Peacemaker

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