Anchorage, AK—Thursday, 1:00 a.m. AKDT
Steeling himself for what he might find, Amarok crept toward the back of the processing plant, Edna Southwick’s daughter close on his heels. After the gruesome sight of Emmett’s decomposing body in the chicken coop, he felt certain Bishop had been here. He could still be here. There wasn’t a vehicle on the premises—not one he’d seen—but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Bishop and Evelyn could be in the plant.
The alternate scenario—that something had spooked Bishop and he’d either killed Evelyn and driven off or taken her with him—was also a possibility, one that was too upsetting to contemplate.
And what about Ada’s mother? Where had she gone?
Once again using his service pistol, a Gen4 GLOCK 22, Amarok motioned for Ada to hang back a bit more as he approached the window. Although he typically preferred using his rifle, was more accustomed to it since it was better for the types of things he usually policed, that wasn’t the case here. He had to rely on his sidearm. He missed Makita, too. Approaching danger without the superior eyes and nose of his dog made him feel slightly handicapped.
He’d called Phil as soon as he’d found the address for the chicken ranch at Edna Southwick’s and asked him to return to Anchorage. If Phil had left right away, he and Makita should both arrive soon. But he couldn’t stand around and wait. If Evelyn was on the premises and she was still alive, he wouldn’t want Bishop to return before he could set her free.
“Do you see anything?” Ada whispered as he tried to peer into the room.
Although the light was on, a navy blue sheet covered the window, making it difficult to determine what, if anything, was going on inside. “No.”
“So what are you going to do?”
He eyed the door that was boarded shut. It would take too much time to rip off the boards and enter from behind. Even if he could do it quickly, which he couldn’t, the noise would give his presence away.
But would it be any smarter to go in through the store? Breaking glass might be fast, but it wouldn’t be any quieter.
Maybe it was unlocked. Since the gate had a padlock on it, which was why he’d had to climb over the fence in back, he doubted Bishop had left the plant open, but it was worth a try.
He gestured for Ada to remain silent as they slipped around to the side. He had to concentrate so he didn’t miss something that could get one or both of them killed.
Fortunately, with it being light in the building and dark outside, he had a slight advantage, despite all the windows.
Although he’d made it clear she wasn’t to talk, Ada murmured, “The van’s gone.”
“What van?” he asked.
“The one that was here before—in the carport.”
“Was it a blue carpet-cleaning van?”
“No. It was spray-painted black.”
That didn’t rule out the carpet-cleaning van. Anyone could spray-paint a vehicle. That gave him hope everything was coming together as he peered into the store.
“See anyone?” she asked.
“No,” he breathed. “Is there a way in where I don’t have to break anything?”
“Yes.” She pulled a key from her pocket.
“You have a key?” he said in surprise.
“I took it from my mother’s house.”
He gaped at her. “You were going to go in by yourself?”
“I don’t know. I brought it just in case.”
She could easily have landed right in Lyman’s lap, which wouldn’t have been a good place to find herself. But he didn’t say anything. He was glad he’d bumped into her out here. Thanks to her, he was finally catching a break.
The front door opened almost silently, no jingle to announce their arrival. He supposed all of that, if it had once existed, had been disabled when the chicken ranch went out of business.
“You know the layout of the building?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
Her eyes were round and watchful as she nodded.
The light from the hallway filtered in well enough that he didn’t need his flashlight to see the garbage at their feet. It didn’t smell good in here, but at least he didn’t catch the nauseating stench of decomposition. “What’s up ahead?” He motioned to the doorway leading to the rest of the plant.
“There’s a cooler and a bathroom to the right and a staff room with a small kitchenette to the left.”
Bishop and Evelyn, if they were here, would probably be in the staff room, or so he thought until he saw the heavy chain dangling from the handle of the cooler.
He nudged Ada to get her attention and pointed toward it.
When she realized what he was trying to show her she covered her mouth and turned in that direction, but he shook his head. He had to clear the rest of the building first.
