“Nothing,” I said. “Just that I’m not coming back yet.”

“Do they know you’re with me?”

“Hopefully. Because then they’ll just assume we’re on some romantic weekend.”

“It’s kind of romantic,” he said. “But I know how you feel about romance, so...”

I didn’t have to answer him, nor did I have time to call home, because Tuck’s phone rang and he answered it.

“It’s the police,” he said. He listened for a moment. “It’s about the picture. Thank you. Yes, we’ll go right over. This is really helpful.” He hung up the phone and looked at me triumphantly.

“Well?”

“They don’t know anything about it,” Tuck said. “But someone’s wife came in, and her uncle was in the hospital for a week recently because of...it sounds like kidney stones.”

“Okay,” I said. “But what about Cole?”

“She recognized him, but not because she knows him. She said she’s seen a picture of him. Another picture. Somewhere in the hospital. It’s like two towns over.”

“In the hospital? That’s strange.”

“The whole thing is strange.”

“Let’s go to the hospital,” I said.

There was a nurse sitting at the front desk reading. She was so engaged with her book, her mouth hung open a little, and she didn’t look up until we were hovering over her. When she saw Tuck, she arranged her face to look prettier.

“We talked to Dan Graham at the Lindenberg police station,” Tuck said.

“Oh sure, Dan,” the woman said.

“And he thought we’d better bring this over here. We’re trying to track down this man? And he said this picture might match a picture you’ve got here?”

“Um,” she said, looking at us over her glasses. “Can you hold on for a sec?”

“Do you recognize him?” Tuck asked.

“Just stay here,” she said. She slapped down her book and went walking away in her white shoes. Maybe this was what happy people looked like, I thought, this ponytail, this soft body in soft clothes, easy walk, paperback book.

We sat down in the little waiting area. There was a fish tank behind the row of chairs, and Tuck and I watched the fish do their laps around and around the tank.

“That’s a tetra,” he said.

“Look, that one’s stuck in the castle,” I said.

We watched a white fish with moon eyes poke in and out of the castle window, unable to move forward or retreat into the plastic fortress. His huge eyes were terrified.

“He’s probably been stuck in there for days,” I said. “He can’t get to the food. He’ll die.”

I looked around to see if anyone could help, but the place was empty.

“This is a super small hospital,” Tuck said.

“I’m going to find someone.”