Phillips regarded her carefully, apparently measuring his words before responding. “It’s going to be necessary to explain why the search has been called off, have you thought of that?”

Marcy nodded bleakly.

“Do you have any answers?”

She said, “You wouldn’t have to give any details of where we are.”

After a moment he surprised her by saying, “No, we wouldn’t.”

Claudia wasn’t sure if she was understanding correctly. Was he really agreeing to keep their whereabouts a secret? Marcy was very still as she waited for him to continue.

Phillips stared at his empty mug and spoke almost as if he was only working this out now. “The press will bombard us with questions,” he said, “but the only answer we need to give is that you’re alive and well and that we won’t be pursuing matters any further.”

Claudia and Marcy stared at him.

Johnson cleared his throat as Phillips went on, “Of course there’s nothing the police can do to stop a member of the press from launching a search of their own.”

Claudia’s eyes moved to him. “Do you think they will?” she asked, certain they would. The press loved nothing more than exposés and exclusives. And then there was Eugena: on behalf of Marcus, she would certainly initiate a search, if she hadn’t already.

“They won’t learn anything from us,” Phillips assured them. “I haven’t shared anything with my team yet, and there’s no reason for anyone, either press or public, to be in touch with Leo here concerning yourselves. As long as you are able to keep your identities quiet, I see no reason why it can’t stay a secret.”

Claudia couldn’t think what to say. It was everything they’d hoped for, but there was more to it, she could sense it as solidly as if another presence had stolen into the room.

His head went down again, and he pressed his fingers to his eye sockets, digging in hard; the gesture of a fatigued and troubled man. “My daughter was the victim of a violent marriage,” he confessed in a tone that belied the torment beneath it. “We—I—should have done more to protect her. There was a restraining order, but he got to her and . . . She was an only child and our lives have never been the same since we lost her.”

Tears instantly stung Claudia’s eyes to see how broken he was inside. A father who’d lost the most precious person in the world to him, and because of who he was, what he did for a living, he was unable to forgive himself. “I’m so sorry,” she said hoarsely.