You just pull it apart with your hands, guys. Eat it like that. The Ebelskivers are on their way in, but Ive only got one pan, so they have to come out in shifts.
Shed just dashed back into the galley when Ivan showed up. Out, she said.
At least he knew enough to obey by now.
They started diving in. She heard the first round of marriage proposals and vows of eternal love while she plopped in the second batch. In spite of the blinding sun, a stiff wind seemed determined to push the boat around. Since the stove was perfectly gimballed, the surface was automatically made level-and it wasnt as if she hadnt cooked in far worse conditions than this-but the pitch and roll still made cooking a wee bit more challenging.
She ran in with the next batch. By then, the men were hovering over the table, looking like kin to pigs at a trough. No one was drooling, but theyd all turned into obedient children-no hair combed, no shaved chins, but all with the same expressions.
Each of you has that angelic look men get when they want sex. Im not fooled, she said. And you cant have sweets and carbohydrates like this all the time, so dont beg.
We just want you to cook forever for us, Cate.
Harm said, Have you had even a bite?
Actually, she hadnt. Who had time? Shed share coffee with them when the last batch was done and on the table. For now, she had one more platter to goand she was thinking, really, it wasnt like today could be good for any of them. Fiskes death was still fresh. So maybe shed put together another round of comfort foods later. Like strawberry pie? Fresh? And maybe one more batch of peppermint cookies.
She opened the cupboard, watching her Ebelskivers, glanced in to check her spices, reached for the peppermint extractand stopped dead.
The peppermint extract bottle had no top.
In her lifetime, Cate had never put away a spice without securing the lid. Spices aged too fast as it was.
Confused, she reached for the small container, and stopped dead again. The bottle was completely empty.
It couldnt be. True peppermint extract was so strong that she never used more than a drop at a time. And shed just opened it days before to make the first batch of her original cookies. The bottle should have been full, just short a couple of drops. Shed bought fresh from her favorite supplier before the trip.
Cate?
A sudden vision of Fiske filled her mind. The way hed been lying on the galley floor, the oddness of his hands cupped around his neck as if hed been choking.
A wisp of smoke startled her, made her realize her pancakes were burning. She grabbed the handle, saved the cakes in the nick of time, scooped that last round onto a plate and carted them into the dining room.
At a glance, she could see the men were filling up. Hands were going on tummies. The guys were getting that glazed-eye look testifying that theyd been sugared-up and filled-up for nowexcept for Harm.
His gaze found hers across the table, shrewd and sharp as one of her Wüsthof-Trident knives. You all right?
Sure, she said. But she wasnt. She wasnt remotely all right. She wasnt sure if she was ever going to be all right again. Maybe it was crazy-she had to hope she was crazy-but the thought in her mind was as indelible as lead ink. Fiske had been murdered. And not just murdered, but killed by someone on the boat.
Once she set down the platter, she poured herself a mug of coffee and held it with both hands so she could keep the darned thing from shaking as she sat down. She was sitting with a murderer, her mind kept telling her-which was probably why her heart was pounding louder than a freight train.
The craziest thing of all was that she was the only one who knew what had happened. And even if she told, she couldn't imagine anyone would believe her.
Chapter 6
Immediately after breakfast, Harm joined Ivan in the pilothouse, where he could use the radio to check with Juneau. The response didnt take long. Harm made a sound of irritation as he clicked off.
Ivan said, What?
In the immortal words of the authorities, the pathologist is fishing.
Ah. This is Alaska, Ivan said, as if that was an answer in itself.
Hell get to the autopsy. But maybe not today. Or tomorrow. Soon, I believe, was the word used by the office.
Ivan said, Its just different thinking up here. The mans dead, so whats the hurry?
That weve all been put in limbo until we have results from the tests? That the man has a daughter who very likely wants to plan a funeral? Harm shook his head again. Im going below. The coroner asked me to go through Fiskes things. The coast guard took the list of his medical conditions and medicines, but they want me to check to see if there were any other medicines or things he might have been taking that werent on the list.
You want me to ask Hans to do it? Ivan asked.
No. Im fine. Harm clipped below deck, hoping to catch Cate en route, but she wasnt in the galley or the dining area. Something had shaken her at breakfast. Since nothing seemed to shake Cate-certainly not whales or finding dead guys-Harm figured it must have been something substantial.
Not that she was any of his businessbut sweet damn, shed become his business. The dimensions of the why and how, right then, he refused to examine.
