‘She was worried that, given Kelleher’s backing of the shelter, were she to bring Amber in there her bosses would have insisted on calling in the law – or even Kelleher himself. The security guard told Klara to meet them at an obscure side entrance to the Beverly Center. Klara drove over and picked up Amber. She thought it best to get the young woman out of town, since Kelleher and his people would be looking everywhere for her. One of Klara’s roommates inherited a trailer from an eccentric old hippie uncle out in the desert near Twentynine Palms. She’d been there once, knew that the key was kept under a stone near the front door … and her roommate was out of town for a week in Seattle. She decided to make a run for it now and explain all to the roommate later. But before they went out to this safe house Klara managed to get Amber to a doctor – who confirmed that the pregnancy is about five months along. Meanwhile Kelleher is determined to get her back. Especially after his first wife had that very publicized abortion while they were still married.’

I found myself reeling. I said:

‘Klara has to bring that girl to the cops now. I don’t care how powerful and connected Kelleher is. He’s committed at least two big crimes: statutory rape and kidnapping. The police will have no choice but to arrest him.’

‘The snag here is: Amber is insistent that she’s aborting the child. And because she’s beyond the legal time limit for terminating the pregnancy, the state will probably insist that she go through with it. She is still just seventeen years old. Meanwhile, according to local news reports which Klara has heard, the security guard at the mall who called her after Amber ran into her arms … that young woman has disappeared. Her parents have gone public, asking if anyone knows her whereabouts, which is why it’s been on the radio and in social media. This has Klara thinking that Kelleher’s people might have something to do with her disappearance; that after Amber vanished at the mall they threw some money around the mall’s management and found out what happened … and the name of the guard Amber ran into. Then they picked up that brave woman after work. And …’

‘Finish that sentence,’ I said.

‘I don’t need to. I’m just telling you Klara’s hypothesis about what happened to that security guard. What isn’t a theory is the fact that before she ditched her old phone Klara got an anonymous text, saying in so many words: We know whom you’re hiding. We have your name. We will find you both. Drop the girl back in LA – we will tell you where – and there will be no consequences for either of you.’

‘They haven’t worked out where she is?’

‘Not yet,’ Elise said.