Cedar looked away. Kaliswallowed. Maybe she was right. Maybe he had changed his mind abouther.
“Very well,” he finallysaid, but he didn’t sound happy about it. She thought aboutrevoking the offer. If he didn’t want to spend time with her, shewouldn’t make him. But he spoke again, adding, “I reckon I shouldkeep an eye on you anyway with all this about.” He waved a handtoward the body.
Kali scowled. She wanted a beau, not ananny. “I can take care of myself.”
“I think your people arebeing targeted, and I don’t want you being next.”
“They’re not my people,”Kali said. “I’ve nothing in common with any of them. That’s why Ileft.” That and because they’d all thought her odd for liking totinker and doubly odd for being the daughter of the crazy witch whotook her own life.
“On the outside, you do,and killers aren’t particular about the inner lives ofvictims.”
“I’m just a scruffyhalf-breed,” Kali said, “not some voluptuousprostitute.”
Cedar gazed down at her. “Are you arguingbecause you refuse to believe that you might be in danger, or justto be stubborn and ornery?”
“Uhm, the last thing.”Also, Kali wouldn’t mind hearing him say she wasn’t scruffy. Sheplucked a tuft of moss out of the fastener for her overalls. Thoughthat might be asking a lot of a man.
“I thought so.” Cedarspotted something on the edge of the clearing and walked over toexamine the ground.
“Should we arrange for aburial?” one Mountie asked the other.
“We ought to find some ofher people and let them handle it,” his comrade said. “They gotpeculiar notions about sending off the dead.”
Kali stuffed her hands in her pockets andwas about to point out that white folks had peculiar notions, too,but her knuckles bumped against something hard. She didn’t remembersticking anything in there. Puzzled, she withdrew the object. Itwas a jewelry box with a worn black velvet cover. Her heart spedup. Had Cedar slipped it into her pocket? Surely he would knowshe’d rather have useful gifts than jewelry, but a nervous flutterteased her belly nonetheless.
Kali unclasped the lid. A thick silver ringwas mounted inside along with five miniature bullets, each with aslot in the black velvet case. The gambler’s pistol ring.
The nervous anticipation in her belly turnedto unease. When had that man been close enough to slip somethinginto her pocket?
“What’s that?” Cedar askedfrom behind her shoulder.
Kali jumped, almost dropping the case. Maybethe day’s events had her the tiniest bit on edge. “A job, I think.We hadn’t discussed payment though.” Kali noticed Cedar was holdingsomething as well, a hide patch with beadwork and a polished blackstone in the center. “What’s that?”
“I thought you might tellme.”
Kali traded him the pistol ring for it. “Idon’t know. I never paid much attention to talismans and charms. Mymother always said people who used these things did so for show andthat true power came from within. That didn’t make the tribe’smedicine man real happy with her.”
“Power to do what?” Cedarglanced at the body. The Mounties had found a blanket and werewrapping it up.
Kali shrugged. “It depends on the purposethe maker had in mind. A medicine man might be able to tell you ifit’s real and what it’s supposed to do.” She did not feel a tingleof power from the beadwork patch, not the way she sometimes hadwhen handling her mother’s accoutrements. “Have you ever heard of agambler named Preston Somerset?”
“It sounds familiar.Someone from California?”
“San Francisco, hesaid.”
“Lots of gold dust up hereto be won,” Cedar said. “Doing it at cards is easier for some thanmining for it.”
“True.” Maybe the gamblerwas what he said he was, and he’d simply asked around to find Kali.It might be she hadn’t been as clever as she thought about hidingher cave’s location.
“Why do you ask?” Cedarreturned the ring to her. “Something to do with that?”
“I’d like to get back tomy work. Why don’t we talk about it over supper?”
“You shouldn’t go back tothat cave all alone.”
Kali had been planning to go to her workshopin town-that’s where she had tools for working on something likethe pistol ring-but she crossed her arms. “We talked on thisalready. I can take care of myself.”
“She probably thought thesame thing.” Cedar waved toward the woman’s body. “I told you threewomen have been murdered. You don’t seem to be taking the threatseriously.”
“Oh, I’m noting it, but ifI stopped work and hid every time a threat ambled by, I’d never getout from underneath my bunk.”
