Novak kept his eyes on her, but didn’t repeat the question. The way he used silence was like a weapon that both slid past her defences and battered them down.

“I’m just me,” she said. “I’m scared and I don’t know what’s going on. Please.”

“Your bottom lip trembles,” Novak said, “like you’re about to cry. Are you a delicate flower?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you in pain? Your hands are bandaged.”

“I’m just scared,” she said. “I was attacked today and now I’m in a jail cell.”

He nodded, then looked at Milo, before turning his head to look at Daggett. “How about you, Mr Daggett? How do you fit into all of this?”

“I’m gonna sue you.”

“So you have said. Do you have a licence for that gun you were carrying, by the way? I know Mr Sebastian has a licence for his, but do you?”

“Gun’s not mine,” said Daggett. “It’s his. I was returning it.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. And if he says it’s not he’s lying.”

“And was it you who added the sound suppressor? Because, without a signed BATFE form, such a modification is illegal in this country.”

“It was, uh, it was like that when he gave it to me.”

“I see,” said Novak. “And why are you here, Mr Daggett?”

“You arrested me without charge.”

“Why are you in Alaska, Mr Daggett, not why are you in this cell? More to the point, why are you in Desolation Hill?”

“It’s a free country.”

“But it’s not your free country, now is it? You’re Canadian. Will I find a record of you crossing the border, I wonder? I’ll have to check on that. And if you smuggled that gun through with you, you could be facing some serious charges.”

“I told you, it’s not my gun.”

“Who sent you, Mr Daggett?”

“No one sent me. I’m here of my own—”

Novak stood. “I must warn you. I am interested in what Mr Sebastian and Miss Lamont have to say. You do not interest me. Either you make your answers interesting, or I have no use for you.”

“You don’t scare me.”

“And yet I do,” said Novak. “Your words fail to impress. For a criminal, you’re not a very good liar.” He turned back to Amber. “We can only conceal our true natures for so long before the cracks begin to show. With each new crack, more is revealed of what lies beneath. I know what this town does to people, Amber. I know what it does to people out there, I know what it does to people like me, and I know what it does to people like you.”

Amber didn’t say anything.