Ken shifted nervously. “Yeah. I was curious about Evelyn—I mean, Dr. Talbot.”
“Curious in what way?” Amarok asked, but he was fairly certain he could guess.
“She isn’t nearly as bad as I thought—definitely not the cold bitch everyone has been making her out to be.”
Amarok minimized his screen. “Some folks aren’t happy about Hanover House. They consider her guilty by association, I guess.”
“You haven’t been happy she was coming to town,” he pointed out. “Are you one of those people?”
“I have nothing against her,” Amarok clarified.
“So you like her.”
“Yeah, I like her.”
“But...you’re not dating her, are you? Last night it was sort of tough to tell. Sometimes it seemed like you were together, and other times it didn’t.”
Amarok felt possessive, which was uncharacteristic of him, but he had no claim on Evelyn. “No.”
“I didn’t think so. In order to have all the schooling she’s got, and to have established what she’s established in her life, she’d have to be a bit older than you are, right? I’m guessing she’s thirty-five or so.”
“She’s thirty-six.” She’d made such a big deal about the age gap between them that it was the first thing Amarok had checked by adding the twenty years it’d been since her “experience” with Jasper to the age she’d been when he did it.
“There you go. I’m thirty-nine, so she’s closer to my age than yours. What are you? Twenty-eight?”
“I’m twenty-nine. But what does it matter?”
“It doesn’t—unless you’re interested in her.”
“Even then?”
Ken hesitated. “So are you interested in her.”
With a sigh, Amarok shoved a hand through his hair. “It won’t make any difference no matter who’s interested in her, Ken. She’s been traumatized. She doesn’t even date.”
He rubbed his big hands together. “She seemed to enjoy herself last night.”
“She was drunk, something she considered embarrassing in the end. I doubt she’ll let that happen again.”
“So you don’t think she’ll come back to The Moosehead?”
“I doubt it.”
“That’s too bad. She’s sure beautiful, ain’t she?” He whistled. “We don’t get many women out here like her. You know...that are so pretty and educated and everything.”
“There are plenty of women in Anchorage.”
“I guess. If you care to drive there.”
Amarok wasn’t sure why he’d said that. He didn’t go to Anchorage to meet women, either. Maybe he just wanted Ken to do so—and leave Evelyn alone. “You don’t happen to know who vandalized Hanover House, do you, Ken?”
He hesitated. Then he said, “It wasn’t me.”
Amarok had never thought it would be. “Then who was it?”
“Don’t know,” he said, but he sort of mumbled it, which told Amarok he knew more than he was saying.
“You haven’t heard anything?”
Ken focused on Makita again. “I can ask around, see what I can find out.”
“I’ve been asking around. No one’s talking.”
“Because they know you’ll have to do something about it if you catch the guys who are responsible, and I don’t think too many people are keen on seeing them punished.”
“I can’t turn a blind eye when someone breaks the law, Ken. And I’m sure Evelyn would be grateful. She’s understandably upset about the damage.”
The big man took off his ball cap and scratched his head. “I know. She mentioned it last night. She believes she’s going to be able to do so much with that place.”
Amarok rocked back in his chair. “It’s her hope for making sense of the world, making sense of what happened to her.”
Ken rubbed his chin with his thick, callused fingers. “That puts Hanover House in a different perspective, doesn’t it?”
“I guess it does,” he agreed.
“What kind of man could slit a woman’s throat?” Ken asked, crouching to give Makita another pat.
“The kind of men she’s bringing to town,” Amarok said. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll tolerate anything that might hurt her or Hanover House. Maybe you should pass the word along.”
“I will,” Ken said.
“So you’re really not going to tell me who did it?” Amarok asked.
Ken’s eyes widened. “Come on, Sergeant, I’m no narc. I’m surprised you haven’t heard already. They were bragging about it at The Moosehead right after they did it. They thought you’d be glad they were fighting back. It wasn’t until yesterday, when everyone figured out you weren’t happy that they clammed up.”
“I’ve never allowed anything like that to go on. What would make folks think I’d start now?”
“Because it was Hanover House! Because you don’t want it here, either!”
“We had our chance to stop it. We didn’t do enough, and now we have to live with the outcome.”