Face Off

by Brenda Novak

  * * *

  “I have to figure out some way to get hold of him,” Samantha said.

  “Of a serial killer?” Hannah had been leaning on the other side of the glass case that displayed the handguns and ammunition Samantha had for sale. The rifles hung on the wall. But at this, she straightened.

  Samantha had given the situation a lot of thought, hadn’t been able to think of much else. In her mind, as long as everything went as planned, she’d be Jasper’s new best friend, not one of his potential victims. “It’s not as dangerous as it seems.”

  “He’s just killed two people!”

  The fluorescent lights hummed overhead as she shifted on her stool. “But the person he really wants is Evelyn. As long as I give him Evelyn, no one else will be hurt.”

  “Providing he gets caught immediately after. What if he doesn’t?”

  “He will! Amarok will see to it.”

  “You don’t know that!”

  “Whether he does or he doesn’t won’t matter. Jasper is only here because of Evelyn. He’ll go somewhere else—somewhere warmer—as soon as he has what he wants. We’re too small a community to be of any real interest to a serial killer. They need numbers, anonymity, a lot of activity in order to go unnoticed.”

  Hannah didn’t look convinced. “Jasper hasn’t done too badly so far.…”

  “Because he took us all by surprise. Now that we’re watching out for unusual activity, he won’t be able to get away with much. He’ll become conspicuous.”

  Hannah bit her lip. “You don’t care that you’ll be leading Evelyn to her death?”

  Not at all. That was the thing. Samantha wanted Evelyn out of the picture so badly, she didn’t care how it happened. And if Evelyn was dead, Samantha could rest assured she wouldn’t be coming back. “Better her than someone else we know! She had no business bringing so many dangerous men to Hilltop in the first place! She’s like a drowning person who capsizes the nearest boat while trying to get in, causing who knows how many others to drown.”

  “I agree, but—”

  Samantha refused to entertain any objections. She saw this as the perfect way to get what she wanted and couldn’t wait to figure out how to put her plan in motion. “Bottom line, if Jasper wants to kill Evelyn, he’ll do it eventually. I’m just going to speed up the process so that no one else gets hurt in the meantime, especially Amarok.”

  Hannah gaped at her for several seconds. “You think Amarok will take you back if Evelyn’s gone?”

  “I do! Why wouldn’t he? With time, he’ll realize how ill-suited they were and forget about her.”

  “Don’t do it,” Hannah said, shaking her head. “You won’t be able to live with yourself if you do.”

  If she had Amarok, she could. It was living without him that was hard.

  Hannah bent to look into her face. “Sam, are you listening to me?”

  Samantha jerked her eyebrows together. “Oh, stop! You’re no fan of Evelyn’s.”

  “Only because I don’t like living in the shadow of what she’s created! Sandy Ledstetter was my friend. I miss her, and it’s because of Hanover House that she’s gone. But Evelyn’s never done anything to me personally. Besides, what if Amarok realizes that it was you who caused her death?”

  “He won’t. Because I won’t have caused her death. Jasper will be responsible for that.”

  “But … how will you find Jasper?”

  “I won’t. He’ll find me.”

  “You’re terrifying me, Sam!”

  “Will you quit? You know I can handle myself. I’ll be fine!”

  Hannah blinked several times as if she was struggling to take it all in. “So how will he find you?”

  It was a long shot, but it was the only plan Samantha could think of that might work. “Phil told his wife, who happened to mention it to me, that one of the murdered women was a dancer at a strip joint in Anchorage. It won’t be hard to go there and ask around, find out where she worked.”

  “I wouldn’t think so. But then what?”

  “Then I hang around to see what turns up.”

  “Sam, no. I’ll go to Amarok if I have to. This isn’t safe. You’re not thinking straight.”

  Irritated, Samantha started to put away the ammunition. “Oh my God, Hannah! Don’t tell me you thought I was serious.”

  Hannah’s face filled with relief. “You’re not?”

