by Brenda Novak
It was decided, then. He’d starve Evelyn and Edna until tomorrow night, feed them a drug-laced dinner just before dark, and, once the medication kicked in, make his move.
Minneapolis, MN—Tuesday, 9:30 p.m. CST
Startled by the chime of his phone, Amarok came awake sitting up against the headboard of the bed in his motel room. He was still so anxious he didn’t know how he’d managed to fall asleep, but, somehow, he’d nodded off. “Hello?”
“Amarok?”
He cleared his throat so he could speak clearly. It was Phil, all right—the call he’d been waiting for. Amarok hadn’t recognized the number, but Phil didn’t have a cell phone, which meant he had to use whatever phone he could. “Yeah?”
“I went to the address you gave me, but there’s no one home.”
Amarok rubbed his eyes, feeling groggy. A troubling dream of swimming underwater lingered in his mind. He’d been trying and trying to break the surface of a lake and couldn’t quite make it.
Drawing in a deep breath, he sat up straight and moved to the edge of the bed. “Have you talked to the neighbors to see if they know anything about the woman who lives there? Where she might be? When she might be back?”
“I’ve talked to a few. That’s why it took so long for me to call. But no one knows where she is. No one’s seen her for several days.”
Disappointment finally snapped Amarok out of the fog and brought reality into sharp focus. “No!” He came to his feet. “Are you kidding me?”
“’Fraid not. The neighbor next door said the family across the street knows her best, but they aren’t home, either.”
“Is her car there?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“I was able to open the man door and take a peek into the garage. It’s empty. I looked around the house as best I could without actually going in, too. Nothing seems to be disturbed from what I could tell.”
“Maybe the neighbor you spoke to can provide a list of places to look. Her hairdresser. Nail salon. Kids’ houses. What have you.”
“I asked for those things. She didn’t have any answers and neither did anyone else.”
“Can someone put us in touch with her family?”
“The neighbor on the other side just moved in a few months ago. He didn’t even know her name. The others seem more familiar with her routine but not especially close to her. They knew her husband better. I guess he was the more outgoing of the two. But he died six months ago.”
“Shit.”
“So … what do you want me to do?”
Amarok looked out the clouded window, not seeing much. “It’s only six thirty your time. Stay there in case she shows up tonight and call me if she does. Failing that, maybe the neighbor across the street will come home and be able to tell us more. We need her cell number, at the very least.”
“Hate to tell you this, Amarok, but she doesn’t have a cell. Doesn’t care for technology. The lady three doors down told me that.”
Amarok pinched his bottom lip as he searched his mind for a fresh angle. He couldn’t be stymied after getting this far.…
“You still there?” Phil prodded.
He dropped his hand. “Yeah. Just find some way to reach her, okay? Do whatever you have to.” He was about to hang up when Phil caught him with a question.
“You don’t think something’s happened to her, do you? I mean, it’s kind of weird that Emmett is connected to Evelyn’s disappearance and now this lady goes missing, too. The neighbor who told me she doesn’t have a cell phone also said that since her husband died she’s been pretty depressed. Hasn’t gone hardly anywhere.”
“She could be out of town.”
“Without stopping her mail?”
“Her mail is piling up?”
“I checked the mailbox out front. She hasn’t gotten it for a few days.”
Amarok hoped nothing had happened to her. Without the link she inadvertently provided to Emmett Virtanen, he might never find Evelyn. “Maybe it slipped her mind. Anything’s possible,” he insisted.
But that was the terrifying part. When dealing with someone such as Lyman Bishop—even an ex-con like Virtanen—there were no assurances.
Anchorage, AK—Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. AKDT
Ada called her husband in Seattle as soon as she got home from the police station. She’d filled out a missing person report, but she didn’t get the feeling anyone on the force was very gung ho to find out what’d happened to her mother. The officer she’d spoken to kept assuring her he’d look into it. But he was so casual in his approach. Since she could attest to the fact that there hadn’t been a break-in—she’d been at the house for the better part of the day and hadn’t noticed anything out of place—they seemed to believe she was getting worked up for nothing, that Edna had merely gone on a trip and neglected to tell her.
She wished she could believe that, but leaving town without notifying someone would be so unlike her mother.
“What’s going on, babe? Any news?” Reed said the moment he picked up.
The genuine concern in his voice helped comfort her. He was on a business trip, so she’d been dealing with this on her own. “No news,” she replied. “I just left the police station.”
“Are they going to start looking for her?”
“They say they are.”
“But…”
“The officer I spoke to was near the end of his shift. Although he didn’t come right out and say it, I got the impression he had some family thing to attend or something. He filed the report and told me if Mom’s not back by tomorrow morning he’ll go over to the house and take a look around. Maybe I should’ve sent them there instead of to the chicken ranch to begin with.”
“Who knows? You did what you thought was best. And don’t panic quite yet. Maybe he’ll find proof your mother bought a plane ticket and flew off to Sacramento to visit Nadine or something.”
