Had Bolger put him under surveillance? He wanted to kick himself for not continuing to spend his nights in Grand Rapids. It was a mistake to move into the shack. He needed Spud to get his ass back up there.

Reed was about to return to his Tahoe when he saw a halo in the distance. He slipped back into the woods and waited. What were the chances?

As the lights approached, Reed could see that the vehicle was traveling slowly. He squatted down behind a cluster of trees and watched it pass—an SUV, four doors, maroon.

Reed looked hard at the interior of the cab, hoping to make out a face. He could just see the passenger, lit by thin light from the dashboard—a man, older, with a familiar angle to his profile.

Was that… Lyle Voight?

CHAPTER 34

The next morning, on his drive to Minneapolis, Max ran through the discussion he was about to have with Niki, twice finding himself on the verge of turning around.

Under the Fourth Amendment, the ping of a cell phone location was considered a search, which meant that he needed probable cause that a crime had been committed, and probable cause that the phone number in his pocket would lead to evidence of that crime. Max imagined standing before a judge and laying out the facts. He had a missing woman and child, and an asshole ex-husband. But that woman was seen emptying out her bank account the day she vanished. She’d taken her clothing, called in sick to work, and used her credit card at a gas station in Minneapolis. Where was the crime?

The ex-husband had a foolproof alibi, but he carried a second phone, inspected the underside of his car, and drove north into the woods instead of staying at his house. He’d bought groceries that weren’t found when his house was illegally searched.

Sandy had a relationship that wasn’t one to run away from. They’d just purchased an expensive couch. Max had a video of a vehicle that might be Sandy’s with a man driving it, but no proof of whether Sandy was in that vehicle.

And Max had a father who was certain his daughter wouldn’t run away.

What he had was a mix of facts and opinions that, if presented to a judge, would have gotten him kicked out of her chambers.

But there was an exception to the rule. If an officer had articulable grounds to believe that a person’s life was in danger, they could bypass the judge and request the ping directly—the missing dementia-patient scenario. The request came with a paper trail, however, and that paper trail would lead straight to Niki.

How could he ask Niki to risk her job for what he felt in his gut? Yet every time Max contemplated turning around, he thought about Pip. How could he live with himself if he didn’t do everything possible to save the boy?

Max waited for Niki in the parking lot of Ida’s Diner. He had hoped that choosing Ida’s might stir nostalgia in his old partner, soften her up for his unthinkable request.