ACTIVE GRABBED THE phone as the elevator door closed on Stewart.
“Hey, baby,” Grace said. “I’m on my way to your place now with my last load of stuffs. As of tonight, it’ll be the three of us. Here’s to cohabitation!”
The cheer in her voice was so painful to hear he had to pause a moment to collect himself.
“Baby?”
“Listen. I don’t have much time. The state is reopening your father’s murder case. They sent an investigator up from Anchorage this morning and he just left my office. He’s on his way now to interview you and Nita.”
“Are we suspects?”
“Yes. Maybe. Probably.”
“Even Nita?”
“They’re not ruling anything out.”
“Nita? Helen Mercer is after my bunnik?”
“What? It’s not the gov—”
“That bitch. I’ll kill her.”
“No, it’s something called the Office of Special Prosecutions. It came out of the due diligence review for that stupid Trooper job.”
“I don’t care what it’s called. It’s Helen Mercer and that bitch is not getting Nita.”
“We don’t know she’s behind it. Maybe it’s random bad luck.”
“Another coincidence? Ha!”
He said the only thing he could think of, which was nothing. And then, suddenly she was sliding away.
“I have to get her out of here, Nathan. Maybe Dutch Harbor. I disappeared there before, I can do it again. I gotta pack, can you pick her up at school? When’s the next Alaska Airlines flight? No, they might be watching already. Maybe I can charter Cowboy to Anchorage. You won’t tell anybody, right? I have to round up—how much cash can you get your hands on? They might be watching my bank account too and there’s—”
“Baby. Baby! Come back!”
With a click he could almost hear, she was with him again.
“Oh, Nathan. What do we do?”
“Absolutely do not talk to the investigator. His name is Stuart Stewart, Yup’ik guy from Aniak. Tell him you won’t consent to any search and you’re exercising your right to remain silent and not answer questions. And do not give consent for Nita to be interviewed. You’re her legal mother and you can hold them off at least for a while.”
“My God, I have to get a lawyer. We have to get a lawyer. Theresa was my lawyer before, maybe I’ll—”
“Not Theresa. She’s a prosecutor now. She’s conflicted out. We’ll have to find you another one. Let me check around. For now, all you have to do is not talk to the investigator. And don’t tell him I called you. It’s probably unethical.”
“But what should I do now, right now this minute?”
He gave it a few seconds thought. “Like I said, forget about this call. Keep moving to my place. Let him find you the same as if you didn’t know he was coming and act like you don’t know anything till he tells you.”
“I want to come see you.”
“Probably not a good idea. Just follow your normal routine and gut it out. We’ll see each other later.”
“Look, I gotta go. I’ll see you tonight. I have to stick to my normal routine, too. In case he comes back.”
Grace rang off. He cleared the line on his desk phone and punched the button for the prosecutor’s office. It rang three times and he was about to try Procopio at home when she picked up.
“Eleven o’clock,” she said.
“What?”
“The Pete Wise hearing. Eleven o’clock tomorrow.”
“Oh, yeah. Gimme a minute.” He put it in the calendar on his computer, which linked it to his phone thanks to more of Sonny’s magic he only vaguely understood.
“All good?” Procopio said. “I’ve got work to do if we’re gonna have a prayer at that hearing.”
“Did you know ABI’s in town?”
“I heard, yeah. Apparently that cute Two-Stew guy from the Trooper TV show was at the courthouse. You want me to poke around and find out what he’s—”
“They’re reopening the Jason Palmer case.”
“What?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah, he was just here.”
Procopio was silent a few moments, then spoke in a somewhat relieved tone. “But I guess I’m out of it, right? I was Grace’s lawyer at the time, so I can’t talk to them about it even though I play for their team now.”
Active gave her time to work through it.
“But if they’re reopening it, that means they don’t think Grace’s mother did it. Which means they think Grace—”
“That’s one theory they have, yes.”
“One? They have another?”
“Yeah, they—”
“Nita?” Procopio said. “They don’t think Nita might have done it!”