Irritation bit deep. How could Reed even suggest that? Obviously, he wasn’t as concerned as she was, because she’d already looked through her mother’s office. If that kind of proof was there, she would’ve found it. “Reed, I’ve spoken to Nadine, and she’s worried, too. Mom isn’t there.”
“What about your other sisters?”
“They haven’t heard from her, either. And if she left Alaska hoping to surprise one of them, she would’ve arrived by now. It doesn’t take three days to get to Oregon or California.”
“Who said she’s been gone three days?”
“The neighbor across the street. He claims she forgot, or didn’t bother, to put down her garage door the last time she left, so he lowered it for her. That was Sunday. He hasn’t seen her since.”
“Did you tell the police?”
“Of course!”
“Could she have met someone?”
Officer Daniels had suggested the same thing. He’d said his aunt, at eighty-two, had eloped with a man his family had never met and they’d been happily married for the past decade. That was another reason she felt he wasn’t taking her seriously. But her mother was still grieving. She would never do that. “My father died only six months ago.”
“Your parents were together as long as you’ve known them, so you can’t really say how she might act without him, honey. Loneliness can cause people to do a lot of things they wouldn’t ordinarily do.”
“I get that. But how would she meet someone? She doesn’t own a computer, wouldn’t know how to put up a dating profile even if she did.”
“There are other ways to meet people.”
“She would never hang out at a bar.”
“She could’ve bumped into someone at the grocery store, the mall, the movies—anywhere. What about the guys she hires to shovel her walks in the winter?”
“College kids. And it’s not winter.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. It’s possible she wouldn’t mention a romantic interest, especially because it hasn’t been all that long since your dad died. She may b
e afraid of how you might react.”
“You don’t think she has … undiagnosed dementia, do you?”
“Your mother? No. She hasn’t exhibited any of the signs.”
“That’s true.” Ada raked her fingers through her hair. Maybe he and the police were right—she was getting worked up for nothing. No one had anything against her mother, no reason to harm her. And, as she’d already noted, nothing had been stolen from the house.
“Look, I don’t mean to be a patronizing asshole,” he said. “But you are pregnant.”
She poured herself a tall glass of water. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you have all kinds of hormones raging through your body, and they could be making you extra emotional.”
He should know; he was an ob/gyn. “You don’t think I should be worried.”
“Not quite yet. You said yourself that you found nothing to indicate foul play at your mother’s house.”
“What about the renter?”
“What renter?”
“Mom’s renter. At the chicken ranch.” She’d mentioned him before, but her husband had probably been distracted.
“Was he still there when the police came?”
“Yes.…”
“Well, there you have it.”
“What?”
“If he harmed your mother, I doubt he’d stick around to talk to the police.”
Reed had a point.…
“Honey?”
“I’m listening.”
“Should I pull out of this and fly home? Do you need me there with you?”
He was at a weeklong symposium he’d paid several thousand dollars to attend. She didn’t want him to feel as though he had to cut it short, not if her fears weren’t well founded. “No, it’s too soon to make that determination. I’m just trying to figure this out.”
“I can see why you’re worried. But give the police a chance.”
She couldn’t help recalling the chilling stare she’d received from her mother’s renter. But she had to admit there could be a lot of reasons for his less than friendly behavior. Maybe he was busy and didn’t like being interrupted. Or, as the police had suggested, he could have something to hide that had nothing to do with Edna. It could even be that the paralysis in his face made him appear to feel something he wasn’t experiencing at all—and that wasn’t anything he could help.
“Honey, are you listening to me?” Reed asked gently.
“Yes, of course. I guess you’re right about most of it. But if I don’t hear from her by tomorrow, I’m going back to take a look around.”
“Whoa! Whatever you do, don’t go back there alone.”
“I won’t,” she said. But she wasn’t about to take the police with her again. They couldn’t do anything, not without a warrant, and unless she could point to something that would give them probable cause, they wouldn’t be able to get one.
24
Anchorage, AK—Wednesday, 6:00 p.m. AKDT
Amarok was so glad to be home. He’d left Alaska only twice in his life and Evelyn had been the reason for both trips. The first time, he’d been trying to find Jasper Moore, so he’d flown to San Diego to visit Jasper’s parents. He’d been hoping to get them to talk, at last, and he managed to get a little information—enough to indicate they could say more if only they would. But his visit was what had precipitated their murder. He still felt terrible about what’d happened to them after he left. Even though they’d been aiding and abetting a known killer and it was that killer who’d turned on them, Jasper was their son. Amarok could understand the denial that had led them to believe the lies he told.
The whole thing had been quite an experience. And now, only two years later, he was going through something even worse.
