Thor had been standing right there when Hardin had gotten the news that Patty’s body had gone out with the plane, and Thor couldn’t remember him being particularly upset or angry about it. But Barclay had been. He’d shouted at Samantha. “What did Hardin say to you afterward when he found out?”
Ryan let out a breath. “Man, he was pissed at first. He reminded me that he was the site manager and said he couldn’t run a station if we didn’t follow protocols. Then he calmed down and said he appreciated what we’d done for Patty. He said he ought to have taken the time to hear me out when I initially suggested sending her back and that he was happy she was on her way home.”
Thor wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Did anyone else confront you about sending Patty’s body home?”
“No one spoke to me, but I heard that Lance lost his shit in the hallway and started shouting at Samantha. She had nothing to do with it.”
“Yeah, I witnessed that myself.” Thor had gotten the information he wanted. “Thank you for speaking with us again.”
Ryan stood. “Happy to help. See you all at the meeting this evening.”
“Meeting?” Thor hadn’t heard about that.
Segal turned off the camera. “Hardin called a meeting for seven—something about water usage with extra people on station or some shit.”
“See you all later, and thanks for your help.” Ryan left the room.
Thor waited until the door was closed. “What do you think?”
Jones stood, stretched. “I think we need to get Hardin in here.”
“Has Shields gotten back to you about Kazem Hamidi and Bai Zhang Wei?”
Thor shook his head. “I talked with her early this morning, and she was still working on it. I asked her to take a second look at Hardin. Here’s the thing that keeps coming back to me. Who wanted to keep her body on station? And who’s the person she would have gone to if she had something suspicious to report?”
“Hardin,” Jones and Segal said almost at the same time.
“Exactly.” Thor glanced at his watch. “Let’s upload all of this and check in with Shields to see if she’s got anything new for us. It’s about seven p.m. in Denver.”
They caught Shields at home having dinner with her husband, Quinn McManus.
“You’re keepin’ my wife busy. You boys must be freezin’ your bawbags aff. It’s pure Baltic down there.”
Most of the time, Thor had trouble understanding McManus’ Glaswegian accent, but he got this one. “Believe it or not, they have heat down here. Our nuts are fine. Thanks.”
“Quinn!” Laughing, Shields turned the screen away from her husband. “I was going to ping you after dinner. Bai’s story checks out. Credit card records show he was definitely in Denmark when he said he was. But I can’t prove anything where Kazem Hamidi is concerned. If Hamidi entered the Schengen Area through a different country, that would explain why there’s no record of his entering Denmark. I need his flight information if you can get it.”
“We’re on it.” Thor brought her up to date. “Anything on Hardin?”
“Not yet, but I’m working on it.”
Quinn stuck his face in front of the camera. “She does need to eat and sleep and spend a wee bit of time wi’ her husband, aye?”
Shields shook her head, but she was smiling. “Hey, you three be careful. We did a threat assessment this afternoon about your situation.”
“Let’s hear it.” Thor had learned to respect Shields’ judgment.
“We believe there’s an eighty-percent chance the killer will react with violence when he hears that the package is leaving Antarctica. Watch your backs.”
* * *
Kristi poked at dinner—chickenfried steak, biscuits, and mixed frozen veggies. “You’re so lucky, Sam.”
“It’s Samantha, please.” Samantha got the words out despite the awkwardness of her request. “I’ve never liked being called Sam.”
“Oh. Okay. Samantha.” Kristi didn’t seem bothered. She looked up from her plate. “You’re so lucky that Thor is staying longer. I wish Malik weren’t leaving. It’s going to be so hard to say goodbye.”
Samantha glanced around the galley, but Thor, Malik, and Lev weren’t there yet. “You’ve only known him for a couple of weeks. What happened to just taking what you can and enjoying yourself?”