denied

Now he had fantasies about the cap.

What was it about this woman, this one woman, when his life had been filled, one might even say littered, with so many others?

She was smart, and he liked smart in a woman. When she forgot it was him in the room with her, she had a robust sense of humor. He didn’t have a lot of empirical evidence, given the brevity and angst of their only two encounters, but he was fairly certain they were sexually compatible.

Fairly certain, hell. He knew beyond all shadow of doubt that he and Kate together would produce a fire that would make the burning down of Kate’s cabin look tame by comparison.

Still. It wasn’t like there hadn’t been other women just as smart and just as fun and just as hot. Plenty of them.

He tried to remember the name or the face of just one.

She shifted in his arms, burrowing closer without opening her eyes. Any minute now she was going to wake up and remember whose lap she was in, and he could kiss his nuts good-bye.

He leaned his head back against the tree, gathered her in as close as he dared, and let himself drift.

He must have drifted all the way off to sleep because when he opened his eyes, she was kicking at the ruin that had been her cabin. The needles didn’t feel as soft as they had when he had first sat down, and no doubt there was more pine sap leeching onto his uniform shirt with every passing second. He got to his feet and dusted off the seat of his jeans. His hat had fallen off at some point, and he picked it up and whacked it against his leg before pulling it on, tugging the bill as low down over his eyes as he could and still see.

She must have heard him, but she didn’t turn when he came up behind her. “I didn’t say it before, Kate, but I’m sorry as hell about this. I know the place has been in your family since before you were born. I can’t imagine how much seeing it like this must hurt.”

It was the decent thing to say and he stopped himself before he could offer her house room. For one thing, he didn’t have a house yet, and for another, just because she no longer had a home herself didn’t mean she’d be moving in with him of all people.

Still. She had trusted him enough to let him hold her while she slept.

“I found the shotgun,” she said, nodding at a blackened length of metal. The wooden stock was barely recognizable as such.

He winced. “Ouch. What’s a new one run these days?”

“A good one? Starts about eight hundred, I’d guess. Lucky I had the rifle with me.”

“Lucky,” he agreed.

She picked her way to the water pump and tried to work the handle but it wouldn’t budge. She tried again, a third time. “Damn it,” she said, her voice tight. She’d have to plug this well and drill another. Would she even be able to rebuild on the same site?

“Did Bobby tell you about Hazen’s RV? We called him, got a convoy set up for tomorrow. George did a flyover of the road in and he says it looks good. They should be here tomorrow night, the next morning at the latest.”

“Yeah, he told me.”

“It sleeps two.” She looked at him and he said hastily, “Room enough for you and Joh

She made an effort. “I take it you’ve been on one of Hazen’s on-the-road-again parties to the Russian River?”

He shook his head. “Been invited. But something always came up.”

She nodded. “You said you just missed me at Auntie Vi’s.”

When he looked blank she added, “When you first came down the trail. Were you looking for me?”

“Oh. Yeah. Right.” He pulled off his cap and put it on again, screwing it down around his ears. “Bobby came looking for me this morning.”

“Oh?” She had turned back to look at the cabin’s remains.

“He tells me you’re still working the case.”

“Oh?”

Something in that single, disinterested syllable reminded him why he’d been angry. “I fired you, Kate.”

“Ummm.”

“I made your services available to the industry, as they say in the oil patch.”

“Uh-huh.”

He could feel the slow burn coming on, except that with Kate it was never slow, it was more like spontaneous combustion. This from a man who had not only a personal inclination but a professional obligation not to lose his cool.

He’d lost his temper with her yesterday morning. Full out, balls to the wall. It helped knowing that his rage was fueled mostly by fear, but not much.

It had felt good to yell at Kate Shugak. He was thinking he ought to do more of that. Starting now.

She looked at his face for a long time, her expression somber, her eyes unreadable. And then she surprised him again, picking her way out of the rubble to stand in front of him. She raised her hand and flattened it on his chest, right over his heart, just under his badge. “Jim,” she said, her voice very soft, so soft he had to bend over to hear, so close to her that his breath stirred her hair.

He knew she was playing him, he just knew it. “What?” he said, and if it wasn’t quite the growl he wanted it to be, at least it wasn’t a whimper.

She raised her head and met his eyes. Mere inches and their lips would touch. His heart rate increased to a rapid, almost painful beat high up in his ears.

“I’m going to work this case,” she murmured. “I’d rather it be with your permission than without it.”

He closed his eyes and tried desperately to remember why he’d been angry. Something about a fire, and Kate and Joh

He started to rationalize. She was going to work the case if he let her or if he didn’t. He had a full plate for the next week. He had to fly to Cordova that afternoon to take statements and file charges before a magistrate on the video/drug store case, and if the weather was as lousy as it often was in Cordova, he wouldn’t be back tonight. The longer it took him to get to the Dreyer case, the less chance it had of being solved. Kate was a trained investigator. Better her poking around than Dandy Mike, who had found him even before Bobby had this morning and demanded to know when he was going to work.

Rationalization led to fantasy. If he let her work the case, maybe she’d-

No. Nope. Not going there. “Okay,” he said, his voice thick. “You’re rehired. Just watch your back, Shugak, okay? If you let somebody hurt you, I’ll hurt you more.”

An involuntary smile spread across her face, warm, almost loving, and just possibly entirely without guile. It wasn’t an expression he’d ever had directed at him before, and truth to tell it made him a little dizzy. “Thank you.” He couldn’t remember her ever thanking him for anything before, either. A day of firsts. Between the smile and the thanks he was ready to run before the roof fell in.

“Okay,” he said, taking a step back. “Good.” What was he saying? “I mean, better if you kept your nose out of it like I wanted you to, but fine that you’re going to investigate. What are you doing first?” He paused. “What have you done already?”

“Talked to Bernie and Bobby and Auntie Vi and Bo

“Good,” he said, retreating another step. Kate was entirely too calm for his peace of mind. He wasn’t comfortable when she wasn’t yelling at him. He’d grown accustomed to her yelling; a day without Kate yelling was a day he obviously didn’t know what the Sam Hill hell was going on.

“I want to go up to his cabin, too, look around some more.”

“There’s even less of it left than there is of yours,” Jim said.

“I know. But I have to look.”

“Yeah.” He took another step back. “I’ve got to go. I’m heading out for Cordova.”