Page 36 of Thunder Pass

She thought about it, then shook her head. “Not particularly. But I was never part of hunting season.”

“I used to hunt with my father. But we never once went to Thunder Pass. And I’ve never heard anyone rave about it as a hunting ground. It’s just…odd.” He stopped in the middle of the trail, causing a cyclist to swerve around them. “We should check property records. Maybe that would tell us something.”

“How do we do that?”

“All we need is a computer.”

They drove to the Anchorage Public Library and settled in for some Internet searching. Ruth couldn’t stop staring at the incredible number of books surrounding them. Several floors of nothing but shelves with more books that she’d ever imagined possible. Big books, children’s books, books with cloth covers, and lots of books with paper covers like the ones in her secret stash.

But despite trying every approach Gunnar could think of—Ruth was no help with this part—they couldn’t find anything about a cabin in Thunder Pass.

“Try the Chilkoot place,” Ruth prompted him.

“Good thinking. I thought Naomi got kind of squirrely when we asked about how they bought it. This is odd.”

“What?” She peered over his shoulder at the screen, which told her exactly nothing.

“I found the plat number, but there’s no record of any sale history. It’s like the plat number was created out of nothing, when Luke bought it.” Gunnar frowned and logged off the computer. “We’re not going to learn anything else on our own. Let’s go talk to the State of Alaska.”

She stared at him blankly. “You can just talk to the state?”

“Someone who works there.”

“Works where? Aren’t we in the state?” Confused, she looked around her, wondering if she’d completely misunderstood the meaning of “state.”

Gunnar chuckled and rose to his feet. “The state employs people to handle shit like recording property sales. The trick will be finding the right department.” He caught her mortified expression, and offered her a hand up. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it. No one’s born knowing things like what the state does. Some people die without ever knowing or caring. Do you think Old Solomon cares? Hell no.”

Her embarrassment lifted. Gunnar was so good at that, at putting her at ease, making her feel less of an oddball. “I’ve always wanted to be compared to Old Solomon. Thank you.”

“You’re much much prettier, and more fun to kiss, too. That beard of his…” Gunnar shook his head, and they both laughed. All her embarrassment disappeared. That was one big thing she and Gunnar shared…a lifetime of familiarity with the eccentric characters who called Firelight Ridge home.

18

It took most of the day, but they finally tracked down someone who could decipher the property records for them. Ben Whistler didn’t work for the state, but for the National Park Service.

“This is classic corruption,” he told them through bites of his sandwich. They’d caught him in mid-snack, on his way out of the office for the weekend. He was a young, intense, fast-talking guy wearing a Katmai National Park t-shirt. “It used to happen all the time, but we finally put a stop to it.”

“What sort of corruption are you talking about?” Gunnar asked, after a glance at Ruth to see if she wanted to ask first, since it was her family’s property.

“Someone paid a shit ton of money for a carve-out from the park. This land is supposed to be an Ahtna inholding. The Ahtna have most of the inholdings in the Wrangells, although they don’t do them much good, since they’re not contiguous. But that’s a different issue. Important, but not the point here. They didn’t sell this land. Someone simply drew new boundaries and created this plat.”

“Wouldn’t the Ahtna have fought against that?”

“Maybe they got paid off, too. Wouldn’t surprise me—whoever did this was very wealthy and very determined.”

Ruth had gone pale. “That makes no sense. The Chilkoots aren’t wealthy.”

“Well, maybe your family was at one time. The owner is listed as an LLC.”

“LLC? No, that’s not right either. It’s Luke Chilkoot. Just LC. He doesn’t have a middle initial.”

“It says right here, Chilkoot LLC. That’s a limited liability corporation, a kind of business entity. All LLC’s operating in Alaska have to have a business license, so you could check on that too. But that’s a different department and I really need to get going.” He stuffed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth.

“Wait,” Gunnar said quickly, before he could disappear. “Can you check one more property? It’s also in the Wrangells, but I don’t have the plat number. The owner’s name would be Anthony Amundsen.”

A few quick keystrokes, and Ben Whistler shook his head. “Nothing under that name.”

“Can you look by location? It’s in Thunder Pass, just outside Firelight Ridge.”

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