“This is different fromthe bounty hunters. They want you alive.” Cedar gripped her arm.“You shouldn’t go up to the cave.”
“I’m sure I’m supposed tothink it mighty fine of you to worry about me and be protective,but I’m not the sort who likes being told where to go and what todo.” Kali extricated her arm.
“I’m not telling you whatto do, just what I thinkyou should do.”
“How’s thatdifferent?”
He arched his eyebrows. “One’s lessoffensive?”
“Uh huh. I wasn’t going tothe cave anyway. I’ll be in my workshop when you’re ready forsupper. Don’t worry. If bears try to ravage me there, I’ll beprotected.”
Cedar knew she had booby traps all over theworkshop, and he let her walk away without further argument.
Part II
Kali was bent over her workbench,reassembling the pistol ring with the help of a pair ofmulti-lensed magnifying spectacles, when a draft whispered againsther neck. The door opening? She’d locked it.
Her Winchester leaned against the end of theworkbench, more than an arm’s length away, but she had a number ofbooby trap triggers within reach. No reason to panic yet. Shegrabbed a rag, as if she had no inkling that someone might bearound, and used the motion to hide her free hand slipping into adrawer. She pulled out one of her latest prototypes, a hand-sizedcrossbow with bolts that packed a charge. Calmly, she turned aroundand pointed the weapon at the door.
Somerset leaned there. His eyebrows rosewhen he spotted the miniature crossbow, but he merely said, “Youhave deft hands,” and nodded to the workbench.
“The front door waslocked,” Kali said. Not only had it been locked, but she’d designedthe bolt herself after her ex-fiance had proven apt at picking theone that came with the shop.
“I noticed. Don’t you findthat drives away business?”
Kali glowered at him. If she had Cedar’sheight and muscles, it might have cowed him, but he did not seem tofind her five feet four inches imposing.
“Is that my ring?”Somerset asked. “Were you able to fix it?”
“Yes. It needed a newspring. Naturally parts on something so small are hard to come by,but I have tools for fine work and improvised.”
“Excellent.” He smiled, afriendly white-toothed smile, and Kali imagined he had littletrouble charming the ladies. “How much do I owe you?” heasked.
Since prices in Dawson had grown soridiculous, Kali thought about naming an exorbitant sum, figuring agambler who could afford such a ring had to be well off. But thenshe remembered that he’d said he had won it, not purchased it withhis own coin. His clothing-simple trousers, shirt, and vest-did nothint of wealth.
“Five dollars,” she said.Only slightly exorbitant, considering Miss Eames was charging twodollars for a scrambled-egg breakfast.
“Reasonable, thank you.”Somerset withdrew a purse and came forward, though not too close.He counted out five dollar bills while keeping an eye on hercrossbow.
Kali appreciated that he didn’t sneer at orbelittle the weapon. Maybe his keen eye had spotted the smudge atthe end, though she doubted he’d guess that it was her own chemicalconcoction, a charge that exploded upon impact.
“Thanks.” Kali tucked thering into its case and pushed it across the bench to him. “There’sa target in the corner by the spud launcher if
you want to testit.”
“Spud launcher? Youcertainly have an array of interesting weapons here.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Do you supply them toanyone?” Somerset asked it casually, but there was an intensity inhis eyes that put her on guard.
“Anyone that can pay. Agirl’s got to earn a living.”
“I see.” He pocketed thebox without testing the ring. “You’re probably wondering why Idisappeared so quickly this afternoon.”
“No, I’m not.” Kali noddedto the door.
“Not even a little?” Hetried his smile on her again.
Kali backed up a step, finger tightening onthe trigger to the crossbow. “What are you angling for, mister? Youwant something else?”
“No, ma’am. You just seemlike an interesting girl. Woman,” he corrected when she scowled.“How did you get involved in tinkering? It’s not usually a lady’strade.”
“I’m not.”
His brow crinkled beneath his bowler hat.“Not…a lady?”
“Not interesting,” Kalisaid. “I am, however, busy. So, if you’re not going to test yourpiece, you can let yourself out. If it wouldn’t trouble youterribly, re-lock my door on the way.”
