She took her time in the shower, so she was surprised to discover that Mat still wasn’t back when she came out of the bathroom. Why did life have to be so complicated? There was only one thing she knew for certain. She loved being Nell Kelly. Living in another woman’s skin had been the best gift she’d ever given herself, and she wasn’t nearly ready for it to end.

All day she’d blotted out images of the hoard of government agents who would be trying to track her down, and now she breathed a silent prayer. Please. Just a few more days. That’s all I ask. Just a few more days . . .

Toni DeLucca was barely paying attention to Dateline as she sat in her hotel room not far from Mc-Connellsburg, Pennsylvania. She and Jason had spent another fruitless morning at the truck stop and an equally fruitless afternoon questioning Jimmy Briggs. Now she was propped in bed munching an apple, instead of the salt and vinegar potato chips she really wanted, while she studied the preliminary lab report on the Chevy Corsica. Cornelia Case’s fingerprints had been all over it, but there hadn’t been any bloodstains or signs of violence. She set the report aside to read through the information they’d just received from Terry Ackerman.

Dennis Case’s chief advisor had reported that he’d talked to Aurora the night before. According to Ackerman, she hadn’t used the code phrase John North during the conversation, nor had she led him to believe her disappearance was other than voluntary. It was a relief to know that Jimmy Briggs hadn’t harmed Mrs. Case, but she wished Ackerman had pressed harder to find out where she was.

“This is Ann Curry with a special report from NBC News . . .”

Her half-eaten apple rolled off the bed as she found the remote and turned up the volume. Thirty seconds later, she grabbed the phone and dialed Jason Williams’s room.

“NBC just reported that Aurora’s missing. CNN’s coming on right now.”

“Got it.”

She heard the television go on in his room, and they both listened.

“Just where is Cornelia Case? Reliable sources in Washington are saying that the nation’s First Lady, who was reported to be in bed with the flu, has, in fact, disappeared. No one has seen her at the White House since Tuesday morning, three days ago. She isn’t at the home in Middleburg, Virginia, she and President Case shared or the Litchfield family estate on Nantucket. While there’s been no official confirmation of her disappearance by the White House, unofficial sources are saying that Mrs. Case left of her own volition. Apparently she told no one of either her plans or her destination. Most alarming, she left without Secret Service protection.”

The screen showed James Litchfield hurrying into a limousine.