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mother’s fingerprints and those of a few postal workers between Idaho and Alaska.
    Leaving the phone, he turned to see Jessie standing at the window staring out into the dog lot with a look of bewilderment on her face. Crossing the room, he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
    “Jess…I think it would be better if you didn’t stand quite so close to the windows.”
    As she frowned and gave him a questioning look over her shoulder, he added, “We don’t know anything about this person, or what he or she is capable of, right? Better to be safe than sorry.”
    He walked with her toward the middle of the room.
    “You mean they might have a gun, don’t you?”
    “I mean…well, I don’t know. Oh, hell…yes. I guess there’s no sense playing games with it. Whoever it is could as easily have a gun as a trap. But what I really mean is that it’s time to be cautious. A lot of people are hurt just for making bad choices: putting themselves in harm’s way when they could have done something else—been more careful.”
    She looked up at him, silent for a long minute, then put her arms around his neck and hugged him close.
    “Thanks,” she said in his ear. “Thanks for thinking for me, while I’m still trying to get my head around this.”
    She leaned back and looked up at him with a frown.
    “I’m scared, Alex. I’m not used to being scared and I don’t like it. But what I like least is feeling that somebody else is in control of part of my life.”
    “You should be scared, and that’s not all a bad thing. It makes you more careful. We’re both scared. It’s a nasty, insidious situation.”
    “I’m sorry the nice dinner you had planned is spoiled.”
    “Hey, that’s no problem. We can do dinner anytime. Rain check, okay?”
    “Okay.”
    As she kissed him warmly, the phone rang and she flinched a little in the circle of his arms.
    “What?”
    “Nothing. Just all those wrong numbers.”
    “I’ll get it.”
    The caller was Caswell, suggesting that he and Linda pick up pizza and beer on their way to Knik. “We’ll stop in Wasilla at that great Greek place.”
    Later, however, as they shared the large pizza, thick with extra toppings and cheese, around the kitchen table, the phonerang again and, when Alex insisted on picking it up, brought only silence to his ear. He came back scowling thoughtfully.
    “Jess? Did you hear anything but silence when you answered those other wrong numbers?”
    “Yeah. For just a second or two at the end it sounded like someone took their hand away from the mouthpiece to hang up, and there was a short noise, like they were in a crowded place of some kind.”
    “Right. Music?”
    “Don’t know. Might have been. Yeah…maybe. It was so short.”
    “What’s going on?” Linda Caswell asked, laying a hand on Jessie’s arm. “You been getting obscene phone calls, too?”
    “Not obscene—just no one there when she answers,” Alex told her. “For the last two days.”
    “No, Alex.” Jessie shook her head. “It’s been longer than that. Three, or four days, at least. I think the first one may have been last Tuesday or Wednesday. Wednesday, because I had just come in from the grocery store in Wasilla. It was ringing as I came in the door. I had to put the sacks down to catch it.”
    “Tell me how it sounds to you, Jess. From start to finish.”
    “Well…it’s like the line is open, someone there, listening and not saying anything. I say, ‘Arnold Kennels,’ like always, then, ‘Hello,’ but no one answers. Then, just at the last second, that little piece of sound, and they hang up.”
    Alex considered this, nodding.
    Caswell leaned forward to claim the last slice of pizza.
    “You’re thinking the calls might be connected to this business with the traps?” he asked.
    “Right. Could be another piece of harassment.”
    There was concerned silence for a minute while they all thought about the disagreeable situation. Jessie suddenly stood up