“Did you follow him? Catch a glimpse of the vehicle he was driving? Was it your van?”

“I don’t know,” Dax said. “I only followed as far as the door. I was afraid to step outside. I thought he might be waiting to ambush me, and I didn’t want to get into a fight.”

Amarok squeezed his eyes closed. No way could this be happening. The abduction suspect had been right within their grasp and they’d let him slip away? What little chance Evelyn had could’ve slipped away with him! “Please tell me someone here recognized him, knows who he is and where he might live.”

“No.” The officer who’d been walking with Dax spoke up. “I just went through the whole place, asking everyone. There wasn’t one person who recognized him, except this guy.” He hitched his thumb over his shoulder at Dax.

“What are the chances?” Amarok mumbled to himself, more dispirited than he’d ever been in his life.

“That’s what I had to ask myself!” Dax’s voice was unnecessarily loud. “I mean, talk about a coincidence, right? I was in the middle of taking a drink when I spotted him and just about spewed it on the table.”

Dax couldn’t have made the call and left discreetly? Why did he have to go back in? Amarok wondered. Dax had to know that if the guy saw him he’d get spooked, especially if he was the one who’d stolen the van.

But Amarok didn’t ask. What was the point? The damage was done. Obviously, Dax, who wasn’t the smartest guy in the world to begin with, was drunk. He also didn’t have as much at stake. Sure, he’d lost an old van and his only mode of transportation, but he didn’t seem overly concerned about it. He hadn’t had to pay for it in the first place.

“I’m thinking we should head to the other clubs in town, maybe hit a few of the bars, too,” an officer by the name of K. McGowen said. “See if he went somewhere else.”

Amarok kept picturing Evelyn as he’d seen her when he kissed her good-bye before leaving for work two days ago. If her abductor was out and about, what did that mean for her? Had he already killed her and disposed of her body? Was he now looking for someone else? “He won’t be at any of those places,” he said dully.

Officer McGowen blinked several times. “How do you know?”

“He’d be stupid to take the risk.”

“He took the risk of coming here,” Dax pointed out, obviously feeling important since he’d had the power to evoke such an immediate and keen response from the police.

“Because he didn’t expect to see you. But since he did, he’ll realize the danger of running into you again—that this is a much smaller town than it appears—and be more cautious in the future.”

“Well, damn,” Dax grumbled. “You act as though it was my fault he got away. I’m the one who called you.”