“Who’s that?”

“No one you’d ever want to meet.”

“And the short, balding man with the limp? He’s okay?”

Amarok felt his pulse leap. “The limp? Are you talking about Lyman Bishop?”

She turned bewildered eyes on him. “Isn’t his name John Edmonson?”

“No. It’s Lyman Bishop, and he’s a serial killer from Minnesota, who I believe is currently in Alaska. He could even be on the property. You need to get out of here.”

“Oh my God!” she whispered, covering her mouth. “I was right. He is dangerous. I could feel it. He made my skin crawl. You don’t think he killed my mother, do you?”

“Your mother?”

“Edna Southwick. Aren’t you here looking for her?”

She didn’t give him a chance to answer before she added, “Please tell me we won’t find her if … if we keep digging. Please!” Fresh tears filled her eyes as she surveyed the piles of manure, but when she started for the shovel as though she’d find out for herself, Amarok stopped her.

He couldn’t promise that her mother wasn’t dead. If Edna had had a run-in with Bishop, she could very likely be in a similar condition to Emmett. “We’ll look when we can,” he said. “But first, I have to see who’s in the building. What’s your name?”

“Ada.”

“Give me your phone number, Ada.”

She seemed too upset to be able to remember it. “My number?” she repeated, bewildered. “Why?”

Afraid Bishop or someone else would come up and surprise them, Amarok glanced at the doorway. “Because I need to get you off the property while there’s still time—but I might also need to contact you later if … if I learn anything about your mother.”

She grabbed him, her fingers curling like talons into his arm. “I’m not going anywhere without you!”

In case she was in shock, he wasn’t going to insist. He’d actually already reversed his decision, anyway. For all he knew, she’d bump into Lyman Bishop on the way to her car. He couldn’t send her anywhere alone, not around here.

“Fine,” he said. “You can stick with me until we both know it’s safe. But whatever you do, stay behind me, don’t make a sound and, if there’s any trouble, run like hell.”

Anchorage, AK—Thursday, 12:30 a.m. AKDT

When Evelyn came to, the vehicle wasn’t moving anymore.

Everything was dark and silent.

She tried to lift herself up enough to see what was going on. If Bishop was gone, she might have the opportunity to escape. Now that Amarok had lost his best chance of finding her, she had to do something. The longer this went on, the less likely it was that she and her child would survive.

But she was still tied up and in such an awkward position she couldn’t manage to even get to her knees.

Winded by the effort, she slumped back to the carpet and tried to catch her breath, which wasn’t easy due to the cloth jammed into her mouth, and strained to make out any sound around her.