  “Of course not. I’m just messing with you,” Samantha laughed, but she was already planning what she’d wear when she visited Anchorage’s seedier side.

  21

  Amarok hadn’t had sex with Evelyn since Brianne arrived. He’d been out a great deal, submitting the tire track impression he’d taken at the cabin to an expert who’d identified it as coming from a fairly common truck tire, a Goodyear All-Terrain tire, which didn’t tell him a whole lot. Almost everyone drove a truck in Alaska and most people had snow tires this time of year. Until he had tires from a specific vehicle to cast and compare against the impression, that piece of evidence wasn’t going to do him much good.

  The shoe impression hadn’t revealed enough detail to determine the kind of boot with any certainty, so that wasn’t helping, either. He was hopeful the blood evidence would at least confirm whether or not Jasper was the man he was looking for. He’d submitted it to the private lab in Philadelphia that Ashton Cooper had recommended to Evelyn, since they were going to be comparing Jasper’s DNA against what was found in Boston, at the scene where Charlotte was murdered. Aside from that, he’d been talking to anyone who might’ve seen a stranger or spotted anything out of the ordinary, checking hospital records all over the area, including Anchorage, and meeting with the warden at Hanover House to see if anyone who worked there had been injured. Occasionally, he swung by the house to grab a bite to eat or crawl into bed, however, and during those times Evelyn acted … remote.

  She was stressed, too, of course. He didn’t expect her to behave as she normally did. They were in the middle of a crisis. But still. Something was seriously wrong. Even Brianne acted as though she didn’t have much to say to him. She didn’t seem interested in becoming friends, let alone in-laws, and he could sense a strain in the relationship between the two sisters. He’d expected them to be close, to stay up late at night, chatting and laughing—to show some sign of the relationship Evelyn had told him they’d once had.

  That wasn’t happening. They seemed to be tiptoeing around each other for fear they’d get into an argument. Amarok was under the impression they were merely passing the time until Brianne had to leave.

  Bringing Brianne to Alaska might’ve been a mistake. He liked the peace of mind it gave him to have someone with Evelyn during the hours he had to be away, but he was beginning to feel pretty unsettled, which was why he went to visit Evelyn at the prison on Friday afternoon.

  She glanced up as he came into her office. “Amarok! What are you doing here?”

  He shut the door and closed the blinds on her interior window before taking a seat in one of the two chairs facing her desk. “Do you have a second?”

  “I’ll take one.” She pushed her laptop to the side. “What’s going on?”

  “This isn’t about the investigation.”

  She looked more tentative at his pronouncement. “Then what’s it about?”

  “Me. Us. It feels like I’ve barely seen you the past week.”

  “We’ve both been busy. And while Brianne’s staying with us, there’s very little privacy.”

  “All true. But something else is going on. You’ve withdrawn from me. I can feel it.”

  He thought she might pretend otherwise, suggest he’d imagined their estrangement. But she didn’t. “Brianne’s pregnant.”

  He wanted Evelyn to be the one carrying a child—his child—so he couldn’t help feeling a bit of envy along with his surprise. He was ready to settle down, start a family. He’d made no secret of that, and he had no doubt that Evelyn was the woman he wanted. She was approaching forty, though, a
nd because of Jasper and the physical damage he’d caused, she’d probably be facing a complicated pregnancy, even without her age working against her. He was afraid that if they didn’t do whatever they could to conceive now, they’d lose the opportunity. “Brianne’s pregnant?”

  “Yes. And you were right—things aren’t going well with Jeff.”

  Amarok had hardly seen Evelyn’s sister since she’d arrived, but the few times he had been home she hadn’t mentioned her fiancé, confirming his earlier suspicion. “What happened?”

  “He’s found someone else.”

  “When?”

  “It’s been a month or so.”

  “Before or after she knew she was pregnant?”

  “Before.”

  Forming a steeple with his fingers, he studied the woman he hoped to marry. “So … what’s she going to do?”

