Possibly. Terry Lovett had been killed after Evelyn was kidnapped. That suggested that maybe it wasn’t connected. But a murder was also an anomaly, something that didn’t typically happen at Beacon Point, and it had occurred in the same week.

That had to be more than a coincidence.

14

Hilltop, AK—Saturday, 5:00 p.m. AKDT

Amarok had spent Friday and all of today supporting the search parties, who were finished with Hilltop but were still in Anchorage, and trying to find a way to track Lyman Bishop. He’d called the Minneapolis Police Department to enlist their help. They claimed the hospital hadn’t contacted them about Bishop’s disappearance until Terry Lovett was found dead, but they did confirm that Bishop was gone and had been since early Thursday morning.

They’d also checked Bishop’s bank accounts and had called Amarok back to say that, sure enough, Bishop wasn’t simply lost and wandering through the streets without knowledge of where he was at or what he was doing. He’d withdrawn all the money from his savings at a bank five miles from the hospital. They were currently trying to get video footage from the bank to see if he could both walk and talk normally, so they’d all have a better picture of what they were looking for when they sent out the BOLO, or “Be on the Lookout.”

Amarok was waiting for that, as well as some word on that scarred man and who he might be. He’d figured out how to make a copy of the video footage he’d seen at Quigley’s Quick Stop, which he’d sent to the detective in Minneapolis yesterday morning—along with a request that he check with Beacon Point to see if the man driving that stolen van was a current or former patient or employee.

God forbid Bishop had a more distant relationship with the man than that. The more distantly related he was, the harder it would be to figure out who he was and where he was now.

When his phone rang, Amarok was so deeply immersed in composing another e-mail to Detective Lewis in Minnesota, the same detective who’d taken over the case once his predecessor had been fired for planting the panty evidence, that he startled.

Makita scrambled up and barked before Amarok grabbed the receiver.

“Hello?”

“Sergeant Amarok?”

“Yes?”

“This is Dr. Ricardo at Hanover House.”

“Have you heard anything?” he asked.

“Not from Dr. Talbot, if that’s what you mean. And, to my knowledge, neither has anyone else here. But Jasper Moore has been raising hell, demanding to speak with you.”

Makita curled up on his bed as Amarok went back to his e-mail imploring Detective Lewis to move faster. He needed to see if Lyman Bishop had made a flight reservation. “What does he want?” he asked, still slightly distracted.

“From what the warden said, he won’t speak to anyone except you. I told Ferris to tell him you’re too busy right now. I won’t allow him to sabotage your investigation by demanding your attention when it should be elsewhere, but he insists it’s about the investigation. He seems to think he can help. So … I figured I’d let you know so you could make the decision.”