“Sergeant Murphy?”

It was a man’s voice—deep, emphatic, confident. “Yes?”

“This is Ted Bell with the Anchorage Daily News.”

Not one of the searchers. Not Terry Lovett’s wife. Just another fire to put out. Could the hell he was going through get any worse? “What can I do for you, Ted?”

Although Amarok’s voice was clipped, Ted proved unflappable. “I hear you have a problem out that way,” he replied smoothly.

Amarok rested his forehead on his fist. Thank God he’d told Evelyn’s parents.

17

Hanover House, Hilltop, AK—Sunday 2:00 p.m. AKDT

Jasper could feel Roland’s eyes on him but refused to look over. Winters in Alaska were so damn long they didn’t get much yard time. In such a cold climate, it was too expensive for the government to provide the necessary outerwear—that was what the guards said—but Jasper knew it had more to do with the difficulty of policing a large group of inmates in the dark, especially those housed at this facility. And in Alaska during the winter, it was almost always dark. Since he planned on making the most of summer and the added rec time they received because of the longer days, he wasn’t about to let Roland or anyone else cause a problem for which he could be thrown in the hole.

What was it with Roland? he wondered as he took in all the men who were playing basketball or chess or just working out. Roland’s interest in Jasper seemed to have grown since Evelyn disappeared. It was almost as though he resented Jasper for slitting Evelyn’s throat, even though he’d done it more than twenty years ago, and wanted to make him pay for it. But Roland wasn’t anything to Evelyn, had barely come to know her.

Or maybe it was something else entirely. Maybe now that he’d been at Hanover House for a couple of months, he’d grown comfortable enough to become bored. He was a patient man, evidently, liked to wait and watch and think things through. Could be he’d had it in for Jasper from the beginning, ever since he learned Jasper’s history, but was only starting to make his move.

Jasper had worked in corrections; he knew some inmates were like that. They felt it was their responsibility to mete out punishment to those they considered worse than themselves—as if that changed what they were.

When Roland didn’t shift his attention after a reasonable length of time, Jasper had to return his gaze. In prison, staring was almost as bad as shoving. If he didn’t respond, Roland would know he was reluctant to become enemies, and then he’d be forced to put Roland in his place.

Otherwise, he’d become Roland’s bitch, and Jasper couldn’t let that happen. If he lost status at Hanover House, he’d be far more vulnerable than he was now. Everyone in this place preyed on the weak.

Making sure he gave no sign of the intimidation he was feeling, he glared back so Roland would know he wouldn’t go down without a fight. He hoped that would be enough and Roland would go pick on someone else. He was one of the very few who’d ever made Jasper feel unsure of his own ability to come out on top.