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The detective nodded to the computer "Okay now, Mrs Lalanced up "Of course I a his graying buzz cut "No disrespect iven without so around here ‘In God we trust--’"

"‘But everyone else is suspect,’" Jacob finished

Dee glanced from one to the other, both so confident, both with hundred-year-old cynical eyes She needed to be more like them to survive "What a way to live"

The detective clicked the keys and a new ie enough spit to speak, Dee stared at the photo of Blane, blond, wiry and too handso shot

The corner of Jacob’s eye twitched "Her ex-husband?"

She nodded Part of her wanted to tell the, deny she’d even met that traitorous toad She would simply ditch her Deirdre Lambert self Except she’d already learned the past couldn’t sinored The past had happened, as she remembered clearly now Her child’s father would have a cririeved for Evan that she hadn’t chosen more wisely Yet without Blane, she wouldn’t have Evan

The chair creaked as the cop leaned back "We’refor any credit card activity, keeping a watch on his cell phone account and his girlfriend’s telephone If he’s found over the border, a Canadian arrest warrant will have to be issued, along with a request for extradition"

Jacob nodded through the steps, but Dee’s head was reeling "Even if we find Blane, I’ll have to wait for a bunch of diplomatic mumbo jumbo to clear before they can arrest him"

"Ma’ah warning to run withto even out "Sorry I just want him back"

"Of course you do" The older officer clicked through a series of codes and the screen changed again "This cah just before you arrived"

A child’s face appeared Evan’s face She bit back a cry

Jacob braced a hand low on her back "Other than the hair color, he looks just like you"

She nodded, unable to speak without letting loose a flood of tears

The detective pivoted back to the screen, the chair squeaking a low keen "He will be logged into the data base for the NCMEC--National Center for Missing and Exploited Children"

She twisted her hands together, but they still shook Her child was on his way to appearing on a ravitated toward the computer screen as if she could soap between his front teeth that shohen he smiled, which he did often Her shy but happy child

"He’s so little, only three--" She pressed the back of her wrist to her o, and Iher spine "Da that away from me, too--"

She stopped short as two police officers with snow on their shoulders approached the cubicle, both with sober expressions

Anxiety gripped her stomach The cops both looked at Jacob, who pro arm around her shoulders

Her spine stiffened "Don’t try to break the news gently I want to knohat’s going on"

The older of the two police to one of total syave the officer last night and we found the spot where you struggled with your husband The road was clear enough for us to see tread marks So we blocked off the lane and swept away the rest of the snow"

Tread marks? What was the worry over sohter "He sped away Of course he skidded for a moment"

"Ma’ahtened around her even as he remained silent

She blinked fast, unable to process what she was hearing "I saw hieted with his hat in his hands "They’ve already uncovered the vehicle--" he paused, then gentled his voice further "--and a ulps of air Pain blinded her, stabbed through her whole body into a great gaping hole in her heart "No No, no, no, I saw them drive away My memory is clear now"

Nausea swaested But it couldn’t be true

It Was Not True

My God, hadn’t she seen the Suburban leave?

The detective behind the desk rolled his chair closer, his elbows on his knees "You need to prepare yourself and consider that you could be re what you wanted to see You suffered a head injury Your brain could still be trying to protect you from what you saw"

No The mind couldn’t be so deceitful Still, uncertainty nipped her

If the officers were right, that ht

Unbearable enough to make her lose herconfined this way, in a tiny roo much more than a too-small bed and a couple of dreary s But he had to keep a low profile now rateful the police hadn’t uncovered anything more about him Beyond the incident with Dee, which could be easily explained away, they had nothing on him He intended to keep it that way so he could start his new life, free of past ure out what to do about the kid, then he couldof the day when he would have a new place of his oith first-class bedsprings and a big-ass television Nothe required--the money--to make his move He simply needed to be patient

If only patience didn’t involve confinement to a lone room when he wanted to be outside, on the move Free