His legs and back felt stiff as he carried his bag off the plane. He hated being cooped up, couldn’t understand why anyone would want to live in a big city, teeming with traffic, people and pollution. He’d thought he’d be miserable crammed into a plane, but after a long layover in Denver and a flight delay of nearly three hours, he’d slept from the moment they took off until they landed. The flight attendant had finally awakened him after everyone else had deplaned.
As soon as he cleared the gangway, he pulled out the cell phone he’d bought in Minneapolis and called his trooper post.
Shorty answered on the first ring. “Trooper Murphy’s office.”
“Where’s Phil?” Amarok asked without preamble.
“In Anchorage, where you told him to stay.”
“He’s still at Ms. Southwick’s?”
“That’s right. Slept in his truck last night and has stayed there waiting for her to show up ever since.”
Phil was almost as loyal to him as Makita. “She never came home?”
“Nope.”
“When’s the last time you heard from him?”
“Thirty minutes or so ago. He was checking to see if I’d heard from you.”
“What about the neighbors across the street? Has he been able to talk to them?”
“No. They won’t be back for two weeks.”
Amarok plugged one ear so he could hear above the airport PA system. “How do you know?”
“Phil spoke to the mail carrier when she came by. She told him their mail’s being held until they get back from California.”
Of all times for them to leave … “Can he get me a cell number for anyone in the household?”
“How would he?”
“By asking around. That’s what police officers do.” Amarok wasn’t usually this short-tempered, but he’d never been in a situation that tested him to this degree.
“Amarok, from what Phil told me this isn’t that kind of neighborhood. It’s a street with a handful of houses sprinkled along it, some of which are a quarter mile apart. People who live spread out like that don’t typically share a lot of information. They mind their own business.”
“Fine. Is there a car in the neighbors’ drive? If I could get a plate number I could run it through the DMV database.”
“As soon as he gets here, I’ll ask him if he thought of that.”
“He’s on his way back?”
“You expected him to stay longer? He’s been gone for twenty-four hours. He’s exhausted and he needs to feed Makita.”
Amarok dropped his bag at his feet while he waited for the parking shuttle. “Makita’s with him?”
“Yeah, the pup wanted to go.”
“Makita always wants to go.”
“I think he was a bit put out that you left him behind.”
“Because I don’t do that very often. What about Sigmund?” Evelyn’s beloved cat never wanted to go anywhere besides a warm sofa.
“Molly’s been taking care of him.”
“I appreciate it.”
“No problem. Are you on your way back here, then?”
“Not yet.”
“Where are you going now?”
“Edna Southwick’s.”
“Why? I told you, Phil just left there.”
“That’s fine. I’ll take over now.”
“And do what?” Shorty asked.
“Look around.”
“What more can you do?”
Amarok had already broken into one house; he wasn’t above breaking into another, not if it meant finding Evelyn. Hopefully, by the time he went to jail she’d be safe. “That all depends on how far I’m willing to go, doesn’t it?”
“Amarok, be careful.”
“I’m always careful, Shorty. You know that.”
The owner of the Moosehead hesitated as if he wanted to offer more words of caution but ultimately thought better of it. “Okay, but before you go there’s something else.”
Amarok picked up his bag. He could see the bus coming. “Don’t tell me you’ve heard from Detective Lewis.”
“Not a word.”
That didn’t surprise Amarok. If Lewis had Virtanen’s cell phone records, he was proceeding with the investigation on
his own. Amarok hoped Lewis was including Anchorage PD, at least, so he’d have some boots on the ground in Alaska. “What is it, then?”
“Jasper Moore ran into a bit of bad luck while you were gone.”
“What kind of bad luck?”
“Well deserved, if you ask me. Karma can be a bitch, as they say.”
Amarok longed for a shower or something else to revive him. He felt rumpled and jet-lagged despite his recent nap. “I could use a few more details, Shorty.”
“Some of the inmates at Hanover House jumped him in the showers. Beat him up pretty bad.”
“Is he dead?”
“Not quite. But he came damn close. And it could be he’s not out of the woods yet.”
“Where is he now? At the hospital here in Anchorage?”
“No, the med center at the prison.”
“If he’s that bad off, why didn’t they transport him?” They had the capability. They’d had to medevac a victim who’d been stabbed not long after HH opened, so they’d been known to do it, too.
“From what I understand, they almost did, but the doc on staff felt he could handle the situation. I mean, without endangering the public by putting a known serial killer in a room without bars. And it looks like he managed to save the bastard’s life, because he’s still breathing.”
Jasper hadn’t only killed strangers; he’d killed two people Amarok had known and cared about, two people from Hilltop whom Amarok, as the town’s only police officer, had felt somewhat responsible for. And then there was his history with Evelyn, of course. Amarok would never forgive Jasper for that, either. “If I’m supposed to feel bad for him, I don’t.”
“I didn’t tell you because I thought you’d be concerned for him. His brain is swelling, so they’re keeping him pretty sedated, but when he came to this morning, he kept asking for you.”
“For me?”
