There was a slight pause; then he said, “As jealous and heartbroken as that leaves me, I’m happy for you.”
“I’m flattered by your interest. I really am. And I’m grateful you’re taking Tim’s case. It might help us find Jasper. We have to find him soon.”
“That sounds kind of desperate for it having been twenty-plus years. Is there something else I should know?”
“I’m afraid he might be up here,” she told him.
“In Alaska? Why do you say that?” He sounded instantly concerned.
“Finishing what he started with me has always been his end game. And I think he’s getting awfully tired of waiting.” She told him about Sierra Yerbowitz and the piece of scalp that didn’t belong to Sierra.
“You keep your lawman focused on finding her, and I’ll do what I can here to make sure Jasper doesn’t come back into your life. I like imagining you happy.”
“Thank you. Again.” The moment she hung up, she put on her coat and boots to take Makita out. She hadn’t dressed for the day yet, but she didn’t care about that. She had no neighbors to see her, and she was more and more worried about Amarok. Surely he’d call her, even if he did stay over somewhere.
She left the front door open, despite the cold air that would let into the house, so she could hear if the phone rang. She couldn’t risk missing Phil’s call. She was getting so worked up it was beginning to feel as though she had a thousand pounds of sand crushing her chest.
“Come on, come on,” she muttered as Makita did his business, but she wasn’t talking to the dog. She was exhorting Phil to get back to her.
She hadn’t heard the phone while she was out, so she tried calling the trooper post when she went in.
No answer.
What was going on?
She was about to jump into her Land Cruiser and drive over when the phone finally rang.
Caller ID indicated Trooper Post #213. She’d seen that pop up a thousand times before.
She prayed it was Amarok and not Phil.
“He’s not there?” she said as soon as she heard Phil’s hello.
“Take it easy,” he said in a soothing voice. “I’m sure Amarok’s fine. But no, he’s not here, and I’ve called a few people around town—Leland Yerbowitz, who’s staying at The Shady Lady, Shorty over at the Moosehead and old man Boyle at Quigley’s. No one’s seen him.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know yet. I’m heading over to the cabin, since that’s where he was going when I last talked to him.”
“I’m going with you,” she said.
“Don’t you have to pick up your sister from the airport today? Amarok asked me to go with you if it’s storming.”
Fortunately, as forbidding as the sky was beginning to look, it wasn’t storming yet. “I’ve got time,” she said. Brianne wasn’t getting in until three. If the weather held, Evelyn could reach Ted Stevens International Airport in a little over an hour. Even if she was late, Brianne could wait. Amarok’s well-being came first. Evelyn wouldn’t be able to function properly until she was assured of his safety.
“I’m not convinced that’s a good idea,” he said.
Phil’s hesitation only added to her concern. Obviously, he was afraid of what they might find. “I’ll drive up there myself, if I have to,” she threatened.
“If there’s anything wrong, Amarok will have my hide if you’re in the middle of it.”
“Amarok’s lived with me long enough to know I have a mind of my own, Phil.”
He still hemmed and hawed, so she put even more force in her voice. “I’m getting my keys. I’ll see you there.”
“No! No need for us both to drive,” he said quickly. “I’m leaving now to pick you up.”
She swallowed against the fear that seemed to be clawing its way up her throat. After what she’d seen, how Jasper had mutilated her high school girlfriends and posed them like mannequins, she probably understood far better than Phil did what they could be in for. “I’ll be waiting.”
16
Before Evelyn could see the cabin itself, she spotted smoke. At first she thought it was just the gray of the low-lying clouds resting on the horizon. The sun didn’t come up until nine, so it was just growing light, and they were getting a little snow. “What is “that?” she asked, pointing.
Phil didn’t have a chance to answer before they drove around the final bend in Nektoralik Road—when they could both see the burned-out cabin.
“No!” she cried. “It can’t be!”
Phil shot her a nervous glance. She could almost read his mind. I shouldn’t have brought her. He loved Amarok, too. The way his knuckles whitened as he gripped the steering wheel testified to his fear and panic. The whole community relied on the Alaska State Trooper. Amarok was one of their own, had been born and raised in Hilltop, and he did everything he could to take care of the citizens in his community—which was why he’d originally been opposed to Hanover House. He hadn’t wanted an institution that incarcerated so many dangerous men in the area.
“It’s Jasper.” Any question she’d had about his involvement was now gone. “He’s in Hilltop.”
“Lightning can start fires, too,” Phil said. But he didn’t sound committed to his answer. There’d been no lightning last night that she knew of—and what were the chances lightning would strike that particular cabin at this particular time? The one in which a woman had recently been kidnapped and probably murdered?
Evelyn pressed her fists into her eyes. She wouldn’t look anymore, couldn’t look. “He’s killed Amarok, just as I was afraid he would. Amarok’s gone.” The idea that she could ever leave the man she loved to go back to Boston seemed impossible in that moment. She felt as though Jasper had ripped her heart from her chest, that she could barely breathe for the gaping wound. She couldn’t go on—didn’t want to go on—without Amarok. Everything that’d had such meaning suddenly had no meaning at all.
“Evelyn, look!” Phil leaned over to pull her hands away from her face.
Tears were welling up. Only after she’d blinked several times did she see Amarok striding out of the woods, coming toward them with his rifle resting on one shoulder.
They parked next to his truck, and Evelyn nearly fell out into the snow, she was in such a hurry to reach him.
Phil came around the front, and Amarok handed off his rifle before pulling her into his arms and kissing her head. “It’s okay,” he murmured as she buried her face in his chest. “I’m right here.”
She struggled to choke back the tears, but her relief was so profound she couldn’t manage it. “Jasper’s back,” she said between gulps for breath. “I know he is.”
His hand stroked her head. “Yeah. I’d say he’s back. But that isn’t entirely a bad thing.”
That statement shocked her enough she was able to get hold of her emotions. “Are you kidding? He’ll kill you! He’ll kill both of us.”
“He tried to kill me last night. Fortunately, he’s not a very good shot. I hit him, though.”
An unexpected surge of hope caused Evelyn to pull away. “You shot him?”
Motioning for Phil to join them, he took her through the trees in the direction from which he’d come. After warning them to stay behind him so they wouldn’t destroy any evidence, he pointed at footprints, tire tracks and eventually … several drops of red. “He was bleeding when he left. I would’ve caught him if he hadn’t slashed my tires.”
“So when did he set fire to the cabin?” she asked.
“Before the gunfight, but I didn’t notice until after he’d made a run for it.”
“How’d you know he was here in the first place?”
“I didn’t. He must’ve come after I did. Once he saw my truck, he slashed my tires and crept up to the cabin. I’m sure he expected me to be inside, but I wasn’t. I was at a smaller shack I found up the mountain, looking for places someone could’ve kept an eye on Sierra Yerbowitz and her party. He must’ve figured out I wasn’t in the cabin, doused the place with gasoline, started the fire and then spotted my flashlight as I came through the trees.”
“Which is when he shot at you.”