He ignored Jackson and Thor and spoke quickly to Clara.
“Miss Avery! I heard you stayed behind. You know that you are more than welcome to remain with me at the Alaska Hut as long as you choose. I’m sure you must be very frightened—there will be officers here. And, while it is not in politically good taste, I do admit I have been a hunter at times in my life. I’m good with a rifle. You might well be safest here, surrounded by officers...and watched over by myself.”
Clara had dismounted the snowmobile and hung back with Jackson. She smiled, but Thor thought it was a plastic one.
She didn’t like the man. She didn’t trust him.
That made Thor like her all the more, he realized. She had the sense to realize this man thought he could buy anything.
“That’s so nice of you,” Clara murmured.
Thor looked around to assess the situation; Mike hadn’t returned from the dock as of yet. A state police officer was standing guard on the porch. He nodded to the man, who nodded gravely in return.
“Magda has just gotten some lunch together. Agents, Miss Avery, can we get you something? We’re seeing to the police officers, too, of course!” Kimball said.
The perfect host.
Clara walked ahead and they entered the house.
Magda was bustling around the kitchen area; lunch was laid out buffet-style. Thor imagined that was because no one knew how many people would be eating or when.
The food smelled wonderful and Thor realized he hadn’t actually eaten anything cooked in a while. The woman had prepared a hearty stew to be served over rice. He helped himself to a bowl, thanking her and Kimball politely before taking a chair.
He noted that Clara managed to sit between him and Jackson, despite the fact that Kimball continued to wax on about her performances. She just smiled.
He and Jackson ate in silence. Halfway through the meal, Emmy Vincenzo appeared.
She asked if it was all right if she joined them. It should have been nothing but a courtesy and polite question, but Thor realized she was actually asking permission.
Her fault for staying in his employ, Thor thought.
They finished quickly; the others were still eating when he rose and Jackson joined him.
“We’ll be back,” Jackson said. “We’ll be taking a look through the forest, Mr. Kimball.”
“If I can help...?” Kimball offered.
“We appreciate that and we’ll definitely let you know,” Thor told him.
When they were on the way out he asked Jackson, “You got the radio?”
“I do.”
“Have Angela find out where Kimball was before he came here.”
“You think that Kimball is in on this somehow.”
“Not really. Being a giant ass doesn’t make him guilty of murder. I think we should know.”
“I agree, though I imagine Enfield was already on it.”
“Yeah, they would have done a check on him, but just an airport check about the plane—I’d like something a little more thorough. Guaranteed,” Thor said.
“Sure,” Jackson agreed. “I don’t like him, either. I just don’t see him as this killer.”
“Elimination,” Thor said.
They started up the snowmobiles again and followed the tracks they had found the night before.
Bear tracks? Or snowshoe tracks made to look that way by someone who knew that a wind or a fresh batch of flurries would make it impossible to tell?
Alaska was home to all three species of North American bears, including grizzlies, black bears and polar bears. Black bears held prominence on Black Bear Island, but brown bears made a home here, too.
But were what they had seen in the snow bear tracks?
The experts had yet to tell them.
*
Clara was left alone with Magda, Justin, Emmy, a few cops who were not into conversation, and Marc Kimball.
Maybe she should have left the island.
Well, she would be leaving. When Jackson and Thor returned from their mission, she would go back in with them. The only problem she had was speaking with her employers at Celtic American. She was pretty sure, however, that she didn’t have to worry about rehearsals; she knew her role backward and forward and the ship still wasn’t due to leave for a week.
Ralph, Simon and Larry would be delighted to have some time off. They’d probably turn into tour guides when their young ingenue, Connie Shaw, finished her last commitment and arrived in Alaska, showing her around and protecting her like mother hens. They were very safe mother hens; Ralph and Larry were now openly together—she and Alexi had convinced them that the days were gone when they had to hide, at least among friends! And Simon was the furthest thing in the world from a womanizer; he was just a supernice young kid who had been brought up to be courteous and polite to everyone.