“Who told you this?”

“Dr. Ricardo called here an hour or so ago.”

“What could Jasper want now?”

“He believes he can tell you where Evelyn is.”

Amarok caught his breath. “How?”

“I have no clue. And neither does Ricardo.”

Evelyn’s old nemesis had to be lying, didn’t he?

Yes. Amarok knew it. But then his mind flashed back to the way Jasper had guided the investigation to Lyman Bishop right from the start. “Does Ricardo believe him?”

“Not entirely. Given Moore’s current state, he could be delusional. Or he could be playing games. You know how crafty he is, how much he craves attention. Ricardo said he might be trying to insert himself, to be part of everything, to feel important again.”

“Not to mention, if he knows something and really wants to help, he could tell someone else.”

“That’s a big if.”

“You’re saying he won’t, Shorty? Why not? Why does it have to be me?”

“Good question, but Ricardo had no answer for that, either.”

The air brakes sounded on the arriving bus and the doors whooshed open. “He can’t know anything,” Amarok said skeptically. “I’ve been on the outside, doing everything possible to find her, and I still don’t know where she’s at.”

“Yeah. It’s probably BS.”

“Has to be.”

Those waiting for the parking shuttle with him began to climb on, so Amarok lifted his bag. He wasn’t going to Hanover House. He was better off staying in Anchorage and following up on the lead he’d found via Emmett’s mail. Edna Southwick was his best possible chance at finding Evelyn.

Or was she? Jasper Moore didn’t have to care about Evelyn to want to save her. He was obsessed with her, which was turning out to be close to the same thing, or at least eerily similar.

And he had been right before.

With a curse, Amarok sank into a seat on the shuttle to the parking lot. He hated the amount of time it would take, but as soon as he reached his truck and left the airport he turned toward Hilltop. If Jasper was lying, if he was causing Amarok to waste such precious hours, it would be all Amarok could do not to kill the prick himself.

Hilltop, AK—Wednesday, 6:35 p.m. AKDT

When the nurse finally came back into the room to take his blood pressure, Jasper jerked his arm away. No one would listen to him, trust him, believe him. And if only they would, he could save Evelyn. “Is he coming?”

The nurse, with a scolding look at him for thwarting her attempt to do her job, propped her hands on her hips. “You know I can’t understand a word you’re saying. Now give me your arm.”

“Amarok!” he cried. That, too, came out muddled since he couldn’t open his mouth.

But Jasper knew she understood what he wanted when she said, “From what I understand, he’s on his way, okay? Are you happy now? Will you let me get your blood pressure? Because I’d like to go home at some point, and I’ve still got a lot of other things to do.”