But that would be much easier after Evelyn had the baby. Only then could he safely cut into her brain without risking the loss of the child, and he definitely didn’t want to lose the child. That Evelyn was pregnant added a whole new dimension to what he had planned. If he raised her baby from birth, the child would never know it had had another father, especially if Evelyn wasn’t capable of remembering or articulating that information.

Even if he lost Evelyn, even if she didn’t survive the “adjustment” she would require in order to be happy living with him, he’d have her child waiting in the wings, would never be alone again. And he wouldn’t have to disable the child’s brain in order to gain the control he craved—he’d only have to shape it.

Hilltop, AK—Saturday, 5:30 p.m. AKDT

Amarok had Jasper’s chains removed, but this time it wasn’t because he hoped it might provide him with an opportunity to vent his rage over the past. He’d done it because Jasper had been right. From the beginning, Jasper had suggested Lyman Bishop might be behind Evelyn’s abduction, and if it hadn’t been for Jasper asking his girlfriend to drive over to Beacon Point, Amarok would still be searching through Evelyn’s files right now, looking for that one piece of evidence that would give his investigation some direction. And he’d be wasting his time, because what he sought couldn’t be found there.

He couldn’t say he respected Jasper. He would always hold him in the greatest contempt. What he’d done to Evelyn and other human beings was unforgivable, especially because he’d do the same again, if he got the chance. But Amarok had to acknowledge that Jasper was both intelligent and capable, in many regards, and he was grateful to him in this one instance. If Bishop had yet to come to Alaska from Minneapolis, there was a possibility Evelyn was alive and well, and that hope—the hope that he might get her and their child back safely—was worth everything to him.

“Your girlfriend called me,” Amarok said without preamble. He assumed Jasper had brought him to Hanover House to tell him what Chastity had found, so Amarok wasn’t planning to waste a lot of time with this. He’d only taken the meeting in case she’d mentioned something to Jasper she hadn’t thought to tell him—or Jasper had made more of it. “I know Bishop is gone from Beacon Point, if that’s what this is about.”

“He is? That clever son of a bitch.” Jasper shook his head in apparent wonder.

So he hadn’t had any communication from Chastity? “You didn’t know?”

Jasper’s mouth twisted into a wry grin. “No. I got tased trying to wait for Chastity’s e-mail at the library.”

Amarok shrugged. “That sucks, man, but I don’t feel sorry for you. Not after the pain you’ve inflicted on other people. If it helps, I’ve been tased before.”

“As part of your training. That’s different.”

“How?”

“You volunteered. You don’t hate the bastards who did it to you.”