First off, anyway, he needed to explore Fiskes belongings. No one was below deck. The men were all topside for the sail toward Baranof and Hot Springs-their next land destination. Fiskes cabin was big enough for a squirrel. Fiskes duffel was sitting navy-tight on his bunk.
Harm rifled through it, found four brown plastic prescription containers. One was a statin, a cholesterol drug Harm recognized. Two were heart medicines, and the last-he just didnt know. Never heard of the name, and the labeling didnt indicate what the one-a-day dosage was for. All the medicines had already been reported to the coast guard.
Harm rifled through it, found four brown plastic prescription containers. One was a statin, a cholesterol drug Harm recognized. Two were heart medicines, and the last-he just didnt know. Never heard of the name, and the labeling didnt indicate what the one-a-day dosage was for. All the medicines had already been reported to the coast guard.
Harm hefted the heart pills, feeling a sharp gulp. Yesterday, the coast guard had come to the most obvious conclusion-that Fiske was an overweight guy under a lot of stress, a heart attack or stroke waiting to happen. Harm hadnt created that stress, but he still felt responsible for failing to find answers that could have alleviated it. Fiske was a good soul. His uncles closest friend in the company.
Harm bent over, hoping to find something else in Fiskes belongings. He saw the corner of an old, battered red-leather case-just a calendar-and was about to pull it out when he heard Cate. Harm?
He didnt have to spin around and see her face to know something was wrong. It was like at breakfast. Her usual sass and sparkle had disappeared. There was none of the full-of-herself sexy love of the night before, the daredevil, the troublemaker. Just a quiet voice and nerves. I need to tell you something, she said. And youre not going to believe me.
Why wouldnt I believe you?
Because no one will. No ones going to take this seriously. And you wont, either. Trust me.
I do trust you. Quickly, he steered her out of Fiskes cabin, out of the empty corridor and into his cabin. Last night, after shed damned near seduced him-and thoroughly rattled his timbers-hed vowed not to be in private quarters with her alone unlesswell, unless.
This definitely wasnt an unless. But he could tell from her face that he wouldnt want anyone else hearing this-or even knowing that she was talking privately with him.
Its about Fiske, she said. She obviously couldnt stand still. She started pacing-and promptly bumped into his chest the first time she did a spin around. I think someone killed him, Harm. With peppermint.
Say what?
I know. Death by peppermint. It sounds silly. Crazy. Impossible. And part of the problem is that I dont think anyone would know. How could authorities think of this? Why would a pathologist test for it? He wouldnt. Its not a drug.
Whoa. Start at the beginning. Im having trouble following. He didnt push her on the bed, just framed his hands around her shoulders and gently sat her down. Two of them couldnt pace at the same time. And once shed suggested murder, Harm figured he had the biggest reason to pace.
He heard her spill out the details. The empty peppermint bottle. The missing lid. The way shed found Fiske, his position indicating hed been clawing at his neck, as if he were choking. But thered been no sign of vomit. And the bottle had been put away, except for the lid.
Do you understand, Harm? I dont see anyone will find evidence of it in an autopsy because its not a drug or anything anyone would ever test for you. But I would think it would create a burning in the esophagus or throat. You could ask them that, couldnt you? To look for it?
Yes. Ill radio immediately on this.
Thats why I had to tell you. Because if you dont ask, I dont see how theyd find it.
But Im still not totally grasping this, Cate. I mean, peppermints a candy. And you made cookies from it. And I think I remember a grandmother advising that you could rub it on a sore tooth. Couldnt it have been like that? He got a toothache, got up in the middle of the night, thought hed try that old wives tale, and thats how he got into your peppermint?
No. I mean, yes, its possible he had a toothache, might have known of that old wives tale. But if that were the case, hed have used a drop or two, not the whole bottle. No one would take a whole bottle of peppermint by choice. It couldnt happen. Your throat would burn like fire. You might try it by accident, not realizing thatbut then youd rush to a sink, to the nearest water, start spitting it out, do anything to make it stop burning.
Harm spun around, only to find that Cate had bounced up from the bed and was trying to pace again, too. It couldnt happen. Not in a space the size of an animal cage.
Maybe he dropped the bottle. Spilled it. And thats why it was empty. It seems logical to me that hed have thought peppermint would soothe his stomach, something like that. You know he ate like a horse that night, easy to believe he had a stomachache-