I was awake immediately. I heard her knock. I waited another moment, then opened the door about three inches, brought in the two bags, turned on the television. Nothing on CNN – but I figured the story might be broadcast on the half-hour. I pulled out the clothes that Klara had bought for me – khakis, a T-shirt, a hoodie – along with underwear, socks, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a stick of deodorant. The coffee was still warm. The Danish was needed. I hit the shower. I kept the TV on loud. As soon as I heard the talking head mention ‘a shocking multiple shooting in Eastern California’ I was out of the shower, drying myself, watching a reporter standing in front of the trailer, police crime-scene tape everywhere, several dried brown stains in the sand, explaining how three people died and two were injured in a multiple shooting for which there was still no explanation. One of those shot was a Catholic priest. The other was a pregnant woman who was in a stable condition in a local hospital, though the child she was carrying had died. The priest was also in a stable condition. No further details were given.

I got dressed. I looked at myself in the mirror. A fat guy in black. With deep dark circles under the eyes.

Two minutes later there was a knock on the door.

‘We should roll,’ Klara said. ‘And get those bloody clothes off the floor and into this bag.’

She held open a plastic Walmart bag with all the blood-splattered clothes she wore yesterday already inside.

‘The last thing we want is to leave any trace of anything behind.’

I gathered up everything I’d worn yesterday. Dumping them in the bag I couldn’t help but think: the blood on them was Elise’s blood.

I added the bullet to the bag as an afterthought.

‘You see the CNN report?’ Klara asked as we walked to the car.

‘Yep. Didn’t say much.’

‘No doubt the padre is spinning a yarn for the cops. Let’s just hope he hasn’t decided to blame it all on us.’

‘Our fingerprints aren’t on the guns.’

‘That’s why I went back and took mine out of Amber’s hand. Because it’s registered in my name … and would be a direct forensic link to us.’

‘Smart thinking.’

‘You do what I’ve been doing you’ve got to think smart all the time.’

‘And now that you’ve retired from all that,’ I said.

‘Don’t think I’m walking away from the fight …’

‘Why don’t we think about getting you to somewhere in Europe and then you can go quiet for a while? We’re still not out of the shit yet. And you’re right: we don’t know what Todor’s telling the cops.’

‘I’d put money on him putting the blame squarely on us.’