Fortunately, the place was small enough that wasn’t a difficult task. He didn’t find Bishop, Evelyn or Edna. But after seeing that ominous chain hanging from the handle of the cooler, and the slot that had been cut into the door, he knew she hadn’t been kept in the staff room.
“He’s gone,” Ada said.
Yes. They were too late. Bishop wasn’t just gone, he wasn’t coming back. The place had been cleaned out.
“You’d better stay here,” he told Ada as he moved toward the cooler.
Her throat worked as she struggled to swallow. “You think my mother’s in there.”
“I’m not sure who or what I’ll find, but, knowing Bishop, it won’t be pretty.”
Her face creased with worry as she stopped at the end of the hall and hugged herself while he continued. He tried to think of her and how devastated she’d be if her mother was dead. But Evelyn could be inside the cooler, too. Maybe Bishop had decided to take his revenge and hit the road. It would be so much easier to travel without someone he had to care for or restrain, especially a woman who was about to have a baby in a few months.
He hauled in a deep breath and, bracing for the worst, peered into the opening.
A woman was lying on the floor of the cooler, but it wasn’t Evelyn.
“Call an ambulance,” he barked out.
“What do you see?” Ada’s voice rose with the level of her panic.
“I think it’s your mother.”
“No!” she wailed, and came rushing in behind him.
He tried to catch her. He saw a trickle of blood rolling from Edna’s head toward the drain in the center of the room and thought it was too late. He didn’t want this to be the last memory Ada had of her mother. But she refused to be denied. Ripping herself out of his arms, she immediately dropped down beside Edna.
“Mom?” she cried, bursting into tears. “Mom?”
Amarok called the ambulance himself. He thought he should be contacting the medical examiner, but he wasn’t a doctor, so he wasn’t going to make that decision. He was holding out hope and, a moment later, he was relieved he hadn’t fully accepted Edna’s death because everything changed when she moaned.
Between Anchorage and Fairbanks, AK—Thursday, 1:30 a.m. AKDT
Lyman Bishop told himself that what’d happened in Anchorage didn’t matter. He refused to even think about it. Put the past behind him, and everything upsetting, too—that was his motto. He was better off leaving the ranch and cutting ties with anything associated with Emmett Virtanen, anyway. Now that he was out and away from the corpse decomposing in the chicken coop, the dogs, which he had no idea how to take care of beyond giving them food and water, and he no longer had to worry about a nosey landlady, her daughter or the police circling like vultures, he was happier than he’d been in several days.
He was free! And even though he’d had to spend three hours and a significant chunk of money visiting the worst part of Anchorage in order to get an unregistered semiautomatic handgun before he left, it was worth it. Now he’d be able to control Evelyn even if she woke up earlier than expected.
He glanced at the pistol sitting on the passenger seat, where he could easily grab it. He had plenty of reason to feel hopeful and relieved. But he wasn’t quite sure where he was going. He didn’t have the house in Fairbanks yet. The property management company had told him earlier that they were processing his paperwork, but perhaps going there would speed things up. If he appeared at the office tomorrow morning and showed them how well-mannered, educated and trustworthy he was, maybe it would make all the difference.
That kind of approach had worked before. He’d had a great deal of success with it in the past—one of the benefits of looking absolutely average, harmless and nondescript—so that was his new plan. The only problem was that he didn’t quite know what he’d do with Evelyn while he was in their office and running other errands, making sure they’d have what they needed. He couldn’t drug her again. She’d be wise to that now, would probably refuse to eat, even for the sake of her unborn baby.
He could keep her bound and gagged for a day or two, though. Although he couldn’t imagine that would be good for a woman in her condition, either, he didn’t have a lot of other options.
Quit dwelling on the negative. That never helped. He needed to remain optimistic. To march boldly forward. This was his chance to start over and, for the first time in his life, he was going to have a companion who was worthy of him.
