‘It’s almost two in the morning and this is a Motel 6 in the ass end of nowhere. He or she isn’t going to care. Give me your driver’s license.’

I reached into my wallet and handed over my California license. We drove on. Moments later we pulled up into the parking lot of the motel.

‘Wait here,’ Klara said, zipping up the jacket. She went into the little reception area, emerging a few minutes later with two keys.

‘We’ve got rooms next to each other. She told me there was a Walmart around fifteen minutes from here. What’s your waist and shirt size?’

‘Forty-two-inch waist, XX large shirt.’

‘You’ve got to lose some weight, Poppa.’

‘Not tonight, Klara.’

‘Gotcha.’

‘I’ve got about sixty bucks on me in cash.’

‘I took out cash before I left LA. The clothes and the rooms are on me. We’ll figure out the rest later.’

She handed me a key.

‘I’m in Room 17,’ she said. ‘The woman at the front desk said you dial 7 then the room number to call. If you need me I’m next door. Checkout is noon. I’m getting up and going to Walmart at ten. I’ll come back with clothes and coffee by eleven. Can I have the car keys please?’

As soon as I was inside the room I stripped off all my clothes. I threw them into a pile under the counter that served as a makeshift desk. Once under the shower I finally let go. Crying uncontrollably. Unable to stop. The sense of horror colliding with the sense of loss. Elise … killed in rage by someone who screamed her ‘pro-life’ credentials all the time. Vanished forever.

I climbed into the polyester sheets. I hit the light. Sleep wouldn’t arrive, I wanted to ring Klara’s room, see if she too was having an insomnia jag, if she was coping. But if she had managed to pass out I didn’t want to jolt her back to the middle of the night. There was a minibar in the room. I drank two beers and two miniatures of Jack Daniel’s. That did the job. I blacked out.

Then the phone was ringing. I reached for it. Klara was on the line.

‘It’s 11.15. We’ve got to be gone in less than an hour. I’m going to knock on the door in a moment. There will be a bag outside with your new clothes and another with a coffee and a Danish. Then turn on CNN. The story is everywhere.’