“Ah, you’re displeased bymy means of entry. I admit, I’ve picked up a few bad habits. Butyou mentioned needing a favor this morning, while you were denyingbeing Miss Kali McAlister.” He wriggled his eyebrows, as if tosuggest her prevarications were just as morally ambiguous as hislock picking. “Maybe I can help and alleviate some of yourworkload.”
Kali chewed on the insideof her cheek. She wouldlike help building the hull of her ship, but thisfellow smelled of trouble. He had to have some reason for wantingto spend time with her. This whole ploy reminded her of Cedar’sdeception when they had first met. He had wanted to hire on andhelp her out too; only later had she figured out that he knew aboutflash gold and how a lot of people wanted to capture her and pumpher for its secrets. He’d only wanted to use her as bait, hopingthat Cudgel Conrad, the notorious criminal who’d killed hisbrother, would target her as well. She’d forgiven him for hismanipulations-though she might be addled for doing so-and had evencome to trust him, but she doubted lightning would strike twice inthe same location.
“You think on it and letme know,” Somerset said. “I’m busy at night over in the AuroraSaloon, competing with the Injun dancing girls for the customers’attention, but I wake up around nine or ten in the morning andcould assist you.” He tipped his hat and headed for thedoor.
Kali was about to remind him about the lock,but he paused with his hand on the jamb.
“I almost forgot,” hesaid, turning back to her. “That man who was with the Mounties, doyou know him well?”
Her instincts bristled like the hackles on ahound’s back. “Why do you ask?”
“He seems familiar, that’sall. In fact…” Somerset patted down his pockets while makingthoughtful, “Hm,” noises, then said, “Ah,” as he pulled out aleather-bound journal. He flipped through the pages.
Though she was too far away to make outdetails, Kali spotted newspaper clippings and photographs glued tomany of the pages. Others simply held handwriting.
“Back when I was in SanFrancisco,” Somerset said as he turned pages, “there was a gorymurder. Someone killed a pretty young lady who’d been newly weddedto a doting husband. The newspaper ran the story with a photographof the murderer, a man who’d had an affair with the girl. Then itseemed things turned sour.” Somerset’s jaw tightened, and he took abreath before continuing. “The man killed the girl instead ofletting her go back to her husband.” He found the page he wantedand stared down at it.
Kali shifted uneasily. Cedar had alreadytold her about a murder that he’d been accused of-Cudgel Conrad hadframed him-but he hadn’t mentioned anything about a husband or anaffair.
“That fellow I saw today,”Somerset went on, “he reminds me of the murderer.” He held thejournal up, open to a page with a newspaper article glued on oneside and a cutout photograph on the other. “This ishim.”
The man in the picture had a beard andmustache, but a scar slashed vertically from brow to cheek, as ifsomeone had tried to cut his eye out with a knife. It was the samescar Cedar had.
Kali forced herself to shrug nonchalantly,though her mouth had gone dry, and her voice cracked when sheresponded, “I don’t know him that well.”
“Of course,” Somersetsaid. “I just wished to warn you in case…” He lifted a shoulder.“You seem like a nice woman.”
He left before Kali could tell him that shewasn’t any more nice than she was interesting.
Part III
With its sawdust floor and hammered coppercans fashioned into lampshades, the Caribou Cafe probably wasn’tromantic, but Kali liked it. It didn’t pretend to have fancyairs-with prices to match, and she liked the clockwork dogsledteams “racing” each other on tracks that wound along the walls nearthe ceiling.
At a table in a dimcorner, Cedar sat across from her, fingering the beadwork talismanhe’d found. He hadn’t spoken since he called upon her, and Kaliwondered if he was intrigued by the mystery or disturbed by theslayings. Both perhaps. Or maybe he was reminded of another murderin San Francisco. Her own thoughts had been running about, trippingover each other, since the gambler-if he even was a gambler-left hershop.
“We need to talk,” Kalisaid. “There’s somebody in town who-”
“Kali?” a woman asked froma few feet away. It was Doe-eyed Jane, one of the two sisters whoowned the place. Kali couldn’t remember ever speaking to her otherthan to order meals and wouldn’t have guessed that the woman knewher name. Jane put a hand on Kali’s shoulder and said, “I heardabout what happened to Vixen and the other girls. Land sakes,that’s horrific. Nobody deserves an end like that, heathen ornot.”
