Except people lied for all sorts of reasons. And a lot of people made false confessions to the cops. But this man stood to lose everything… Could he be protecting someone?

Eban pulled up Frazer’s email and opened the attachment. He swore. “Gleeson doesn’t fit any of these parameters.”

“We’ve been wrong before.”

“Not this wrong.”

A ripple of fear raced over his skin. To reassure himself, he strode over to the back door and swung it open, expecting to see Darby sitting in the hot tub pretending not to be upset with him because he hadn’t had the balls to simply tell her he loved her. His thoughts came to a screeching halt. The tub was empty and the robe and slippers lay unused on a nearby table. A trail of footprints cut through the snow going across the deck and down the steps.

She could have gone for a walk—but she would never worry him that way, not even when he’d been a jackass.

“Fuck, Frazer. Darby’s gone. Someone’s taken her.” He ran back inside and grabbed his coat, gloves and hat. Pulled his weapon from its holster. Reeled off his location to the other agent. “The footsteps look like he led her down to the lake.”

How could he have left her unprotected for even a minute?

“She,” Frazer corrected. “This serial killer is almost certainly a ‘she.’ She doesn’t get pleasure from torturing her victims. She gets all her satisfaction from the fact they’re dead. That’s a woman’s MO. Don’t mess with her and do not think she is any more forgiving because she’s female. She thinks Darby is her BFF and as soon as that fantasy dies, she will kill her and she will definitely kill you the moment you give her the opportunity.”

“I need to call the local cops. Get here fast. Chena Lake. Help me find her.”

“On our way.”

Eban hung up, grabbed his coat, and dialed Signy Torgerson as he ran out of the house via the other door, conscious even now of not destroying evidence or the scent profile for the K-9 unit to track.

“What?” she said groggily.

“Gleeson isn’t the killer. The killer is probably a woman and she’s grabbed Darby and has taken her out onto Chena Lake.” Sweat ran down his back despite the frigid cold.

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where are you?” She sounded sharper now.

He gave her the address of the cabin. “I was inside so I didn’t see them. Darby went to jump in the hot tub but was gone when I checked on her a couple of minutes later.”

She wouldn’t deliberately scare him this way. She just wouldn’t.

They couldn’t be far ahead of him, but it was so hard to see with the snow blowing into his face. The temperature was dangerously low. If Darby got lost out here, she was dead. If he got lost, he was dead.

“I need you to get as many patrol cars up here as fast as possible. Set up roadblocks in and out of the area. Call in the K-9 units. I am about to pursue on foot. I can see the tracks clearly at the moment, but they are disappearing with the wind.”