KS13.5 - Wreck Rights Read Online Free PDF

thinking of the cheeseburger and wondering the same thing.
    Kate surfaced for long enough to say “Diet?” like it was a bad word.
    When the plates had been cleared they all sat back with similar satisfied expressions on their faces. A high pressure system had moved in from the northwest and outside the window the river’s icy surface began to glow, a reflection of the light of the rising moon. The snow-covered peaks of the Quilaks stood out in bold relief against a black, starry sky. Mutt, recipient of her own steak, served rare, gave a satisfied sigh and lay down on Jim’s feet.
    Jim stirred. Admiring the view was all well and good, he had been known to pause in his duty on more than one occasion to do so, or why live in Alaska? But a man had been murdered. “You have that list?” he said to Hazen.
    “Sure. Although I’m still waiting to find out why you want it.” Hazen handed it across.
    Jim put it on the table between him and Kate. He was aware with every breath that he took that she was mere inches away from him. It felt like the right side of his body was being cooked over a slow fire. He wondered if she knew.
    She met his eyes and smiled at him, a rich, almost languid smile. Oh yeah, she knew.
    “Why did you want this list?” Jim said.
    Her smile widened at the brusque tone of his voice.
    “Like me to get the two of you a room?” Hazen said, his voice heavy with sarcasm, and if you listened for it a trace of envy.
    “Thanks for the offer,” Kate said lazily, not taking her eyes from Jim, “but we can always get our own.”
    Jim could feel the color rising up into his neck and could do nothing to stop it. He tapped the print-out on the table between them. “The list, Shugak.”
    She actually pouted. He hadn’t known she could do that. But she picked up the piece of paper and studied the columns. “Hell Hill’s body count is up this year,” she said.
    “Yeah,” Hazen said, “I noticed that, too, when I was putting the list together. We’ll get one, at most two semis jack-knifing on that curve in a year. This year there have been four.”
    “What accounts for four, do you think?” Kate said. “Weather, maybe?”
    Hazen frowned and shook his head. “This winter’s been no worse than normal.”
    “Maintenance?”
    Hazen shook his head again. “Far as I know, it’s been business as usual. The guys up at the state highway maintenance station are always griping about their equipment, always wanting the next new John Deere 155 horsepower road grader, but they’re all still employed. I imagine the governor knows well enough to leave Pete Heiman’s district alone when it comes to budget cuts.”
    Kate handed the list to him. “Did you notice anything else on that list of yours?”
    Jim had but he remained silent.
    Hazen looked at the print-out. “Okay,” he said after a moment. “Three of the four semis were owned by Masterson Hauling and Storage.”
    “You don’t have the cargo on the list.”
    Hazen stared at her. “Probably groceries for the AC store in Tok. Not a lot of construction supplies being hauled up the highway in the winter. Okay, Kate, what’s going on?”
    The waiter brought them coffee all around, with a small aluminum pitcher of half-and-half just for Kate. She rewarded him with a warm smile, and he turned away and ran into a customer sitting at the next table, who knocked over his wine glass.
    When the resulting disturbance died down, Kate said, “Have you guys ever heard of wreckers?”
    “’Wreckers?’” Jim looked at Hazen. They both shrugged. “Guess not. Who or what is a wrecker?”
    “Wrecking, as it was defined in England, particularly on the coast of Cornwall, was the deliberate luring of a cargo-laden ship onto an offshore reef, usually by means of false signal lights, or by extinguishing the lights of lighthouses built to warn ships away from dangerous waters. The ship would run aground, break apart and the cargo would float to shore, where the wreckers