“I think it’s a mistake to assume that he doesn’t know what you both look like,” Gibson said. “You need to be careful showing your faces around the library any more than you already have.”

“How could he know what we look like?” Jenn asked.

“Well, he’s been in ACG’s database for weeks.”

He watched Jenn digest his statement.

“Christ,” she said. “Our employment files.”

“Our photos,” Hendricks said.

“Still want me to hang out in the motel?”

The Carolyn Anthony Library might be small, but the people who worked there obviously took great pride in their work. Gibson looked around, taking the lay of the land. It was well maintained, clean, bright, and inviting. It made you long to sit down and read a book. Bear would have been in heaven here. The front door opened into a small, cheerful atrium where new releases were arranged tastefully on wooden display racks.

Behind the main desk, a middle-aged woman checked books back in to the system, thick arms swaying as she worked. Her hair was cast in a brittle perm that looked like the unholy union of a microwave and caulk. She paused, greeting him with an austere nod, and went back to her task. The stacks were tight, densely packed columns of books that disappeared toward the rear of the library. To the left was a row of carrels, each with an old CRT monitor. A neatly worded sign gave instructions for requesting computer time from the librarian on duty. A wide set of stairs led down to the “Children’s Section.” To the right was a reading area with armchairs and footstools. All but one of the chairs were occupied by a group of retirees who looked like they were permanent fixtures.

Gibson wondered if one of them was the man they were hunting. He wanted to stare at each of them closely, study their faces. See if he could pick the man out even though he knew better than to believe that you could see that kind of evil on a man’s face. The man who abducted Bear a decade ago and somehow managed to keep that secret all these years—there would be nothing about his face to give him away. He would be the last person you would suspect. After all, he didn’t drag Bear into his car. She got in willingly, because she didn’t see a face that frightened her. It would have only been afterward that the mask came off.

Maybe that was why hacking this Podunk library in this Podunk town felt so daunting to him. It was, by any objective measure, a simple job. But he was on edge. The man who knew Bear’s fate knew this place, knew it well, and had been here within the last two weeks. He might not be here this moment, but this cozy little library was still the key to a profound secret.