“For what?” His eyes widen. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I squeeze his arm, and then we say our goodbyes.
I sleep well that night. I shouldn’t, with a case deadline looming and a headful of dangling threads. But a lack of sleep the night before must help, because I go to bed after Rory’s last feeding, and don’t wake until after seven, Dalton having risen for her first meal.
“I’m interviewing Muriel again this morning,” I say as we eat breakfast, Rory on my lap. “I don’t have nearly enough ammunition but…” I shrug. “I can only hope she’s freaked out enough about the solitary confinement to talk, and even then, it’ll just be wrapping up a thread almost certainly unrelated to my case.”
“And the coins?” Dalton says as he gives Rory a piece of toast to gnaw on.
“From her story, we know she’s supposedly broke. If she didn’t have them insured, she could have hidden them when declaring bankruptcy.”
Dalton nods. “It’s her nest egg. She brought them and hid them, in case we searched her apartment. Helluva lot of money for coins, though.”
“Maybe? It depends on how well-off she was before herboyfriend fleeced her. They could also have been an inheritance. No offense to Kenny, but most coin collectors are older relatives.” I sip my tea. “I’ll get that done. Then—”
A buzz tells me we have a message on our sat phone. I check it and set down my mug. “And that’s Émilie. She wants to talk to us as soon as we’re up.”
“Take it in the living room. I’ll top up your tea and look after Rory.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ve found Mark the miner,” Émilie says. “Mark wasn’t his real name, but the other data he provided was correct. Widowed, remarried a few years ago, mines in the Yukon during his summers. Do you want his real name?”
“Only if I need to take it to Gretchen. Am I going to need to do that?”
“I believe so. Blake knew him. So did Gretchen. They’re online friends. Or they were when Mark’s first wife was alive. You mentioned that she’d join him on his mining expeditions.”
“Yes. His first wife always came along. That’s what he told us.”
“It seems the women both attended UBC. Sorority sisters, in fact. When Mark and his wife would come up north, they’d spend a day or two in Whitehorse with their dear friends, Gretchen and Blake Landry.”
“Damn. That is some fine detective work. Hats off to your investigator.”
“The only hard part was identifying Mark. Once we had that, the rest was a simple matter of finding his Facebook profile. He’s friends with both Blake and Gretchen. That could just mean online friends, but a bit of digging brought up pictureswith the four of them, all tagged, and posts from both Gretchen and Mark’s wife about their get-togethers.”
“So it was the first wife they were friendly with. And the second?”
“Not so friendly, if I read between the lines. Neither Blake nor Gretchen was Facebook friends with the second wife, and there’s only one post from a couple of years ago, where Mark evidently went out for dinner with Blake and Gretchen on his way north.”
“So the bond was mostly between the women. Mark’s first wife dies, and his second doesn’t take her place in the friendship. But Blake and Gretchen still knew Mark.”
“They did.”
“Not much of a chance they coincidentally ran into trouble near his old mining spot, is there?”
Another low laugh. “There is not.”
“Thank you.” I relax into my chair. “That is the solid connection I needed. Whatever happened with Blake, it must be linked to the mining camp, considering it was originally owned by his old friend. And Blake himself works in a field related to mining. Is there anything more? Please tell me Blake and Gretchen worked on former claims alongside Mark and his first wife.”
“They did.”
I bolt upright. “What?”
“Sorry, I should qualify that. Before Mark’s first wife died, Blake and Gretchen went hiking up around where Mark and his wife were mining. They joked about not being able to reveal their whereabouts.”
“Because Mark wouldn’t appreciate that when he had a nearby claim.”
“Correct. They did, however, try their hand at panning.They mentioned that later, after Mark and his wife would have returned home. It wasn’t the same claim site, so it’s not the solid connection you might hope for, but it’s something.”
