Page 68 of Snow River

“Sorry.”He loaded up the bowls of chili onto a tray.“If you want a break, you should talk to Lasse Ulstrom.He used to be in the state legislature and he still has a lot of political connections.He might know more about the Hardwell family.Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

Lasse insisted they both sit down with him; he was that kind of guy, a chatty, jolly storyteller, a veteran of many a night around a campfire during a hunting trip, or a bar in Dutch Harbor after a month-long fishing trip.His gray hair was pulled back in a ponytail with a leather thong.

“Good chili,” he told Lila after taking a wary bite.“For a newbie.”

She beamed at him and he watched in real time as Lasse fell under her spell.

Bear sat down and stretched out his legs.He was tired after the long day of shoveling and slinging drinks.After that long night in Lila’s bed.

He caught her glance, and felt her leg on his thigh under the table.“Go ahead, Lila.Ask your question.Lasse knows everyone in Juneau.”

“You’re interested in politics?”Lasse turned his friendly gaze on Lila.

“I’m actually curious about Adam Hardwell, the former Senator, the one whose opponent was killed before the election.”

Lasse’s smile dropped.“That mother-effer?Why?”

“His name came up in an article I was reading.Did you know him?”

“Sure.Still do.He lives in a retirement home in Anchorage, lost his marbles a long time ago.He’s gotta be at least ninety.”

“Why do you call him a mother-effer?”Bear asked.

“Corrupt as fuck.The big oil companies put all their money behind him.Put back the environmental movement in Alaska by twenty years.Put us into a one-product economy.Nothing against oil, hell, the world runs on oil.But there’s a way to do it right, and he didn’t care about that.He lined his pockets, bullied everyone who believed something different, paid off Native community leaders, just a low-down evil bastard.A lot of people thought he might have been behind the assassination of Charles Greenley.It sure did benefit him.”

“Did they ever arrest the man who did it?”

“I don’t think so.I remember hearing that he died in a car crash running from the FBI.Whoever paid him, if someone did, that died with him.”

There sure were a lot of suspicious deaths in this saga.

Bear felt Lila squeeze his leg under the table, so he gestured for her to go ahead with a question.“What about the Senator’s family?His son, for instance?”

“Billy Hardwell.What a piece of work that guy was.They did everything they could to keep him out of the news while Hardwell was in the Senate.But he kept fucking up, and eventually they committed him to an institution.Didn’t let him out until Hardwell was out of office.”

“When you say ‘piece of work,’” Bear asked, “What do you mean, exactly?”

“Name the drug, he was into it.A bunch of women claimed he assaulted them.But his daddy was rich and made it all go away.There was even some talk of trafficking.Just rumors, and they got hushed up fast.”

“Do you know where Billy Hardwell is now?”

Lasse shook his head over another spoonful of moose meat.“Nah, all that was thirty-plus years ago.Why are you asking about it now?”

Lila gave him an innocent smile.“I’m just curious.It sounds like such a scandalous story.A candidate assassinated, a son in and out of drug treatment.If that was in New York, there would have been twenty-four hour news coverage.But I didn’t find all that much online.”

“This is Alaska.The lower forty-eight forgets about us, and for a lot of folks, that’s a good thing.”He chuckled and drank a little more rum.“You know, I might have heard something about Billy Hardwell’s son.Jesus, what’s his name?It’s slipping my mind right now.Wait.”He narrowed his eyes and cocked his head, as if tuning into a signal.“Mark Hardwell.That’s it.A buddy of mine in the state legislature told me Mark’s getting into the family business.Might run for governor.”

“Really?”Bear shared a glance with Lila.That seemed important.“What’s his story?”

“Don’t really know much about him.Fresh face, young—not even forty.But the Hardwell name ain’t too popular.He’ll have his work cut out for him to get any traction.”He abandoned his spoon and lifted the bowl to his mouth to slurp up the rest of his soup.“Gotta get back to my dogs now.”

Bear tipped his head.“Do they need a snack for the road?We got a little extra moose meat back there.”

After setting Lasse up with some raw meat for his team, Bear watched him pull out into the road with a “Hup.”The dogs milled around and bumped into each other before they got their coordination down.Then they were off, galloping through the snow with doggy joy.

He should get a dog.How many times had he longed for one?But then he’d worry about Jack Daniels, and whether he’d be dealing with brawls in his house as well as in his bar.But Jack was getting older and lazier, and if he could deal with a goldfish, maybe a dog would be just fine.

As he squinted after Lasse and his team, something caught his eye at the edge of the lot on which The Fang was located.A solar array sat back there, with a buried cable in a conduit that connected it to the battery bank located inside the bar.He hadn’t gone back there since this latest snowfall, so he had to wade through snow that reached to the middle of his thighs.It was already getting dark, so it was amazing that he’d noticed anything in this blue twilight.But there it was, fluttering from one of the rails that held up his solar panels.It was a strip of cloth that looked as if it had been ripped from an old patchwork quilt.

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