Bolger tipped his chair back, opened the door, and hollered out, “Joanna, get my laptop and bring it here along with the Sandy Voight file.”

He closed the door and leaned in to put his elbows and forearms on the table, his hands clasped together. “David Haas and Sandy Voight lived together down off Sixty-Three in the woods there. David works the two-to-ten shift at the taconite plant in Hibbing. Comes home from work to find that Sandy moved out. Took her clothes, the kid’s clothes, everything. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to know you don’t clean out your closet if you’re getting kidnapped.”

The receptionist entered with a laptop and a file, laying both on the table in front of Bolger.

“And here’s the kicker.” Bolger talked as he loaded a CD from the file into the tray of the computer. “She drove to the bank that morning and cleaned out their savings. Thirty grand. We have footage. Shows her walking in calm as can be. Goes up to the teller…” He cued up the video and turned the computer to Max. It showed a split screen. On the left, a light-colored SUV pulled into the bank’s parking lot. On the right, Max recognized Sandy as she entered the lobby.

“She’s a woman on a mission,” Bolger said. “A woman about to leave Grand Rapids in the rearview.”

Max went back and forth between the interior view of the bank and the empty car in the parking lot. “Did you talk to the teller?”

“Yeah, and she didn’t notice anything unusual.”

“What about Sandy’s friends? Have they seen a change in her recently?”

“Not sure she has any, at least not close friends. We talked to her coworkers at the veterinary clinic. They didn’t know all that much about her personal life. They said she was an introvert. She has a neighbor who watches her kid after school—a woman named Linda. All she could give us was that Sandy seemed protective of her boy, Pip. Didn’t let her boyfriend do any of the picking up or dropping off.”

“When did the babysitter last talk to Sandy?”

“The day before, when Sandy came to pick up the boy. She didn’t recall any conversation beyond hi and goodbye. Like I said, Sandy was a quiet type.”

Max watched as Sandy took the money and left the bank, her stride a little faster than what he thought normal, but nothing obvious. She got in her SUV and left the parking lot.

“She has an ex-husband,” Max said.

“Reed Harris. Did Lyle tell you that he used to be a deputy here?”

“We didn’t get that far.”

“There’s a lot of bad blood between Lyle and Reed.”

“What about between Reed and Sandy?”

Bolger shifted and shrugged. “The divorce was… Let’s call it acrimonious.”

“How acrimonious?”

“There was an assault. Reed lost custody because of it. He also lost his job and spent some time in jail.”

“Sheriff Bolger, that’s a far sight more than acrimonious.”