Kali supposed that passed for sympathy,insulting or not, so she held back a snort. “Thanks.”
“Is it true that yourpeople’s bear spirits are angry and killing those that abandonedyour ways to come live in the city?”
“Uh.” Just how muchspeculation was rampaging through town about those murders? “Idon’t know,” Kali said.
“You ought to let the girlgo back to her kin, Cedar,” Jane said, and Cedar lifted his gazefrom the talisman for the first time since they had sat down. “Itain’t right to risk her life just so you can get your hammertoeswarmed at night,” Jane finished.
Heat flushed Kali’scheeks. Was that what people thought they were doing in her shop when theywere working on new tools and weapons for Cedar’s bounty-huntingendeavors? Not that she wouldn’t consider other…activities someday,but it flustered her to think of hens gossiping about her sleepingwith someone instead of their usual fare, the fact that she ranaround town in greasy overalls with tools jangling in her pocketsand that she made all manner of strange contraptions in hertinkery.
“I’ll take your adviceunder consideration, ma’am,” Cedar said, a twinkle in his blueeyes.
“We’ll take two meals,”Kali said, hoping to get rid of the woman. She needed to tell Cedarabout Somerset. As soon as Jane was gone, Kali pressed the talismanto the table to capture his attention. “We need totalk.”
The amusement on his face faded. “Are myhammertoes in danger of going cold in the foreseeable future?”
“What? No. I mean, I don’tknow. I haven’t even seen your toes yet.”
“I’ll take it asencouraging that you said yet.”
“It’s hard toyet when you’re notaround,” Kali pointed out, though she was relieved to hear that hewas still interested in the idea.
“True.” Cedar’s shouldersslumped, and he scrubbed his fingers through his hair. “I’ve justbeen hunting all over for Cudgel. Once I get him, then…”
“I know. I understand, butlisten, this is important.” Kali leaned over the table and kept hervoice low so none of the other diners would overhear. “There’s afellow in town who says he recognizes you from a newspaper articledown in San Francisco. Because of a murder
you were accused of.”She went on to describe her meetings with the gambler.
Cedar’s eyes sharpened with the intensitythat usually only came out when he was speaking of hunting downCudgel. “Describe this man,” he whispered, gripping the edge of theworn table so hard his knuckles whitened.
“Tall andbroad-shouldered, like you, dark brown hair, clean-shaven.” Kalirealized that was a generic description and closed her eyes topicture the man’s face and see if she could pick out somethingunique. “He has a little scar on the side of his jaw.” She touchedthe spot on her own face. “As if he nicked himself shaving orwas-”
“Cut with a knife,” Cedarsaid grimly. “I gave him that scar when we met last. Got in asquabble down near Skid Road in Seattle. That’s the last spot wherehe caught up with me.”
“It’s not Cudgel, is it?”Kali asked.
“No, it’s AgentLockhart.”
“The Pinkertondetective?”
Cedar nodded. “He’s beenafter me since San Francisco. When he tackled me in Seattle, Ididn’t want to kill him, just get away. Stubborn bastard won’tleave me be though.” Cedar gazed past occupied tables toward thewindows and the rain dribbling from the eaves outside. “I’m notsurprised he found me again, but I’d hoped I’d get Cudgel first. Ican’t leave the Yukon now. Not when…” He met her eyes. “He’s here,Kali. I haven’t seen him yet, but the rumors say he’s here, andhe’s setting up some scheme to get rich-richer-off other people’swork.”
“Could he be responsiblefor these murders?”
“I…don’t see where there’dbe money in it for him, killing innocent girls. He has no troublekilling folks, but he’s not random about it. He does it when peopleget in his way or don’t jump to his fiddle fast enough.” Hegrimaced, thinking of his brother, no doubt. “He’s being carefulthough. He may not know I’m here, but he knows there’s a big bountyon his head, so he’s got the worker ants scurrying about on hisbehalf. But it looks like he left most of his old crew behind. Idon’t recognize anybody.” He clenched his fist. “I need moretime.”
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