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It was Kate’s turn to shrug. “You’re a name on a list of people who had Dreyer do work for them in the days preceding his death. What’d he hire on for, anyway?”
If she hadn’t been watching him so closely, she wouldn’t have seen the infinitesimal relaxation of his guard. She did see it, noted it, drank coffee, and smiled an invitation for him to continue.
He did, relief making him a little more loquacious. “I was putting the house up for sale, and I wanted to spruce it up a little before I did. Get the best price out of it. You know.”
She nodded.
He became more expansive. “We remodeled the bathroom, ripped up that old linoleum and replaced it, stripped the kitchen cabinets and refinished them. That kind of stuff.”
“Sure,” Kate said, nodding some more. “Makes sense. What made you decide to move to Anchorage, anyway? I thought the Park had its hooks in you permanent.”
“So did I.” He watched coffee swirl around the inside of his cup for a moment before raising his eyes. “I been fishing the Sound since I could walk the deck of a boat. I inherited Dad’s permit when he died. I didn’t think I’d ever be doing anything else.” He sighed. “I swear, Kate, there’s more fish going up the river today than I’ve ever seen in thirty years of fishing, and at the same time the commercial catch is the lowest it’s ever been. What the hell is up with that?”
He already knew but Kate answered him anyway. “Used to be the commercial fishermen had it all their own way, Gary. Now you’ve got subsistence fishers and sport fishers wanting their share, too.”
“And then the market went to hell, what with the RPetCo oil spill and the farmed fish coming out of British Columbia and now Chile.” He was silent for a moment. “You hear they caught an Atlantic salmon out of Southeast?”
“No.”
“Fact.” He nodded once. “Absolute fact. Before you know it, the escapees from the B.C. fish farms are going to be interbreeding with wild Alaska salmon stock, and then what’ll happen?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’ll tell you. We lose what market we do have because who the hell wants to eat that dry, diseased fish the farms produce? Fresh fish, my ass. I’ll tell you what else will happen, too-more guys like me, who used to fish for a living, will be forced to move into the goddamn city and find a goddamn indoor job where we have to wear a goddamn tie.”
They brooded together for a moment over the demise of commercial fishing in Alaska. The television was a steady drone from the living room.
Kate stirred. “Turns out Len Dreyer wasn’t his real name.”
He looked at her.
“His real name was Leon Duffy.” She sat up straight in her chair and took a deep breath. “Gary, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just come straight out with it. Before he moved to the Park, Leon Duffy was arrested and jailed for molesting an eleven-year-old girl here in Anchorage.”
He stared at her without speaking. She couldn’t read his expression.
“He served five and a half years of an eight-year sentence. He got time off for good behavior. He disappeared off everyone’s radar screen after he was released.” She paused. “His next known whereabouts were the Park.”
The silence stretched out between them. The television was staying on one cha
Gary stirred and she looked up. “He was never alone with my girls,” he said. “That’s what you’re asking me, right? If he molested my girls.”
The dogged way he said it nearly broke her heart. “Gary-”
“He didn’t. He was never alone with any of them. He worked with me. I was always with him. You get it? You see?”
“Yes,” Kate said gently, “I see.” She paused, and closed her eyes momentarily, gathering the strength together to ask the next question. “Gary, when was the last time you saw Len Dreyer?”
He gave a mirthless laugh and drained his mug. “The last time I saw Len Dreyer was the day we finished putting the hardware on the kitchen cabinets.”
“Can you remember what day it was?”
“Nope. Sometime last May, just before we packed up and moved.” He rose to his feet. “If that’s all, I’ve got things to do.”
“Knock it off!” she heard Joh
“Okay,” she said, “gotta go. Gary, thanks for the coffee.”
His expression when he looked at his daughter, flushed, rumpled, and defiant, was half in sorrow, half in anger. “Anytime, Kate. Good to see you again. My best to Billy and A
“I’ll tell them.”
Fran and the two older daughters drove up as Kate and Joh
“You, too, Kate,” Fran said, white to the lips.
The family stood watching as they backed out of the driveway and headed down the street.
They were stopped at the Bragaw light before she broke the silence. “What was going on back there, Joh
He had his face turned to the passenger side window. His voice was choked. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
The light changed, and Kate put the Subaru into gear. She drove slowly, while she searched out the right words to say. “I respect your privacy, Joh
They were caught again at the Lake Otis light. She admired the raven-stealing-the-sun-moon-and-stars sculpture on the southwest corner of the intersection, the only decent piece of public art in the entire city. A real raven perched on top of a light pole and directed traffic with a series of boisterous clicks, croaks, and caws.
“She made a move on me,” Joh
“Yeah,” Kate said. “Tell me about it.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Tell me anyway. I mean it, Joh
Joh
“Then what?”
His voice was muffled. “Then she-then she-she kind of scootched over next to me, and the next thing I know she’s kissing me. Well, I kissed her back!” He whipped around and glared at her.
“Okay,” Kate said. “Then what happened?”
He looked away again. “She started touching me. I mean really touching me, Kate. God, her father was right in the next room. And you, too!” His voice scaled up with his indignation.
Kate drove a while in silence. Sexual promiscuity was a classic symptom of an abused child. At last she sighed. “Joh
“Well, that doesn’t give her the right to molest me!”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“I don’t ever want to see her again. If you have to go over there again, you go without me.”
“Understood.”
They went the rest of the way downtown in silence. Kate pulled into a reserved space in back of the building.
Joh