“RONNIE DIDN’T KILL ALICE. ANNALIESE.”

“How can you know that?”

“When I said my brother watched out for her, I didn’t mean Daryl.”

“I don’t follow.”

“I was talking about Ronnie.”

“Wait. What? Scar is your brother?”

“Don’t call him that. But yes. I was three when John Scarborough married my mother, five when he adopted me. Ronnie was ten.”

Jesus. Was everyone related to everyone in this town?

“Scar is a dealer and a pimp,” I said.

“I don’t ask about his business.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Ronnie tried to keep my sister clear of all that. Gave her money and a place to live.”

“But witnesses say Annaliese worked the streets.” I gestured at the folder. “And she did become pregnant.”

“My sister was impressionable. And she wanted … things.”

“Meaning?”

“She saw Ronnie’s life and thought it was glamorous. Every time he let down his guard, off she went.”

“To turn tricks.”

“She was trusting and sweet and craved attention.”

“From what I understand, your brother practically rules the underbelly in Edmonton. Why not put it out that Annaliese is off-limits?”

“You think Ronnie can control every lowlife with a dollar and a dick? Excuse my French.”

“Where is Scar now?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“He was at the Gold Range yesterday. That’s why you went there.”

She nodded. “But I’m certain Ronnie would never hurt Annaliese.”

“Why is your brother in Yellowknife?”

“I called to tell him Annaliese was at my house. He was furious, said she wasn’t safe here.”

“Why not?”

“I think it had something to do with his business. But like I said—”

“I know. You don’t ask.”

Back in the Camry, I sat staring at nothing, my emotions a jumble of guilt, confusion, annoyance, and frustration.

Snook’s father had abandoned her, then perished in a plane crash. Her brother had died in a fire, her sister in a shooting. All in a short five years. Had showing her pictures of her dead nieces and nephews been too cruel?

Was Snook being honest about Scar? Daryl Beck? Her version was at odds with that of Horace Tyne. Tyne said Beck was a junkie. Was he mistaken? Or was Snook bending the truth, trying to paint both brothers in the best light possible?

I believed Snook knew nothing of Ruben’s pregnancies. Her shock at seeing the pictures had been real. As had her pain at hearing of Ruben’s murder. I doubted she’d protect her sister’s killer.

Even if the gunman was her brother?

Whatever. For me, the hunt was over. I’d come to Yellowknife at the request of the RCMP. At Ollie’s insistence. Ruben had been our quarry; now she was dead. At best, I would return to testify one day at the trial of her killer.

Would that ever happen? Would Ruben’s murder be given the attention it deserved? Did the cops even believe she was dead? Did they think she’d eventually reappear? If not, that she was just another hooker who’d decided to move on?

I met my own eyes in the rearview mirror. They looked tormented. I’d been obsessed with finding a woman who slaughtered babies. Now I knew that woman was a victim herself. A child victim. Had my obsession refocused on finding her killer?

If Snook was right about Scarborough, then who shot Ruben? Unka? One of his henchmen? Would Ruben’s body turn up mutilated in some horrible way? What motive would Unka have? To get at Scar? Did Unka know Ruben was related to Scar?

Was Scar bent on a massacre that would accomplish two things—avenge Ruben’s death and wrest control of the local drug trade from Unka?

Every loop circled to the same mortifying point. My past had followed me to Yellowknife. The cops thought I’d been drunk and imagined a bogeyman scene in the woods. I was closed out of the investigation.

Had Ollie sabotaged my reputation? Surely not Ryan.

I remembered Ollie’s cocky smirk as he pressed me to his chest in the Edmonton Burger Express. His frown as I slammed my hotel room door in his face.

I also recalled Ollie’s voice as he talked of his work with Project KARE. His compassion for the women being slaughtered in Alberta.

Ruben had been on the Project KARE list.

No matter how much he resented me, Ollie would care about a child-woman gunned down in cold blood.

I threw the car into gear. The tires spit gravel as I roared up Ragged Ass.

