He considered checking in with Ada to see if her mom was going to pull through—and to see if Edna had been able to offer any more information on Evelyn—but he guessed they didn’t know much yet. It took so long to be admitted to the hospital and for the doctors to do their thing.

Ada would’ve reached out to him if she had anything to report. They’d developed sort of a kinship during their brief encounter on the ranch. She’d just recovered her loved one, but she understood how desperately he was working to recover his.

“Makita, you’re on my phone,” he said once he started looking for it and couldn’t see it.

The hyperfocused dog didn’t budge, but Amarok managed to slide his hand underneath and come up with it.

He checked to make sure the ringer was back on—he’d silenced it when he went onto the ranch so it couldn’t give him away—and realized that he’d already missed a call. He hadn’t seen it when he spoke to Fairbanks PD, but there it was, and he recognized the caller.

Detective Lewis had tried to reach him.

So, the bastard had called him back, after all. Did Lewis have Emmett Virtanen’s phone records at last? Or was he enraged because he’d somehow learned that Amarok had snatched that rental receipt out of Emmett’s mail?

He pressed the voicemail icon and listened to Lewis’s message.

Amarok, the phone records are in. It’s pretty late here, so I’m heading home, but I wanted you to know I wasn’t holding out on you, as you’ve probably been thinking.

Amarok had been thinking he was being stonewalled, so having Lewis call him out on it made him feel as though he’d been too much of an ass himself.

I still don’t agree with what you did, Lewis continued. But … He sighed. I understand why you did it. Anyway, I’m e-mailing you a map of the area in Anchorage where Emmett’s phone was last used. I’m hoping you’ll find an obvious place inside the boundaries I have marked where Evelyn might be—or at least be able to pinpoint the best places to look.

It sounded as if he was about to hang up, but then he came back on the line.

I’m afraid there’s one more thing. Emmett hasn’t used his phone since last Thursday. I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t bode well. If he’s destroyed it so we can’t track him, he could be pretty far from that location. Call me tomorrow so we can talk about this.

Emmett hadn’t used his phone because he couldn’t use his phone. Lyman had probably killed him the moment he arrived in Alaska. How he’d gotten the better of someone so much bigger and stronger Amarok couldn’t even begin to guess. Maybe he had a gun and trust, or overconfidence, had left Emmett vulnerable. Amarok hadn’t done enough with the body to determine how Emmett was killed. He hadn’t had the time, hadn’t wanted to destroy any evidence. Determining the cause of death was the medical examiner’s job, anyway.