Her Darkest Nightmare by Brenda Novak

Author:Brenda Novak
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781466888005
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

17

I wish the entire human race had one neck, and I had my hands around it!

—CARL PANZRAM, SERIAL KILLER, ARSONIST, THIEF, BURGLAR AND RAPIST

“Tell me you didn’t know what was going on.”

Shorty wouldn’t look Amarok in the face. He wiped down the bar, then turned to throw his rag in the sink.

“You did know what was going on,” Amarok said. “You’re a Public Safety Officer, damn it! Why didn’t you say something to me? Tell me there was a girl putting out for everybody who came in?”

An expression of chagrin yanked Shorty’s lips down, but he wasn’t completely contrite. “Because as far as I could tell, she wasn’t breaking any laws. She was of age. I carded her to be sure. She wasn’t charging anyone. And it was all consensual.”

“She was young, new to the area and living alone. That kind of behavior, with so many men cooped up here for the winter, almost all of whom carry guns, is dangerous!”

“I’m telling you, she couldn’t get enough! She once asked me to set up a train—even wanted me to tell the boys to play it rough, like … like a rape. It was crazy.”

Amarok felt his muscles bunch. “Did you do it?”

“Of course not!”

“But you didn’t stop her.”

“I didn’t feel as if I had that right!”

“She was fucking everyone she could on your property for Chrissake!”

He poured himself a cup of coffee. “I wasn’t using the best judgment, I admit, but we all have to make a living, Amarok. The boys would come out and they’d buy a hell of a lot of booze when she was around.”

“You’re talking about a girl who’s very likely dead, Shorty.”

He stretched his neck. “So you said. I feel terrible about that. Wish I would’ve stopped it now. But it didn’t seem to be hurting anything or anyone at the time.”

Amarok took a sip of the coffee Shorty had poured for him when he first sat down. “Can you tell me how often this went on?”

“Whenever she came in—and she came in whenever she could.”

“Did she have regulars?”

“I don’t know if you’d call them regulars, but they’d sure as hell get back in line.”

“Any strangers around when that shit was going down?”

“Of course. We always have hunters and trappers and survivalists and people filming documentaries coming through here, even in the winter. I didn’t make them sign a logbook.”

Amarok slid the picture of Jasper he’d pulled off the Internet across the bar. Evelyn’s attacker hadn’t been seen since his murderous rampage in Boston. And she hadn’t gotten a look at his face when he attempted to kidnap her last summer. So this picture was an old likeness, and no one knew how his looks might’ve changed. But it was all Amarok had. “What about this man? Do you recognize him? Has he been here?”

“You mean boy?”

“He’s not a boy anymore.”

Shorty shook his head. “Naw, I don’t think so.”

“That’s too bad.” Reluctantly, he put it back in his coat pocket. “Did anyone ever get too

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