And practically T-boned an RCMP unit.

I braked so fast my newly scabbed chin hit the wheel.

Ollie flew out of the driver’s side of the cruiser. A figure I assumed to be Ryan stayed in the passenger seat.

Static spit from the unit’s radio as Ollie pounded my way.

I got out of my car.

“I told you to stay the fuck in your room.” A vein pumped in Ollie’s forehead. His cheeks flamed red.

“That shade of angry goes well with your hair.”

“We’ve been looking for your ass all over town.”

“You found it.”

“You never think rules apply to you, do you, Tempe?”

“I don’t cheat at Scrabble.”

Ollie hip-planted both hands. “What is it with you people? You got to always be riding some kind of high? That what keeps you off the bottle? Taking risks?”

When irritated, I fire back clever retorts. When angry, truly white-hot furious, I go glacially calm. “You had no right to discuss my past.” Cold.

“Is it?”

“Is it what?”

“Past?”

“Ask Ryan what happened.”

“He told me about the Scotch.”

“So we’re clear on that.”

“We’re not clear on why you’re out here when I ordered you to stay in your room.”

“Ordered me?” Through gritted molars.

“Last I checked, you don’t carry a badge.”

I took a breath. Listened to it move in and out of my nose. “I just informed Nellie Snook that her sister is dead.”

“You had no authority to do that.”

He had me on that.

“I saw it, Ollie. Saw her brains fly out and her body go down.”

His glare held.

“You believe me, right?”

He studied my face for so long I thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then, “I believe you.”

“You will investigate, right? Ruben was on the KARE list.”

“Erroneously.”

“Regardless, she’s now one of your stats.”

Ollie spread his feet and hooked his thumbs in his belt.

“The locals are totally focused on Castain,” I said. “I don’t want Ruben to fall through the cracks.”

“It’s all related.”

“I’m not so sure.”

Ollie gave me a what-else-could-it-be blink.

“Snook thought Ruben was running away from something in Edmonton,” I said.

“What?”

“She didn’t know.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Snook confirmed that Ruben was mentally challenged,” I said.

“How come no one mentioned her being retarded?”

“People just thought she was slow.”

“And her being knocked up at least four times: no one noticed that?”

“Ruben was obese and wore baggy clothes. It happens all the time.”

“And she was clueless when kids just popped into her toilet?”

“Same answer.”

“Why’d she go to the ER?”

“I’m guessing the blood scared her.”

“She lied to the doctor.”

“He probably scared her.” Flashbulb image. “In the woods, Ruben said the babies died because she put something bad inside them.”

“You found tissue shoved down one kid’s throat.”

“Maybe that was it.”

“Why would she do that?”

“If she did it.”

More static burst from the unit’s radio.

“Snook swears Scar didn’t kill Ruben.”

“The scumbag’s got no problem setting the kid up as one of his pavement princesses, but he draws the line at shooting her ass?”

“Scar is Snook’s adoptive brother.”

Ollie’s brows shot up in surprise. “Snook is Ruben’s half sister. What the fuck does that make Scar to Ruben?”

“I don’t know. But Snook swears Scar was trying to keep her out of the life.”

Ryan’s door opened.

“So Scar learns Ruben’s in Yellowknife and comes north to protect her,” Ollie said.

“That’s Snook’s story.”

Ryan climbed out and strode toward us.

“So it’s not a wasted trip, Scar kills Castain to facilitate his move into slinging dope up here. In revenge, Unka caps Ruben.”

It was a scenario I’d considered.

“What else did Snook say?” Ollie asked.

I told him about Daryl Beck.

“What the hell’s that got to do with anything?”

“Probably nothing. But I don’t like inconsistencies. Would there be a police report on Beck’s death?”

“House fire with a fatality? Maybe. More likely, the case rolled straight to the coroner.”

Ryan joined us, his face as tense as I’d ever seen it. “They’ve got Scarborough.”

“Where?” Ollie asked.

“Stanton Territorial Health Authority. DOA with two slugs in his brain.”