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He fudged his answer. “Just thinking about the Chilkoots. How do you think Elias knew Daniel?”
She sat up, rolling her neck to get the kinks out. They both shifted to free their limbs from the night’s tangle. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted, he thought.
“That’s a good question. How did Ruth know him, for that matter? Maybe he did some work for them with his R2D2 thingie.”
He burst out laughing. “You mean his D9?”
“Yes, that.”
Even through his laughter, he found it to be a good theory. “Quite possible.” He sat up and scanned the cabin, which was pretty barebones when it came to furniture. “Maybe there’s something in this cabin, like an invoice. I’m going to search.”
She sat up too and swung her legs over the side, barely missing Buttercup, who was stretched out next to the couch. “Do you think we should report Elias missing?”
“To who?”
“Good lord, you guys take this whole lack of law enforcement situation much too casually. To the state troopers, or to the nearest town constable.”
He thought about it, then shook his head. “Right now, Elias is a wild card. We don’t know where he is. He could have gone back to the Chilkoots by now, and you’d just be stirring up a hornet’s nest.”
“Counterpoint…he’s been living here for a few days. He wouldn’t go back now.”
“Counter-counterpoint, you’d be revealing to everyone that he ran away, and that could really piss off the Chilkoots…and put him in more danger.”
“Counter-counter-counterpoint…I’m actually worried about him and I can’t just let this go. I need to know he’s okay.”
“Counter-counter…ah, fuck it. I agree with you there. We have to find him. But let’s keep it off everyone else’s radar for now. That’s the part that’s going to trigger the Chilkoots, from what I know about them. One of their children choosing the outside world instead of them…uh-uh. They’d hate that.”
She graced him with a glorious smile. “That makes sense to me. Thank you for being reasonable and agreeing with me.”
He frowned down at her. “I only agreed with part of what you said. I don’t agree with reporting him missing.”
“Right. And I agree with that, now that you explained the reason why. It’s been great working with you.” She lifted her hand for a high five, and he gave a bark of laughter.
“You’re pretty competitive, aren’t you?”
“I am. It’s one of my worst qualities. Ordinarily I channel it into winning cases, so I make it work for me. But it comes out in all kinds of occasionally embarrassing ways. Sorry.”
“No need to apologize. I dig it. It’s who you are.”
She gave him a look he couldn’t interpret, then climbed off the couch. “I wonder if Daniel was a coffee drinker.”
He wondered what he’d said to make her withdraw. Then reminded himself they weren’t building a relationship here, just trying to get through this missing kid-suspicious-family conundrum. Now that he was alone on the couch, he stretched his body, sore muscles and all.
“Hey, look at this,” Molly called from the corner of the cabin set up as a kitchen. Plywood counter with a hole cut for a sink, bucket underneath for drainage. RV-style propane fridge, two-burner camp stove.
“Did you find some coffee?”
“He’s all out, but there’s a pile of receipts under the coffee can. Do you want to look for something about the Chilkoots?”
He rolled out of bed and strode to her side. She handed him a sheaf of papers, which he sorted through quickly. Fuel receipts, mostly. On one of them, in the top corner, the letters CK were scribbled. He showed Molly, who was frowning at the coffee can she’d just opened. “It’s empty.” She looked at the slip of paper. “CK could definitely be Chilkoot.”
Luke hadn’t mentioned anything about Daniel doing work for them. What work could he do in the winter, other than plowing? The receipt was from February, deep winter time. But the Chilkoots had their own plow, so it wasn’t that.
Whatever it was, maybe he’d met both Ruth and Elias at that point. Another piece of paper caught his eye. A handwritten note. Ice Falls, 3pm.
He showed it to Molly. “I wonder if this is from the day of the avalanche. It’s in a different handwriting.”
“Impossible to say.”
