‘When I visited your house the first time,’ I say, ‘I didn’t see a bag of clothes. Either dirty or clean. And the washing machine wasn’t running. You don’t have an outdoor clothesline. Therefore, he came back.’

‘He’s my son,’ Francine said. ‘Please. I can’t help you.’

‘If the police find him, he’ll be arrested,’ I say. ‘If someone else finds him, things could be much worse. Next time it might be him trapped in a burning building. Or beaten to death by an angry mob.’

‘I don’t know where he is.’ She says this as though she’s trying to convince me it’s the end of the matter.

‘But you do know something,’ I say. ‘Don’t you?’

She looks away, tears sparkling in her eyes.

‘I saved your life,’ I add. ‘Are you gonna help me save Shannon’s? Or are you happy to let him die?’

‘He needed a ride,’ she says quietly.

I sit down next to her. ‘Where?’

‘I picked him up from near his house. He said there was something wrong with his car.’

There was—the police were watching it. ‘When was this?’ I ask.

‘Tuesday morning.’

Probably straight after he ran from us at the college. ‘Where’d you take him?’ I ask.

‘Piney Point. He took the clothes and got into another car.’

‘What kind of car?’

‘Uh, it was grey. A hatchback. A young woman was driving.’

‘A blonde woman?’

‘No. She was Asian.’

‘Young, you said?’

‘Shannon’s age,’ she says defensively. ‘Maybe a little younger. But not a child.’

‘And then what?’

‘And then they drove off.’ She sniffs. ‘He said he’d see me next week.’

‘Well, he lied,’ I say, getting up.

‘All children lie to their parents.’

I can’t believe she’s still defending him. ‘Look, the only way you’ll ever see him again is if we catch him. If he contacts you again, you call us.’

She nods, but I can tell she won’t.

•

‘Okay,’ I say, pacing back and forth across the hospital waiting room. ‘Shannon is using his network to hide from us.’

‘Shouldn’t you be resting?’ Thistle says. ‘Your voice sounds like Batman.’

Anyone else who knows me would have asked why I’d risked my life to save Francine. They would assume I had an ulterior motive. But Thistle hasn’t asked. She thinks there’s a decent person hidden somewhere inside me.

Maybe there is. I had no selfish reasons to rescue Francine. I just did it without thinking. It’s as if by believing I was good, Thistle made me good.