Page 32 of Thunder Pass

“How are things for you here, Naomi?” Ruth asked before anything else.

“I’m working with it.” Naomi held her head high, like a proud empress surrounded by her minions. “I won’t be here for much longer.”

That was another odd thing, Gunnar thought. Clearly Ruth was used to calling her mother “Naomi” instead of “Mom” or “Mama” or any other variation.

“What are your plans when you get out? Will you come back to Firelight Ridge?” Ruth asked carefully. Gunnar couldn’t tell what answer she was hoping for.

“No.” Her jaw tightened. “Luke and I are divorcing.”

Ruth released a soft gasp. “Divorce?” She said the word as if she’d barely heard of it.

“Oh please. We never had a traditional marriage anyway. We had a plan, and that plan didn’t work out, and now it’s time to try something else.”

Cold. So cold that Gunnar actually shivered, drawing a curious glance from Naomi. “What are you doing here, Gunnar Amundsen?”

“I—”

But Ruth interrupted before he could explain. “Did you know that Luke is back home? They let him out. I heard he’s trying to get others out too.”

Naomi’s expression turned blank, and now Gunnar saw that behind the coldness was fury. “He’s perfectly happy to leave me where I am.”

“That doesn’t seem fair, does it?”

Gunnar realized that Ruth was trying to drive a wedge between Luke and Naomi. Good strategy.

Except it didn’t really work—Naomi narrowed her eyes at her.

“Why are you here, Ruth? Who’s watching the little ones?”

Ruth didn’t answer that question. “I was wondering if you’d even ask about them.”

“Don’t try to guilt me,” Naomi said sharply. “I was defending those kids from the authoritarian jackboots. Only in a corrupt society would I be put in prison for doing that.” Color rose in her cheeks, and now all that suppressed fury was right out in the open.

Ruth flinched back in her chair.

A guard came a step closer. “Everything all right over here?” she asked gruffly.

“Don’t know yet,” Naomi said imperiously. “Check back in a few.”

Interesting how with just a few words she established the dominant position over the woman with the firearm. That was Naomi’s superpower, he realized. She was always the one on top. Always, in any situation.

“I have a question, Naomi. Did you know my father?”

“Of course I knew Anthony,” she snapped.

His heart rate sped up. The fact that she’d known his father well enough to call him Anthony in such a casual way must mean something. “Right. We’re actually here because I’m looking into some information about my father.”

She froze, her eyes narrowing. “What kind of information?”

“Well…” How to ask if there was some secret connection between the Chilkoots and his father? “How well did you know him?”

“Not well. He was a good mechanic. He came out to the property a few times to fix some equipment for us. He was willing to trade and he kept his rates reasonable. He didn’t ask questions. Luke and the others thought highly of him. That’s all I know. We were sad when he disappeared. I can’t be more help than that, sorry.”

The perfect cover, Gunnar thought. Very few people, if any, were invited out to the compound. But his father had been there a few times. Taking notes? Tracking something in that database of his?

“When was the last time he came to your place?” he asked.

“Oh lord, that was so long ago. I have no idea.” But then her expression shifted as she remembered something. “Actually, I think it was right before he left town. I remember hearing the news and being surprised because we had just seen him.”

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