The Bone Seeker by M. J. McGrath Page B

to be a whole lot easier than we’d imagined.’
    Then he reached for the phone and dialled Colonel Klinsman’s number.

7
    While Derek and the colonel were speaking, Edie went into the kitchen to get something to eat. The run back from the store had brought home to her how depleted she was. She hadn’t eaten properly since Monday morning and her body was starting to flag. There was tea in the kitchen cupboard and a pile of raw fish heads in the fridge. She threw the heads into a pan to fry and brewed up some tea. By the time the food was done, Derek had finished his call and was in the communications room talking to someone on the radio. She left a mug of tea and a plate of fish on his desk and went over to Stevie Killik’s spot. Derek reappeared, took a sniff at the food and made an appreciative humming sound.
    â€˜That was Larsen on the radio.’ He picked up a head in his fingers and sucked. ‘Supplies coming in on Thursday. Timing couldn’t be worse.’
    It was Derek’s job to oversee the docking and de-cargoing of the annual supply ship. The ship’s arrival was usually a celebratory time, with families coming in from summer camp to pick up the piece of hunting or fishing equipment they’d ordered last year or to collect new supplies of medicines and food. There were barbecues and races and movie screenings. In the circumstances, it was hard to see the celebrations going ahead this year, but there was bound to be a frantic day or two when even a murder investigation was liable to get lost in the general chaos.
    Edie wrinkled her nose. ‘Can’t you put it off?’
    â€˜Let me see. Oh yeah. Why don’t I just launch an iceberg or drum upa quick blizzard?’ Derek wiped his hands on his shirt. ‘I may seem like a god to you, Edie, but the truth is I’m just a police.’
    â€˜Stop, you’re breaking my heart.’
    He fought back a smile. ‘You have one?’ They could go on like this for hours. A version of the old Inuit song duels, without the singing.
    Derek finished his food and lit a cigarette.
    â€˜Klinsman said he’d get a camp personnel list together in the next hour or two. They got some wargame thing going on over there today. If the guy Sam Oolik saw turns out to be our man then we might be able to get this thing sewn up pretty quick.’
    â€˜Klinsman not worried about the bad publicity?’
    â€˜Seems not. I think he’s been told to play nicely with the locals.’
    â€˜It might have helped if he’d passed on that message to his men.’
    Derek frowned. ‘We don’t know for sure that the killer is
unataqti
. Though it does seem like one hell of a coincidence.’ He reached out for the pen on his desk and began spinning it between his fingers. ‘By the way, Klinsman told me that Gutierrez went over there first thing. She’s worried I won’t release the crime scene till it’s too late to begin the clean-up works, apparently.’
    â€˜And?’
    â€˜And nothing. I’m not having some southern lawyer playing politics with my case.’
    He put his pen down and flipped on the old radio he kept on the windowsill behind his desk. A singer was halfway through ‘Amazing Grace’. Afterwards, Markoosie Pitoq’s voice appealed for anyone with information as to Martha Salliaq’s whereabouts over the weekend to call in on the phone line, or if they weren’t near a phone, on the red radio, saying he’d patch them through.
    Derek drained his tea. ‘You taught the girl. Notice anything different about her?’
    â€˜She seemed pretty keen to get out of class on Friday, I guess. That was unusual for her. I asked her if she had plans, but she sidestepped me. There was some lipstick in her purse. Not many Inuit girls wear make-up.’
    â€˜Not many Inuit guys like it.’
    â€˜That might suggest she was seeing someone outside the community.