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Actually the gold rush comparison is a good one. Remember how short that ‘rush’ was? Same with fishing. A rich harvest one year and disappointing ones for the next five. Depends on weather, water conditions, the stars lining up.” He spread his hands. “Fishermen have to save up the windfalls to cover the lean years.”
    Parker nodded. “Which is why I’m here, Mr. Halley. You’re short one foreman. Everett Olson.”
    Halley sat forward in his chair. “Yes.”
    “We found his body in the waters of Puget Sound.” Parker held up a palm to keep Halley from asking the question. “His zipper was down.”
    “Jesus. Dead? An accident?”
    “Gathering information at this stage. Tell me what you can about Everett Olson.”
    Hands gripping his chair arms, Halley said, “I gave him a one-week vacation. When he didn’t return last Monday, I was convinced he’d left me high and dry.” He huffed. “Instead he’s found low and wet. Damn.”
    “Why did you assume he might not come back?”
    Halley steepled his fingers. “The guy was social; not the best worker.”
    “Yet, a foreman.”
    “Of the least glamorous job at the cannery—cooking and grinding fish parts into pet food. A big money maker, but the butt end of fish processing.”
    “So, a people person.”
    “Right.”
    “And Tilly Grant’s boyfriend.”
    Halley averted his eyes. “I could never keep track of Ev’s girlfriends. He was the town Romeo, leaving unhappy women in his wake. I think you’ll find he pissed off lots of folks in town.”
    “Okay. Besides Tilly, who?”
    Halley waved his hand. “Don’t ask me. Ask Tilly, or Liv, or Liv’s mother, or Candy; shit, ask any woman in town, if you can get them to talk. They keep track of that crap. Men spend so much time fishing, so women run the town. Always have, probably always will. “
    “I got the idea from Ms. Hanson that Ms. Grant and Everett Olson were temporarily separated.”
    Halley said, “Ev was running out of women in Petersburg. To tell you the truth, I visualized him tomcatting around Seattle.”
    “Oh.” Parker began to see his interrogation list growing. How many women in Petersburg had Olson dated, and what jealousies and rage had the guy fomented amongst the men in town? Parker visualized scores of interviews with women in Seattle. “I checked Olson’s room at the Seaman’s Bunkhouse. Didn’t use it much, did he?”
    Halley barked a laugh. “Ev always crowed about how he paid the rent at the Bunkhouse but never slept there.”
    Parker let the silence grow between them, but when Halley again avoided eye contact, he said, “Your daughter, sir.”
    Pressing his lips together, Halley said, “You work fast, don’t you, Detective?”
    “Tell me about Susanna.”
    With a big exhale, Halley began. “Twenty, spoiled and aimless. Still love her…she’s my only kid, but somehow the responsibility gene didn’t transfer from me to her. I think she’s smart, but the University doesn’t agree. She failed summer quarter and I refused to pay for her apartment and expenses in Juneau if she wasn’t enrolled in school. Works at the Coffee Hüs, now.” He rolled his eyes. “She’s miserable living at home. We barely speak.”
    “Because of Ev.”
    He shrugged. “Call that the straw. She saw Ev on the sly because she knew we wouldn’t approve. He’s older than she is by more than ten years and his behavior is disgusting.”
    Parker was quiet.
    “I found out about them two weeks before Ev left.”
    “Oh.”
    Halley drummed his fingers on the table. “I encouraged Ev to take a vacation. Distance. All that.”
    “He went willingly.”
    A nasty chuckle came from deep in his throat. “I all but kicked him out. The terms were if he returned to take up his foreman job he could not see Susanna.”
    “You were actually pleased he didn’t come back?”
    “Ecstatic.”
    “Susanna?”
    “Devastated when she found out about my deal. He told her, of course. The dick.” Halley