  “She’s going to have the baby.”

  “Alone.”

  “Yes.”

  “Will she keep her job?”

  “She’ll have to. She needs to support her child.”

  Dropping his hands, he sat forward. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out with Jeff.”

  “So am I. She’s broken up about it.”

  When her eyes slipped away instead of holding his gaze, he knew there was something else going on, something more than what was happening with Brianne. “And that means you’re having second thoughts about us somehow?”

  He could see the sadness in her eyes when she looked at him again. “She’s asked me to return to Boston, Amarok. My mother isn’t doing well. That, in addition to the baby … Well, bottom line, Brianne needs me to spend a little time with the family right now.”

  Amarok caught his breath. “What about your job? Your commitment to stay and run this place for the first five years?”

  “I know. I don’t want to break that commitment. I don’t want to leave you, either. This has been the most difficult decision I’ve ever had to make.”

  She was going to return Boston. She didn’t need to spell it out; he could tell.

  His heart began to pound. Damn it! This was the reason he’d been so determined, in the beginning, not to open his heart. His own mother had left him, his father and Alaska, for the Lower 48. His father had warned him that Evelyn would do the same. She wasn’t outdoorsy, wasn’t anyone who’d naturally be inclined to come to such a remote place. But he’d wanted her from the beginning, and fighting the attraction hadn’t saved him. He’d never forget the first time they made love, when she’d joined him in the shower. She’d finally been able to trust him and that had left him feeling helpless against her. “When will you go?”

  Tears filled her eyes. “I don’t know yet. As soon as I can make the arrangements.”

  He got up and started for the door.

  “Amarok…”

  He needed to get out of there before she could see how badly she was tearing him apart. The worst aspect of this whole thing was that he couldn’t blame her. He was surprised she’d lasted this long. She wasn’t safe and wouldn’t be safe until he or someone else managed to catch Jasper. If only he’d done that, maybe she and her family would’ve been able to heal. Evelyn would be looking at an entirely different situation if that were the case, a much more normal situation.

  He didn’t answer. He reached for the door, but she hurried around the desk to stop him.

  “Please try to understand,” she begged. “I don’t see how I can stay. What happened to me hurt my whole family. They’ve been pulling for me, looking out for me, making special allowances for me, ever since—for more than twenty years. When do I give back? When do I make sure I’m there for them? It can’t always be about me, about the research I want to do, the resolution I need. It can’t even be about getting to stay with the man I love,” she added.

  He stared down at her hand as it gripped his arm. “Will you come back?”

  “Not unless I’m going to stay here for good. I can’t put us through this twice.”

  That was far from a commitment. His throat tightened, and he had difficulty speaking. “What will you tell your boss?”

  “I’m going to ask Janice for a leave of absence.”

  “For how long?”

  “A year.”

  “You’ll spend a year in Boston, and then you’ll decide whether to return.”

  “Yes. I’m going to get counseling, try to gain some perspective on the trauma I’ve been through and do what I can to make my family whole. I was hoping to last through this latest crisis. I know it’s a terrible time for me to leave, but with Brianne pregnant and feeling so fragile, it has to be soon.”

  “But she’s months away from having the baby.”

  “She needs someone now, to help her through the pregnancy, when she’s so brokenhearted over Jeff, and to remove the pressure she feels because of my mother’s condition. As you know, I’ve been struggling, anyway. Maybe this is a sign that I need to make a change, that I’m pushing too hard and it’s detrimental to me and my family.”

  Neither one of them said that leaving right now and for so long would likely destroy her chances of ever retaking the helm of Hanover House and might make it impossible to return in the future. She had to be cautious about how others perceived her, especially the Bureau of Prisons and the press. She’d worked so hard to convey that she’d completely recovered from the past and could be trusted to handle anything that was thrown at her.

  This would undermine all of that.

  “When were you going to tell me?” he asked.

