Death Cache (32 page)

“They’d planned on coming back,” Gage said, taking the lighter Robert offered him to start the fire. “The place is laid out in welcome.” The flame caught on the bits of dried moss and licked the kindling until the flames greedily ate at the bigger logs. Gage looked above him to the stove pipe. “Now we just hope there isn’t anything stuck in the pipe, like a buildup of creosote.”

They all waited with baited breath, but the smoke continued up the pipe and out.

“I think we’re good,” Gage said, closing the door to the stove and adjusting the damper.

“Now, if we had some caribou steaks to cook,” Robert said, rubbing his hands and holding them out for the heat. “Illegal or not, I’d settle for those swans swimming on the pond out front.”

Tern looked around the neatly organized cabin. Other than dust, she doubted anyone had been in this place since the people who’d lived here had left. Even animals had left it alone. Tern studied the cabin joists. The man had been a decent carpenter. She’d seen cabins made like this. They were partially dug out of the earth, and the earth was laid back on top of the roof to add in insulation for the brutal winters and cooling for the summers.

There were people in Fairbanks who still lived in cabins constructed like this one. Her eyes followed the joists to where they met the walls. They were hand notched, snug and tight much the way the Chatanika lodge was that her father had built with the help of his father.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Nadia said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

“I love it,” Tern said.

“It’s a damn sight better that than shelter Gage and I threw together,” Robert said, grinning from ear to ear. He unzipped his jacket. “And downright cozy. I’m already warming up.”

Gage unzipped his jacket too. “Great job, Robert. Finding this place.”

“It’s more like it found me.” His smile turned goofy. “Weirdest thing. I felt kinda pulled here, and then when I was calling myself every kind of fool and started back, I tripped and saw it. It was like someone was leading me here. You don’t think it could have been the spirit of my wife, do you?” He blushed as he spoke the words.

Tern walked up to him and laid her hand on his arm. “Maybe. This place is charmed.”

“Charmed?” Nadia scoffed. “Like as in spells and witchcraft?”

“In a way. See here—” she pointed out the things she’d noticed “—in the old ways we used to protect our homes with herbs that deterred insects and such. A lot of tribal people practice what you would call pagan rituals as a means of protection. Today we know that the reason the dried plants protected against animals is because the plants produce a strong repellant that human noses can’t detect. Whoever built this cabin had knowledge of such things.”

“I don’t believe in any of that stuff,” Nadia said.

Tern studied her. Nadia was obviously agitated. Something here was bothering her, while the three of them seemed almost at peace. “Are you allergic to anything, Nadia?”

“Why?”

“It would explain why you’re apprehensive about this place and the rest of us aren’t. Something’s got under your skin.”

All eyes turned on Nadia, and she took a step back. “If I am, I don’t know what it is. But this place makes my skin crawl.”

“Well, you have a choice to stay here out of the rain and cold, or camp outside in the elements,” Gage said. He actually seemed okay with her leaving. Even Robert seemed as though he liked the prospect.

“No one is going anywhere,” Tern said. “Come on, Nadia, let’s see if there’s anything we can salvage from the cupboard. I don’t want to eat whatever is in that can either.”

“What?” Robert shrugged. “If we cook it, that should kill whatever might have taken up residence.”

“You’re gross,” Nadia said.

“I’m game,” Gage said.

“Must be a guy thing.” Tern shook her head and smiled for the first time that day. Amazing what a roof and some heat could do to lighten a mood.

“Let’s make a clothes line,” Gage said to Robert. “More of our clothes are wet than dry.”

“Smashing idea.”

Nadia joined Tern in the little area cornered off for the kitchen. Other than the water pump, tin bowl for a sink, it was made up of a long split log for a counter and rough cut timbers for cabinets. Someone had used fabric, sewed in a casing, and strung string through it to make a curtain for cupboard doors. Tern very carefully moved the fragile fabric aside. It was thin and had a faded pattern of might have been sailboats.

There were more cans on the shelves, but also coffee canisters. A sniff identified one full of cocoa.

Nadia gasped. “Hot chocolate?”

“Looks like it.”

She also found powdered milk, sugar, and flour, all sealed tight from bugs. She could work with this. There were also bowls, utensils, pots and pans, all meticulously put away. A woman had definitely worked in this kitchen. Tern glanced around the cabin. Had there been children?

“Here.” She handed the bowl to Nadia. “I need this washed out and filled with water. Robert, would you go with her to get some water?”

“You betcha,” Robert grabbed for his jacket.

“Someone’s done a three-sixty,” Nadia mumbled.

“You seem upset about that. What’s your deal?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t like any of this.”

“None of us like it. We’re coping because we have to.”

Nadia sighed. Tern watched her leave with Robert. She needed to find some alone time to talk with Nadia even though that was the last thing she wanted to do. The woman was driving her nuts. She caught Gage’s eyes on her. On the other hand, Gage was also driving her crazy. Only in another way completely.

“Need anything?” he asked.

“Plenty,” she said before the filter closed between her brain and mouth. His eyes heated and she knew hers had done the same. She turned back to the kitchen and resumed her rummaging.

“What can I help with?”

She cleared her throat. “Dust. Let’s see if we can’t dust this place out.”

“Okay.” Gage headed straight for the bed and carefully folded the corners of the quilt on top of itself before picking it up and taking it outside to flip it out under the roof-covered front of the cabin. He returned much sooner than she’d hoped. But he concentrated on what she’d asked him to, and when Robert and Nadia returned they had the kitchen wiped down. The place was looking downright homey.

As a summer place, it would be the perfect getaway.

There were simple carvings of fish, bear, wolves, and other animals harder to identify as the carver hadn’t been that talented. She wished there were some writings or a journal to give a history of the people who’d lived here.

