Free Any Taint of Vice: A Kate Shugak Story (Kate Shugak Novels) by Dana Stabenow Page A

was about his and Kate’s age but in much better shape, a redhead with a well-developed musculature and an obviously outstanding flexibility.
    She handed the photographs to Kurt, ignoring the General’s frown. “Who is the woman?”
    The General’s jaw tightened. “Andrea Gohegan,” he said. “She owns and operates a—business.” He paused, and added distastefully, “In Spenard.”
    Spenard was an Anchorage neighborhood close to the airport. Gentrification had made a dent on Spenard Road proper, which was brave in new hotel construction and landscaping. The back streets remained the go-to place for a hit of cocaine or a blow job. Convenient for anyone fresh off a plane—hunter, fisherman, Slope worker, or tourist.
    Or useless parasite with more money than sense and a father who could be counted on to bail him out of any trouble he managed to stumble into. “A massage parlor,” Kate said.
    The General nodded. His delicate sensibilities were outraged at having to yield even that much.
    “Did she send you the pictures?”
    “She did.”
    “With a demand?”
    “She wants a hundred thousand dollars or I’ll never see my son again.”
    Any reason you would want to? Kate thought but didn’t say. “May I see the note?”
    “I burned it.” As if he heard her silent question, he said, “I kept the photographs so that you would know what you were looking for.”
    “What do you want done, General?” she said.
    “Find the photographic files and destroy them before she posts them to her Facebook page. Find my son and bring him home.”
    In that order? Kate thought, but again did not say. The General’s priorities were obvious.
    Oscar Square materialized at the door. The General nodded in his direction. “Oscar has the particulars, and your check.”
    In the hall, Square handed her a second manila envelope. She opened it and found a printed page with Gohegan’s full name, Alaska driver’s license, social security number, birthdate, and home and business addresses. There was also a check. She handed it to Kurt, as she watched Square. “You haven’t changed much, Oscar.”
    He inclined his head the merest fraction of an inch. “Nor have you, Ms. Shugak.”
    Her smile could have cut a throat. “Best if we both remember that.”
    Another infinitesimal bow of the head. “You know your way out.”
    A second later a door off the hallway closed behind him. As if on cue, another opened, and a taller, thinner, younger version of the General walked into the hall. “Hello,” he said. “And you are?”
    “We had an appointment with your father,” Kate said. “We were just leaving.”
    He put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels, inspecting them with a speculative gaze. “Is that a wolf?”
    “Only half,” Kate said.
    His eyes were as blue as his father’s but not so piercing, and his clothes were more Gap than G.I. Joe. “Why’d the old man want to see you? Was it about Rose?”
    “Who’s Rose?” Kate said.
    “My wife,” he said, and came forward, hand outstretched. “I’m Vic Boatright, the General’s son.”
    “Kate Shugak,” Kate said.
    He held on to Kate’s hand, looking down at her, ignoring Kurt and Mutt. “Did the old man hire you to find Rose?”
    “She’s missing?” Kate said. Too? she thought.
    “For three weeks.”
    “You’re not in much of a hurry to find her,” Kate said.
    He shrugged. “She isn’t much of a wife.”
    Oscar Square rematerialized. “This way, Ms. Shugak,” he said.
    Square must be slipping. She’d been talking to the General’s older son for a whole two minutes.
    She was conscious of Vic Boatright’s eyes on her all the way out the door.

2
    “How do you know Boatwright?” Kurt said.
    They were sitting in Kurt’s stakeout car, a dirty, nondescript beige sedan, parking lot dings in all four doors and a smashed-in trunk tied shut with a length of clothesline. They fit right into the neighborhood, the wrong end of Jefferson in Spenard.