“They’re not ruling anything out.”
“Your girls need a lawyer,” Procopio said. “Big time.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Let me get back to you with some names.”
“I kind of have someone in mind.” He told her the name.
“That snake?”.
“Yeah, I’ve crossed trails with him once or twice myself. He’s the best.”
“And the worst,” Procopio said.
“Just what my girls need, eh?”
Procopio sucked in a breath. “I have to admit that.”
She rang off and he stared at his phone for a minute or two. Then he went back to his PowerPoint on the accounting system. He slogged through another five slides, then gave it up. Lucy would just have to come up and explain it to him. He punched her button on the phone.
“Hi, Nathan, Jeremy’s coming at three, like you said.”
“Great, thanks.”
“You need me for anything else?”
“I was gonna ask if you—hang on, I have a call coming in on my cell.”
He punched her button offline, took out the silent cell, and stared at the blank screen for a moment. Then he pulled up his contacts and scrolled down to her number.
It took him another moment to summon the nerve to tap it.
“Nathan!” she said after two rings. “How are things in Chukchi? See you tomorrow, right?”
“Right, right, Suka.”
“I’m looking forward to it. And what can I do forya? I’m kinda busy, but never too busy for my favorite cop.”
He shuddered inside. Favorite cop. That was what Grace called him.
“Well, you said if I ever needed anything in Juneau, I should just ask. As one friend to another.”
“Sure, anything.”
“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the Law Department has reopened the Jason Palmer murder case. Grace’s father? Apparently it grew out of the due diligence review before you offered me the Trooper job?”
Mercer was silent for several long seconds. “Oh, yes, I think I heard rumblings about that. I haven’t really been briefed, but I seem to remember it being on the daily summary I get from my chief of staff.”
“There’s a cold-case investigator up here today. He just talked to me because it was a city case at the time and we inherited those files when the new borough public safety department was formed.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And now he’s on his way to interview Grace and Nita. I think he actually considers them potential suspects.”
“Really? Is that a possibility?”
“Of course not. Grace’s mother confessed to shooting her father.”
“Oh, yes, some of that is coming back to me now,” Mercer said. “So, there’s nothing to worry about?”
“I’m not so sure. I know this is going to freak Grace out. And Nita, too. They’ve already been through hell with that family history. They’re both still seeing Nelda Qivits, the old tribal healer.”
“Those poor women.”
“Exactly. So…”
“So…?”
“I was wondering if you could ask the Law Department to back off,” he said. “It’s time Grace and Nita were left in peace.”
“Of course. Let me see what I can do. I’ll talk to the Attorney General. As one friend for another. We can talk about it tomorrow after the hearing. Maybe we can get a moment together at Grace’s ribbon-cutting. You’ll be guarding my body anyway, right?”
AT FIVE, his normal departure time, he called Grace on her cell.
“I’m at the new place,” she said in a shaky voice. “Can you come? I really need you.”
The moment he was in the door, she was on him, arms clamped so tight around his neck it hurt.
“Oh, Nathan, oh, Nathan.”
He patted her back. “It’s OK now. Go ahead.”
She let the sobs out as he led her to the sofa. They sat down and she buried her face in his shoulder and sobbed some more. He gave her his handkerchief. Finally the sobs eased off. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
“Can you tell me about it?”
She looked up at him, red-eyed. “He, he…I, I…oh, Nathan.”
She turned into his shoulder again. But this time she didn’t sob or howl. She just let out a long breath into his uniform shirt. Then she straightened and a little of the old Grace showed through.
“He caught up with me at the house, my house, my old house, and as soon as he told me what it was about, I did what you said.”
“No search, no questions, no interviews with Nita?”
She shook her head, then snuffled into the handkerchief.
He looked around the house, and listened.
“Um, where’s Nita now?”
“She stayed after school. Volleyball.”
“So, what did Stewart say after you went Fifth Amendment on him?”
“Did somebody tell me what to say.”
