White Heat by Melanie Mcgrath Read Free Book Online Page B

and
hitting him in the collarbone. There were two witnesses to the accident, Edie
Kiglatuk and the white man, Andrew Taylor, who will confirm this.'
        For a
moment, Edie and Joe sat in astonished silence, then Edie heard Joe gasp,
stiffen, and open his mouth to speak. She elbowed him under the table and shook
her head minutely. Whatever he had to say now would make no difference.
        'The
dead man's family will be informed immediately of the accident. As a matter of
form, Sergeant Palliser will be sent a written report from the council. Given
that the two witnesses to the event are happy to sign an affidavit to the
effect that Felix Wagner's death was caused by a self- inflicted wound, we do
not consider it necessary to ask the police to investigate the matter further.'
        Simeonie
held Edie's gaze. Now was the time for her to speak up. She drew breath then,
for an instant, caught Sammy's eye, and thought she saw him give her a tiny,
almost imperceptible nod.
        'Since
the hunter's death was a rare and unfortunate accident,' Simeonie continued,
'the council of Elders hats concluded that there will be no need to revoke Edie
Kiglatuk's guiding licence.'
        So
there it was. The deal she had just wordlessly struck to give credence to the
lie and keep her job. She bit her lip and reminded herself that she was doing
this for Joe.
        Sammy
accompanied Edie and Joe back to Edie's house. Nobody spoke on the way. Edie
sensed her ex-husband had insisted on stringing along because he was gofering
for Simeonie. Maybe the mayor had asked him to make sure they didn't call Derek
Palliser until a formal announcement had been made. She couldn't blame Sammy.
She knew when she married him that he would always live in his brother's
shadow. Now she understood why Simeonie had gone to speak to Taylor at the
hotel. He'd struck some kind of deal with him too. You had to take your hat off
to the fellow. He was slick.
        At
the house, Joe made directly for his room, saying he was tired and would skip
supper, but the real reason, Edie was sure, was that he was disgusted: with the
process, with the council of Elders, and even, or maybe especially, with her
and Sammy. She heated seal soup while Sammy flicked through the TV channels
until he found an old episode of NYPD Blue. They ate their food on the
sofa in awkward silence. She wasn't going to open old wounds by tackling him
about what had just happened. He still thought her leaving him was an act of
betrayal, not, as she saw it, a means of survival. He would see what had just
happened as a bit of truth-tinkering for greater ends. And maybe that's exactly
what it was.
    ----
        

Chapter Three
        
        Derek
Palliser bent down in the gravel to get a better look at Jono Toolik's
graffitied sealskins.
        'What
did I tell you?' said Jono Toolik, in triumphant tone. 'Vandalism.'
        There
was no arguing with the evidence. Someone had branded the word iquq, shit, in middle of the skin where there would be no disguising it. And there
was more - two iquqs, three itiqs, asshole and, towards the
bottom of the pile, a qitiqthlimaqtisi arit, fuck you, or more
accurately, fock you, since whoever had created it couldn't spell.
        'Listen,'
Derek sighed, 'why don't you just store your skins under lock and key for a
while?' Jesus Jones. Smalltown politics. He felt in need of a cigarette and
reached into his pocket for his Lucky Strikes.
        'Oh
no.' Jono Toolik wasn't going to let him off so easily. He jabbed a finger at
the skin branded qitiqthlimaqtisi, pulled it out and swung it in front
of Derek's face like a pendulum. 'This is a threat to my livelihood, I know who
did it and I want him arrested.'
        Derek
knew who did it too, and in an hour from now, when news of the incident had
done the rounds in Kuujuaq, everyone else would: Tom Silliq. The Tooliks and
the Silliqs had been mortal enemies for about four hundred and fifty