He twisted around to look in the back of the van. It had been a long time since he’d been with a woman. He’d always had such a strong libido, missed sex more than anything else since the hemorrhage, so he’d spent a great deal of time thinking about it, wanting it, craving it. And Evelyn was still unconscious, completely incapacitated. If he acted now, he wouldn’t have to worry about overcoming any kind of resistance. He’d also get to experience Evelyn as a whole person, see the intelligence in her eyes as she looked up at him—an opportunity he wouldn’t have for long.
He checked his mirrors. No one else was on the road. There wasn’t anything or anyone waiting for him in Fairbanks. And if she woke up? He had the gun. He could simply put the muzzle to her head and demand she lie still.
With all of that in his favor, why not pull over and consummate his relationship with the mother of the child he would soon make his own?
Anchorage, AK—Thursday, 1:40 a.m. AKDT
Makita kept rubbing up against Amarok’s leg to show his excitement at their reunion. Amarok was equally relieved. He wasn’t accustomed to being without his dog. But he was too focused on saving Evelyn to give Makita any real attention. Before the paramedics had arrived, Edna had roused enough to tell him—in a hoarse and broken whisper—that Bishop had probably taken Evelyn to Fairbanks. Apparently, she’d heard him say he was trying to rent a house there or something.
It was difficult to understand her, and she was too injured to provide any other information. He didn’t know if Evelyn had also been hurt or if she still had the baby—only that she was alive.
Amarok wished he could’ve gotten a few more details, like how long ago Bishop had left with Evelyn or anything about the house he was renting. Any detail could help narrow his search. At this point, he couldn’t even rule out a condominium, a duplex or a ranch house on a lot of land.
Fairbanks was 350 miles away. And it wasn’t nearly as small as Hilltop. Bishop could easily blend in there, making it difficult for Amarok to ever find him, especially if he wasn’t using his real name, which he would never be stupid enough to do.
“Mom, please relax,” he heard Ada say as he, Makita and Phil passed the paramedics, who were loading her mother into the ambulance. They’d pulled into the driveway after using a pair of bolt cutters to get onto the property, and Edna had roused again now that they were transporting her, kept mumbling incoherently and crying. “Don’t try to talk anymore. Everything’s going to be okay,” Ada added.
Edna had bruising all around her neck. No one had said anything, but it was clear that Bishop had choked her and left her for dead. It was a miracle she’d survived, especially at her age, because she also had a head injury, which was still bleeding. If they hadn’t found her when they did, who could say what might’ve happened? He admired her daughter for coming after her, in spite of the risk. Ada was a fighter. She reminded him of Evelyn.
“There’s a body in one of the coops in back—the one on the end,” he told Phil as Phil walked him to his truck. “Anchorage PD will be here soon. So will the medical examiner. Stay to meet them. Then you’re free to head home.”
“Where are you going?”
“Fairbanks.”
“Right now? It’s the middle of the night! And it’s a six-or seven-hour drive.”
They’d reached his truck. Amarok opened the door and Makita jumped into the cab. “Assuming he waited until it was dark or almost dark to leave, Bishop has a two-or three-hour head start. Maybe longer, if he didn’t wait until dark.” He hoisted himself into the driver’s seat. “It’ll only get harder to find him later.”
“It won’t be easy now,” Phil said, one hand on the open door. “In case you’ve forgotten, Fairbanks is a big city.”
Certainly not to the rest of the world, but it was to them. “There can only be so many houses for rent.”
“There could be a lot more than you think, especially if he was referring to the Fairbanks area and not Fairbanks proper. Or maybe he said Fairbanks but has since changed his mind. It’s even possible that the old lady wasn’t remembering correctly when she passed you that information. She has a nasty head wound.”
“I’ve come this far. I can’t lose Evelyn now.”
“But without something else to go on, you’ll just be spinning your wheels.”
“I have to start looking.”
“How?”
“I’ll go to each rental listing until I find the van.”
“And if he’s already ditched the van?”
“He has Evelyn with him. Until he gets another place to put her, I doubt he’ll have the mobility to do a whole lot.”
“He could leave her in the van while stealing another car, and then come back for her.”
