“Well, your poacher is dead; coroner picked him up a little bit ago.” Tess, feeling heavy with the full weight of fatigue and cold, told Yarrow about the events of the day.

“Talk about poetic justice. And you think Blakely kidnapped a woman?”

“Yeah, he had a ransom note in his pocket. He must have put Janie Cooper somewhere just before he ran into our shooter—or maybe after, I don’t know—and he never got to deliver the note. Did you get a chance to review the forest cam tape?”

“Yes, I did. Caught an image of Blakely and another guy coming down the mountain earlier. I didn’t see Janie Cooper, though.” He held out his phone to Tess.

She studied the screenshot. Blakely was easily recognized. The other guy was vaguely familiar, but on the small screen, as good as the resolution was, she could not tell who the man was.

Yarrow rubbed his chin. “But you say he met up with your shooter at the corner of the Scales property?”

Tess nodded. “We’re going to try and backtrack him now.”

“I’ll go with you. I know where Blakely crossed the cam. I’ve got a good idea where this woman could be if Blakely wanted to hide her up here.”

Her phone rang, and she saw that it was Oliver calling. She considered letting it go to voice mail because of their last conversation but answered instead.

Stepping aside, keeping her voice neutral, she answered. “Yes?”

“I thought you’d like to know about Chevy.”

She couldn’t tell anything from his voice, but for a second she feared he’d tell her that Chevy wanted to leave, take off on her own. “Thanks. How is she?”

“She’s shaken but okay. She’s going to stay with Livie Harp.”

Tess bit her bottom lip, not sure if this was good news or bad. She knew she had no power to force Chevy to do anything.

“You still there?”

“Yeah, I just don’t know what to say. She’ll be safe there. I just wish I knew more about Harp.”

“I’ve got a contact number, but she doesn’t want me to give it to anyone else, not Bronwyn and not you.”

“Swell.” Tess didn’t have the energy to be angry.

“You sound dead on your feet.”

He just couldn’t resist, she thought. “I just had some more coffee. I’ll be fine.”

“Any news on Janie?”

Briefly she told him what they’d found and their plan. There was silence and for a long moment she thought the call had dropped.

Then he said, “Tess, you can’t keep going, running on coffee and adrenaline.”

“I can’t leave any stone unturned. If Janie is out there in this cold, I have to find her.”

“Let Yarrow and Bender go. There’s no need for you to go as well.”