  “Not now. Not while you’re dealing with so much. To be honest, I just decided this morning. I haven’t even told Brianne. That’s why you’ve probably felt some tension between me and my sister.” She wiped at an errant tear. “She isn’t happy with me, either.”

  He’d give anything to persuade her to stay. A year would seem like forever without her—especially knowing those twelve months might turn into forever.

  But pressuring her would only chase her away. If she stayed, she had to do it because she wanted to, because she could be fulfilled here in Alaska, with him, satisfied in the long term. He had no interest in continuing the relationship if he had to live in constant fear that she’d leave him.

  Maybe it was time for them to figure that out. Maybe, if she did come back in a year, she’d be willing to get married and have a child.

  And if she didn’t? She probably wouldn’t have lasted, anyway.

  “I want whatever makes you happy,” he said, and slipped out of her grasp.

  * * *

  Evelyn hoped to stop Amarok, to talk until they both felt better. But she wasn’t sure they would feel better, because she didn’t have anything to say that he’d want to hear.

  Penny knocked before she could speak, anyway.

  Amarok opened the door so fast Penny stumbled back. Fortunately, he caught her before she could fall.

  “Whoops!” she said as her other hand gripped the doorframe. “S-sorry to interrupt. I just got a call from Phil, who works with you. Or for you. Or … anyway, he needs to talk to you.”

  Penny had always had a thing for Amarok. Evelyn had noticed the way she flushed whenever he was around. She’d found it slightly amusing in the past. Penny was so obvious about it, it even made Amarok a little uncomfortable. But she didn’t find her assistant’s reaction to her boyfriend so amusing now that she’d be leaving soon and there was no guarantee she’d be back. That meant Amarok might end up with Penny or someone else in the area, maybe even his ex-girlfriend Samantha, who’d made no secret of the fact that she was waiting for just such an opportunity.

  “Thanks.” Amarok started to go around Penny.

  “You might as well call from my office,” Evelyn said, but it hadn’t been easy to regain his attention. She’d had to say his name three times before he finally looked back at her.

  He seemed eager to get away, as if he couldn’t tolerate being in the same space with her any longer. That made Evelyn feel even worse. Bu
t what was she supposed to do? It wasn’t fair that she’d left Brianne to deal with their parents for so many years. And now that Brianne had a baby coming, she was going to need Evelyn, too.

  Evelyn stepped aside as Amarok came around the desk.

  Plainly curious as to what was going on that would send Amarok charging out of Evelyn’s office like that and then make him slow to respond when she called him, Penny stood in the doorway, glancing between them until Evelyn walked toward her. At that point she ducked out so Evelyn could close the door.

  “What’s up?” Evelyn heard Amarok say after he’d dialed. “Who said that?… It’s nothing.… Just another excuse to take my time.… Right, I know. I have to check it out, anyway. Tell her I’ll be right there.”

  When he hung up, Evelyn raised her eyebrows in expectation.

  Amarok gestured toward the phone. “Samantha claims she saw something suspicious in the alley behind her gun shop. I’ve got to go check it out.”

  “Samantha.” She supposed it was childish, but just hearing that name brought an upwelling of jealousy.

  “Yeah.”

  She blocked his path to the door in an attempt to stall him. “I’m sorry, Amarok.”

  He gave her the lopsided smile that always made her knees go weak, and she thought her heart might break. She ached to touch him, to reassure herself that everything was going to be okay. But she was afraid that after what she’d told him he’d no longer welcome her touch, so she kept her hands to herself.

  “I know that,” he said. “I’d better get going.”

  “Amarok…”

  “There’s nothing you can say, Evelyn, not until you know what you want.”

  “It’s not just what I want!”

  He swung around to face her. “Yes, it is. And as much as I’ll miss you, hard as it’ll be, I’ll give you the time you need. Just promise me one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “If you come back for more than the job—if you come back for me—you’ll agree to get married.”

  She took a deep breath. “You’re giving me an ultimatum. All or nothing?”