He tapped a buttoned shirt pocket, and Kalihad to admit she was itching to see the miniature gun. It might besmartest to send this fellow on his way, but Cedar had a sayingabout the wisdom of keeping one’s enemies close. That way one couldsee what they were fixing to do. If she shooed Somerset away, hemight simply spy on her from afar. Better to pretend he’d won herover, so she could find out what he was up to. And-a smile curvedher lips- maybe she could persuade him to saw a few boards while shewas at it.
“I might be able to talkto her, a favor if you like, but you’d need to do a favor for me,”Kali said.
“That could probablyhappen.”
Quick to agree, wasn’t he? He hadn’t evenasked what she had in mind. “How’re your carpentry skills?”
“I can manage tools,”Somerset said. “What’re you-”
A woman’s scream tore through the trees.
The stranger’s head whipped around. The cryhad come from down the slope, somewhere close to town. Anotherscream followed, a sound of sheer pain, before it was cut short inthe middle.
Kali was about to ask the man what he knewabout it, but he spoke first.
“Someone’s in trouble.” Hetook a determined step toward her, his hand reaching toward theColt, but caught himself and asked, “May I have my piece,please?”
Kali hesitated a moment, then tossed him therevolver.
Without another word, he sprinted down thetrail in the direction of the screams. He disappeared into thetrees, leaving his gambling kit behind.
Kali wasn’t certain it was the smart thingto do-she had a briar patch of her own troubles without gettingtangled up in someone else’s-but she headed downhill anyway,following Somerset’s prints in the mud. Because he had been runningand not trying to hide his trail, she could track him withouttrouble. He had seemed to know where he was going. She wondered ifshe should find that suspicious or simply figure that he wassomeone like Cedar who knew how to locate people. A professionalgambler might have been a soldier or scout before turning to gamesof chance.
The buzz of a sawmill drifted to Kali’sears, and she thought she might end up in town, but Somerset’stracks turned off the trail instead of angling toward the mainroad. They veered through the undergrowth and led to a muddy horsepath running between houses outside of Dawson proper. The numeroustracks made it harder to distinguish newer prints from old, andKali started to doubt whether she was still on the trail.
She paused, head cocked, to look and listen.Though the noises from town floated up the hill, no birds chirpedin the nearby trees. Smoke rose from the chimney of a log cabinahead, and Kali jogged in that direction. It was a one-roomstructure with a single window, its “pane” made from glass bottles.Someone knelt among the stumps in the clearing outfront-Somerset.
Kali grimaced when she realized what he wasexamining. A woman was sprawled on the ground, her yellow dresssaturated with blood. She had the bronze skin and black hair of anative, maybe Han, Kali’s mother’s people. Though Kali washalf-white and had left the tribe as a child to live with herfather, she couldn’t help but feel a kinship toward the woman,stranger or not. Here was someone else who had left her people totry out a different life.
Kali walked closer, though she had a feelingshe shouldn’t. What was that old saying? You can’t keep troublefrom visiting, but you don’t need to offer it a chair.
“Is she alive?” she asked.An inane thing to ask-the woman wasn’t moving and there was moreblood on the grass than water in the river-but she wanted to saysomething so Somerset wouldn’t be surprised by her arrival. Men uphere could be twitchy, and she had given him his gunback.
He glanced her way, but voices came fromsomewhere down the trail, along with the rhythmic clomps of horsestrotting. A flash of crimson moved between the trees, and Kali’sgrimace deepened. Mounties. Though her adventures had not run herafoul of the law, she had an inkling it might not be a good idea tobe seen loitering nearby when bodies were found. She backed towardthe tree line, but paused when she spotted a third figure joggingalongside the mounted men.
Despite being on foot, Cedar burst into theclearing first. He started toward the dead woman, but noticed Kaliand halted.
She had not seen him innearly a week, and, with mud spattering his deerskin trousers andoilskin duster, he appeared to be fresh from a hunt. Only the swordhilt and rifle butt poking above his shoulders remained free ofdirt; he would never let grime besmirch his weapons. Someone whodidn’t know him, or wasn’t on friendly terms with him, would seethose weapons and his grim face-made grimmer by a vertical scarthat ran from his brow to his cheek-and step out of his way,
Cedar started to smile, an expression thatmade him look a little less fearsome, but a glance at the deadwoman kept the smile from breaking out. Instead, he tipped hisslouch hat and said, “Afternoon, Kali.”
“Cedar,” Kali said. Sheknew his real name but had decided to keep it to herself since hesupposedly had a Pinkerton detective after him for some crime he’dbeen framed for down south. Sometimes when they were alone, shecalled him Milos, but they were, alas, rarely alone. Since theirlast adventure, where they’d shared a kiss, she had been to thedancing hall with him once and to supper a couple of times, buthe’d been scarcer than diamonds during the last month. She hatedthinking or acting like a silly girl, mooning after a man, butshe’d been wondering if she’d said or done something that had madehim realize their relationship was a mistake. “I didn’t know youwere in town,” Kali added. “I’d been hoping you’d come by and helpme build…stuff.” Conscious of the other men, she kept the detailsof her airship project vague. Cedar would know what she meant; he’deven shown interest in going along on some airborne adventuresomeday. “I should’ve known it’d take a crime to lure you uphere.”
Something-chagrin? — flashed in his eyes, buthe didn’t say anything. The Mounties had ridden past him and wereswinging off their horses to investigate, one stopping to examinethe body while the other jogged into the cabin.
Kali blinked and spun a circle. The gamblerhad vanished.
“It’s the third one inthree nights,” Cedar said.
“Huh?” Kali swung back toface him.
“Third woman killed, herbody ravaged by claws. The other two were pretty young tribalgirls, too, one hitched to a white man, and one working atPeckerby’s Saloon.” He removed his hat and scratched his head. “Youhadn’t heard?”
“No, I’ve been busywith…stuff.”
“I have, too, but thewhole town’s talking about the slayings. It’s hard not to hearabout it.”
“Well, my stuff ispowerful engrossing,” Kali said.
“Miss?” one of theMounties asked. “You might want to go back to town. This isn’t afitting place for a girl.”
Kali propped her fists onher hips, not sure whether she was more offended that they thoughtwomen couldn’t handle seeing dead people or that they weren’tasking her any questions about the killing. Did they not believe afemale could be responsible for such a vicious crime? Kali caughtCedar raising an eyebrow in her direction, and she kept herselffrom voicing her thoughts. It was better
Despite the twitching eyebrow, Cedar said,“She’s tough, Harrison. I don’t reckon she’ll lose her vittles oversome blood.”
No, not when she had seen Cedar slice theheads off of any number of criminals.
“T’ain’t proper for awoman to be exposed to such ugliness, Cedar,” the Mountie said.“You had a good look yet?”
Cedar headed for the body, and Kali followedhim-after being called “tough,” she supposed she shouldn’t hangback and appear squeamish. Massive claws had raked parallel linesthrough the woman’s abdomen and torn her entrails asunder. Twoshallower slashes had ripped open her jugular.
“Just like the others,”the Mountie said. “Looks like a bear did it, but bears don’t ambleinto town and rip people to pieces.”
“It wasn’t a bear,” Cedarsaid.
“What then?”
“I don’t know,” hesaid.
The second Mountie joined them. “Nothing buthuman prints around the cabin, and plenty of those. Vixen had anumber of regulars. Hard to say which might belong and which mightnot.”
“Vixen?” Kali asked. Thegirl looked no older than she, and her face was familiar, thoughKali had never known
