With Pip in the car, Spud did a final walk-through of the house, making sure that everything was in the proper place. He closed the window he’d used to enter and put the plant back beneath it. Then he strapped his bicycle to the top of the SUV. He’d left no footprints, no fingerprints, no hair, no DNA. There was nothing that pointed to any story other than a woman taking her child on the run.

Satisfied with his effort, the man got behind the wheel and backed the SUV out of the garage. He headed south, knowing his route would skirt Grand Rapids and lead to the Twin Cities. Just past a small town called Hill City, he turned off the main highway onto a dirt trail to toss his puke-filled stocking cap into the woods.

A few minutes later, he turned Sandy’s phone off and exited the highway again onto a gravel road, a detour he didn’t want showing up on the phone’s tracking system. The road led into Hill River State Forest, an area about as secluded as you could find along that stretch of highway. The road, barely more than a one-lane trail, took him west for a mile or so before cutting past the tip of a marsh. That’s where he’d had hidden a bag with weights in it—where he would leave Sandy’s body.

He backed the SUV up to the water’s edge, stepped out, and listened carefully, hearing only the chirp of a bird in a nearby basswood tree. In the woods, buried under dead leaves, he found the nylon duffel, filled with eighty pounds of barbell weights. He dragged it back to the car.

Before pulling her body out, he gave a peek in at Pip, reassuring himself that the stack of suitcases and garbage bags was blocking the child’s view. Then Spud dragged Sandy out from beneath her belongings and dropped her on top of the opened duffel. It took some work to get her folded into the bag, but he had purchased the biggest one he could find. Once she and the weights were inside, he zipped it shut and lugged the package out into the marsh.

The marsh was cold, but the work kept him warm as he dragged her out into water that went up to his chest. He dropped her there, stepped around the sunken duffel, and trudged back to shore. Inside the SUV, Pip seemed to be taking this little adventure in stride. Spud gave the boy a reassuring smile as he took the rucksack from the front passenger seat. Using one of the burner phones, he typed a message to his partner. On the road. No problems. He sent the message, returned the phone to the sack, filled the sack with stones from the side of the trail, and heaved it out into the marsh too.

Back on the main highway, Spud turned Sandy’s phone on again to await David’s calls. How long would the worried boyfriend wait before he phoned the sheriff?