“And you said—”
She grinned a little. “I went Fifth Amendment on him again. I don’t think he liked that. And then he said they could get a search warrant for the house and have a guardian ad litem appointed for Nita.” She frowned for a moment. “Our program has had to get guardians ad litem a couple times when a kid’s mom was unfit, but how would that work in a criminal case? I am not unfit!”
He put his hand on her thigh and rubbed absently. “I don’t see how it would work in a criminal case either. No matter what, if Nita’s an actual or potential suspect, she’s entitled to a lawyer and what the lawyer says goes. He—or she—might be able to be the guardian ad litem if there’s any reason to appoint one.”
They were both quiet for a moment.
“Obviously, we need—”
“—a lawyer,” he finished. “And I have a name for you: Alex Fortune.”
She frowned. “Do I know that—”
“You might. He’s pretty famous in Alaska in criminal defense. He used to be in San Francisco, but he’s had so much work up here over the years, he’s finally based himself in Anchorage. At least most of the time. Remember the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Club?”
“Ah,” she said. “All the crooks in Juneau that went to jail a few years ago.”
He shook his head. “Not the ones who hired Alex Fortune.”
“Ah,” she said again. “But I’m not a crook.”
“No, but Stuart Stewart and his bosses may think so. In which case Alex Fortune’s name may back them off a little. They’ll know it. Trust me.”
“You’ll call him for me?”
He threw up his hands like he’d just touched a hot stove. “No can do. In theory, I’m on Stuart Stewart’s side here. You’re what we call a lovint, so he’ll be watching me.”
“Lovint?”
“Love interest.” He grinned.
“That’s what you guys call a lover?”
He nodded.
“Cops.” She shook her head. “All right, lovint, you got a number for this Alex Fortune?”
“Certainly not. You have to google him yourself.”
“All right, first thing tomorrow.” She made a calendar note in her cell, then put her hand on his thigh. “You know, we’ve got a big date with Helen Mercer tomorrow. She’s the star attraction at my ribbon-cutting.”
“Two dates, actually, for me at least. Our hearing on the Pete Wise file is in the morning. Gonna be quite a day. Fight her in the morning, guard her in the afternoon.”
“Poor baby. I’m thinking we could both use some relief.” The hand on his thigh drifted higher.
“I don’t follow,” he said. He did, though. The question was, had Stewart Stuart flipped her switch and she’d held it in till now?
“Look at me, baby.” She did. Direct eye contact, no hesitation, no hint of crazy. “You OK?”
“You mean other than having Stuart Stewart and governor of Alaska after me? Ubetcha.” She grinned and he decided she probably was herself. “And I need the comfort. God, do I need the comfort.”
With a mental shrug, he relaxed into it. If it blew up, he’d deal with it somehow. Like always. “We both do. And we’ll explain to Nita that we’re going upstairs before dinner how?”
“Hmm, good question.” She looked at the time on her cell. “She’ll be done with volleyball in a few. Why don’t you go get her while I see what I can do for dinner with what I brought from the house and whatever moldy bachelor food you’ve got around here. Throw a big dinner with lotsa carbs into Nita after volleyball and she’s out by eight.”
“Frozen stuff doesn’t mold,” he said.
“You want some lovin’ from your lovint tonight or not?”
“I’m going, I’m going.”
IT WAS NINE o’clock by the time Nita crashed, but the anticipation only made it sweeter when they finally reached his bed.
They undressed, roamed hands over each other’s bodies, then formed themselves into a sixty-nine and satisfied each other like they had in the tent on the ice. Afterward they spooned on their sides, his front to her back. She reached down and pulled him up between her thighs, then nestled him in the lips of that warm, slippery opening and said, “Mmm.”
“Mmm,” he said. “Maybe another sheefishing trip and a boffo splibo this weekend?’
“Mmm,” she said.
He drifted off, marveling for perhaps the millionth time at the emotional reserves that let her shove aside pressures that would crush any normal psyche.