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running for re-election as mayor when the business of Ida
and Samwillie Brown blew up.
        Until
Edie got involved, everyone in Autisaq had been quite prepared to put
Samwillie's death down to an accident. He was unpopular and a known
wife-beater. Edie's intervention in the case - 'meddling', Simeonie Inukpuk
called it - had led to Ida's conviction for her husband's murder. It was widely
believed that Simeonie had lost the election on account of the bad publicity
and the affair had cast such a shadow over his political ambitions that it was
another four years before he finally managed to get reelected. Edie often
wondered if it was Simeonie who had been responsible for the death threat she'd
received not long after Ida's trial began.
        Her
ex-brother-in-law had other reasons to hate her, too. He blamed her for the
breakup with Sammy. Too caught up in women's rights, he'd said at the time.
What about a man's right to have his woman stand by him? No matter to Simeonie
that, by the time she left, she and Sammy were drinking one another into the
ground. Most likely they'd both be dead by now if they hadn't split. Maybe
Simeonie Inukpuk would have preferred it that way. He was casual with his
family. Sammy had always been loyal to him, but Simeonie had never returned the
favour.
        Edie
knew she had a lot to lose. It wasn't the investigation itself she was afraid
of. Joe was right. A man had died a long way from home and it was only fair to
his family that they get to the bottom of it. What she dreaded was that
Simeonie would use Wagner's death as an excuse to persuade the elders into
rescinding her guiding licence. None of the elders except Sammy thought
anything of women guides; some of them had probably been looking for an excuse
to get rid of her for years. In any case, most of them would be glad to see her
go.
        For
herself, she didn't much care. The years of drinking had taken away what pride
she might once have had. But without her guiding fees, there was no way Edie
would be able to help Joe fund his nursing training. Part-time teaching barely
covered her living expenses. He wouldn't be able to turn to Sammy and Minnie.
His mother drank away her welfare and his father had an old-fashioned idea of
what constituted a real Inuk man, and it wasn't studying to be a nurse.
Besides, Sammy didn't want his son doing anything that might involve him having
to leave Autisaq. Over the years, Sammy had let a lot of things slip by him: a
few good jobs, a couple of wives and a whole lot of money. Along with booze and
American cop shows, his boys were one of the few comforts remaining to him.
        
        
        After
school, Edie walked back home past the store and the little church she last
visited on the day of her mother's funeral. Sammy's shitkickers were lying
inside the snow porch and his blue government parka was hanging on the peg. Two
years after she'd kicked him out, Sammy still regularly treated Edie's house as
home. At first she'd discouraged it, then she'd given in, mostly because when
Sammy was at her house, Joe spent more time there too.
        The
smell of beer drifted in from the living room, along with some other, more
chemical, aroma. Edie prised off her boots and hung up her hat, scarves and
parka, then opened the door into the house. Sammy and Joe were sitting on the
sofa watching TV.
        Edie
said: 'Hey, allummiipaa, darling.' The remark was directed at Joe but
Sammy looked up with a hopeful smile on his face. Edie didn't miss the days
she'd called her ex darling, but Sammy did. If Sammy had his way they'd still
be married and she'd still be a drunk.
        'I
put my stuff in my room, Kigga,' Joe said. The boy went to and fro these days -
a few nights at Sammy's, a week or two with Minnie - but right now he was
spending more time with his stepmother than usual, and she couldn't help liking
it.
        'You
break up with Lisa, Sammy?' The past couple of years, Sammy had gone