He hired them to fight forest fires. They blew their pay on hooch and started more fires for more wampum. A big blaze hits—April 9, ’38. Maybe it’s the Indians. Maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s premeditated arson. E. E. Conville, dead at forty-nine. Her father, burned alive. The U.S. Forest Service investigates. Their call: “No evidence of arson extant.” Joan disagreed. She switched grad-school majors. She dropped premed for biology. She studied forensic biology. She haunted the blaze site. She studied soil and tree-wood samples. She interviewed Indians and compiled a suspect list. A soused Indian
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