“No journal, I bet,” Gage said. She jerked at his words. “What?” he asked.

“I was just thinking journal and then you said it.” She hated that she was so in tuned with him or him with her, and pointed to the carvings sitting on the shelf, hoping to change the subject. “One of the occupants was probably Native Alaskan. Yupik or Athabascan. They told stories from generation to generation using carvings like that. Not much was written down. We’ll probably never know.”

“There might be record of this place. Someone had tried to homestead the area, maybe there are records in the borough. When we get back, I’ll look into it.”

He turned and tested the wooden chair by the stove. It held his weight, but a heavier weight settled on her heart. He was the perfect man for her. Other than his unwillingness to love her, that was.

Boy, could she pick them.

There was a sharp crack of a rifle repeating. Gage jumped to his feet and grabbed his gun. Tern’s heart did a back flip. Not now. Not when they were warm and out of the elements.

They waited breathlessly for another shot and another, having decided when they’d left camp to keep to Mac’s warning shot patterns.

They didn’t move for a few minutes, and then Gage struggled into his jacket.

“You’re not going out there.”

“I have to. I know the other shots weren’t fired, but I need to know that they are okay.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“No, stay. It’s warm and dry in here. The only way in is through the front door. You can take out any threat before they cross the threshold.” He stared at her for a long minute before opening the door and walking through it, closing it behind him.

But how did she know which one of them was the enemy?

She palmed her pistol. She shouldn’t have let Gage go out there alone. There was no one to protect his back. Did the woman who’d lived here have the same thoughts about her man that Tern was having? Had he left, leaving her behind, and then never returned? Had she died of a broken heart? As surely as Tern knew the sun wasn’t setting tonight, she knew that if something happened to Gage, part of her would die too.

There weren’t any windows to peek out of. Just the door. As protection it worked both for and against. No one would get past her, but then she could be trapped with no way out.

Tern heard Nadia’s cry and her heart missed a beat. What the hell had happened now? She inched the door open. Gage and Robert flanked Nadia. Robert had a skinned animal by the feet. Nadia held her hands out in front of her, porcupine quills piercing her palms.

“Oh my,” Tern said, biting back her smile of relief at seeing them. “What happened?”

Robert was the first to answer, as Gage was having trouble speaking past his obvious need to laugh. “Nadia scared off the swans, but tripped on this little guy. She now has a higher respect for our needled friend here.”

While porcupine wasn’t Tern’s favorite animal, it would make a decent stew with the plants she’d already picked. She took the gutted and skinned carcass from Robert. She’d gladly handle the animal. Robert could take care of Nadia.

They entered the cabin, shaking the water from their hair and taking off their jackets, hanging them up to dry. Gage took out his Leatherman from his pocket and handed it to Robert.

“Thanks,” Robert said, the sarcasm coming out clearly in his tone.

“Don’t mention it,” Gage said, joining Tern in the corner of the kitchen. “Tell me you have more chores for me?” he asked under his breath.

Nadia screamed, making them all wince.

“Please,” Gage said, his eyes pleading.

“Water? Doesn’t look like Nadia washed my bowl or got me any water.”

“How the hell was I going to do that when the porcupine attacked me?” Nadia screeched.

Guess they could be heard no matter how low they kept their tones.

“Attacked you, huh?” Robert said. “That’s not how I saw it go down.”

“Well, that’s how this story is going to be retold. Got it?”

“Whatever you say, babe.”

“Don’t ‘babe’ me. That’s such a sexist thing. And an easy cover when you can’t remember who you’re screwing.”

Robert lowered his head toward her. “I said I was sorry for that. It was a slip. That’s all.”

“Right, I’d buy that if you called out your dead wife’s name, but not Tern’s.”

Did they have to revisit this subject?

“Uh…I’ll be back in a few,” Gage said, grabbing another bowl.

“Coward,” Tern muttered, wishing she could go with him. The cabin was way too small with all the baggage suddenly packed into it.

“Genius. Not coward,” Gage said.

She looked with envy at his retreating back.

“I really am sorry,” Robert said, blowing on the skin punctured by the quill he’d just pulled out.

“Yeah, whatever.” Nadia straightened her shoulders and looked away from what Robert was doing.

Tern took out her knife and began butchering the porcupine into small stew bites. She rolled them in flour and salt and pepper—salt and pepper! How’d she missed that the last few days. There wasn’t any oil, but she figured they’d have to do with the fat from the porcupine. She put a pan on the stove and let it heat. When it was hot, she added the porcupine, caramelizing the bits of meat. The sizzle had her stomach waking up. It had kind of shut down over the last few days of not eating much.

“You really need to wash your hands and disinfect them if we can,” Robert said.

“You see any disinfectant?” Nadia flicked a glance around the cabin. “Tell you what, why don’t you run down to the store and pick us up some.”

“You know, Nadia, I’ve apologized. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but being a bitch isn’t endeared you to any of us.”

Robert stood, the legs of the wooden chair strapping on the plank floor. “I’ll be outside.”

Robert shut the door behind him.

“Do you think I’m out of line?” Nadia asked Tern

“I don’t know. If a man did that to me, I’d probably react the same.” She couldn’t imagine how devastated she’d feel if Gage called out another woman’s name when she was with him. If Robert had, she knew she wouldn’t take it as hard, but she’d still be royally pissed.

“Sometimes it’s easy to hate you,” Nadia said.

“What?” Tern faced her.

“You seem to have everything together. Men, career, family.”

“I don’t have it all together, Nadia. Don’t be jealous of me.” Her heart hurt from the statement. “Tell me you don’t really feel that way?”