Amarok jammed the key in the ignition. “He doesn’t know I know he has the van. Why would he risk getting caught by trying to steal another one? He might not even have the skills. It was the dead guy in the chicken coop who stole the van, remember?”
Phil covered a yawn. “How do you know who stole the van?”
“Well, it wasn’t Bishop. Bishop was still at Beacon Point when Evelyn was kidnapped.”
A sheepish look crossed Phil’s face. “Oh, right.”
“And Bishop thought the old lady was dead when he left here, so he also doesn’t know I know where he’s going. He has no reason to change his mind.”
Phil scratched his neck. “True. I’m so tired I’m getting punchy. I don’t know how you’re still functioning.”
Amarok thought of Evelyn and what she meant to him. He’d give anything for her and their unborn child, even his life. “When something happens to someone you love, you do what you have to do,” he said, and closed the door.
Between Anchorage and Fairbanks, AK—Thursday, 1:45 a.m. AKDT
Evelyn felt the van come to a stop and tensed. Were they already in Fairbanks? It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes since they’d pulled over before. But they had turned off the highway. She’d been able to tell because the tires had begun to make a different sound. They were rolling over dirt and rocks and not pavement.
Maybe Bishop had been picking up keys or something. She didn’t have much concept of time. It seemed as though it had been a while since he’d complained about how difficult it was to rent a house these days, though. The property management company he’d referenced must’ve come through.
At least the wait was over. As terrified as she was for what was about to occur, she was also anxious to have it over with, to finally reunite with Amarok—if possible.
The driver’s side door creaked as it had before and, once again, the cabin light came on. She was so frightened by what might lie ahead she was beginning to sweat and tremble. The memory of stabbing Emmett was returning to her even though she was trying hard not to think about it, sending her adrenaline skyrocketing too soon. She couldn’t even keep her eyes closed properly and feared Bishop would notice the effort she was putting into it.
Was he looking at her? It was taking him some time to get out of the front seat. She was dying to know why.
What was he doing? After hearing him rummage around in the passenger seat, she smelled cheap men’s cologne. He’d put on so much she almost gagged.
He was getting ready for something. But what? It was still dark outside. Certainly, he wasn’t meeting someone in the middle of the night.…
She curled her fingernails into her palms, waiting to see what would happen next.
He closed the driver’s side door, but softly, as though he feared slamming it might wake her, and just when she’d assumed he’d left her and was about to get to her knees so she could look through the windshield—thinking she might be able to get out of the van while he was gone and sneak away without having to confront him—she heard him unlock the back.
He was coming for her.
She hated that she was still wearing the gag. She could hardly breathe through it, was getting winded even before she had to act. But without that in her mouth, he’d know something was up as soon as he saw her.
Calm down. Unless you want him to stick an ice pick through your eye sockets and scramble your brain tonight, you have to play this just right.
She also needed a measure of luck and a whole lot of nerve. She had the screwdriver in her right hand, was hiding it behind her as though her wrists were still tied, and she’d managed to adjust her position a bit. She was now lying on her side horizontally across the back of the van as though the movement of the vehicle had shifted her around. Rising up from a prone position, and in her condition, wasn’t an easy thing to do, of course, but she’d done it before, with Emmett.
If only her aim could be as true …
At least she had a sturdier weapon.
But it was also duller and thicker. It would take all her strength to jam it into his body.
“Evelyn?” Bishop’s voice held no command. He wasn’t trying to wake her; he was testing her to see if she was asleep.
She didn’t react. She needed to draw him closer, get him to focus on hauling her out of the van all on his own. Only then would she have the chance to stab him, kick him out the back, crawl through to the front and take off, leaving him on the road.
He deserved to bleed out right there—deserved much worse, in fact, and she had no compunction about making it happen, not with her own life and her child’s life in jeopardy.
But he didn’t try to pull her out to take her inside of wherever they’d be staying next.
She heard his buckle jingle as he undid his pants.
Then he started to crawl inside with her.