Tonight, however, it was quiet. He’d been counting out the till when Amarok arrived.

He put the piles of money back in the drawer as he made room for Amarok and pulled up the security files on his computer. “I take this computer upstairs with me when I close for the night. That way, I can see what’s happening in the parking lot and down here in the store. I get an alert whenever there’s motion. That’s the only time the cameras turn on. Course, it’s usually just a skunk or possum or something, but having some sort of security in place has given me more peace of mind.”

Amarok could relate. He’d felt better since putting a similar system in his own house. He couldn’t look at a smartphone to check his front door like those who had cell service, but he could use his computer at the trooper station. Providing Evelyn had her laptop, she could do the same.

Too bad she hadn’t made it far enough to trigger the motion detector when she was abducted. Whoever nabbed her must’ve taken into account the prevalence of such devices these days, which was why he struck in the driveway, out of range.

Or maybe that was simply where the perpetrator felt he could grab her the quickest. Maybe the perpetrator knew about Makita and feared the dog would be home.

“You just click on the date,” Garrett explained. “And see this? This link makes it possible to go to a specific time.”

Amarok already understood how it worked. “Go to noon and show me everything you’ve got moving forward.”

“Oh, you’re looking for the guy with the scar on his face, right? I should’ve known.”

Amarok looked up from the computer. “He stood out to you, too?”

“Looked a bit rough. But then … we get a lot of rough-looking characters come through here during hunting season. A few days in the wild and they all look like serial killers.”

“To the animals they encounter, I imagine they are,” Amarok muttered, but he didn’t bother to laugh. He was too focused on looking through the clips.

It didn’t take long to find the one he wanted.

Anchorage, AK—Tuesday, 10:45 p.m. AKDT

She’d done it! She’d removed one of the metal springs from her cot. Her thumbs were paying the price. They were so tender she could barely use them, and they were bleeding again, so she was taking a much-needed break. But she felt a small sense of victory at the accomplishment.

Evelyn put a hand to her abdomen as she lay on her cot. Her baby was active. She’d been worried that the terror of her situation alone would harm the child, but if her little girl was moving, she was obviously alive.

That was comforting, but Evelyn also found the reminder that she had a child to protect incredibly daunting. If she couldn’t save herself, she wouldn’t be able to save the baby growing inside her.

She closed her eyes and tried to picture Amarok. What was happening at home? He was the best man she’d ever known and a damn good cop, but she had no idea if her captor had left enough evidence behind for even the most experienced detective to be able to find her. It could be that she was completely on her own—that whether she survived depended on convincing the man who’d been bringing her food to have mercy on her, which didn’t seem likely. Her captor seemed to be inoculating himself against any kind of entreaty by limiting his contact with her.