She swore to herself. “All right,” she said, and crumpled the check in a fist and jammed it into a pocket. “You’ve got yourself a private investigator.”

The lines of Charlotte ’s face eased. She was wise enough to display no triumph. “Thank you, Kate.”

“Don’t thank me,” Kate said, “please.”

Charlotte stood up. “Thank you for the coffee, then.” She hesitated. “Do you need help with a place to stay in Anchorage?”

“I have a place,” Kate said, aware that Johnny had gone motionless behind her.

“Oh. Good.” Almost timidly, Charlotte added, “When can I expect to hear from you?”

Kate stood up and started walking her out. “I just got home. I’ll need a day or two to get things arranged.”

Involuntarily, Charlotte looked over her shoulder at Johnny. “Ah.”

“Yes.”

“Of course,” Charlotte said, producing keys to unlock the monster SUV, which she would never have gotten down the trail had Mac Devlin not opened the way for the house-raising the previous May. Leaving Kate’s homestead open to every itinerant petitioner with a tale of woe.

Who locked their car in the Park.

Charlotte climbed in and started the engine. Kate walked to her door, and the electric window slid down silently.

“Do you want to get your mother out of jail because she’s innocent,” Kate said, “or because she’s dying?”

Charlotte ’s lips trembled. “Both.”

The Ford reversed smoothly, swung wide in a circle, and vanished up the trail. Mac Devlin had cut quite a swath through Kate’s section of the Park with his D-6, but not quite wide enough for two cars to pass each other, so Alaska state trooper Jim Chopin had to pull over to wait for Charlotte to pass.

This was good, because it allowed Kate a few extra moments to collect the elements of her vamp persona and fix them firmly in place.

Dump her, would he?

Oh, she didn’t think so.

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