Malik wasn’t free, but people were shaking his hand. “He’ll never file,” J.T. was saying. “Not a chance.” “Reasonable doubt, what can you say?” Rosalie agreed.

Brad and Jenna left the courthouse by a side entrance. At a makeshift podium in the lobby, Jordan Chiles was holding a news conference.

They didn’t go back to the hotel. Jabr, after first making sure no one was following, headed west on I10, then south through a maze of freeways to the coast road. The house, in Laguna Beach, belonged to a friend of Brad’s. Jenna was beginning to see that, for a quiet and very private man, he had a great many friends.

After the desert, the chill moisture of the sea air was as refreshing as a waterfall. The timeless crashing of the waves was better than any tranquilizer. Jenna could almost imagine that she and Brad were back at Marblehead, and that none of the rest of it had happened.

Almost. There were Toni and Jabr, and Brad’s security men, mounting watch. There was the fact that her brother was still in jail. There was the possibility that, within a day or two, she would be there herself. (Jordan Chiles had hedged in his press conference. He was confident, he said, that Malik Badir was the perpetrator in the shooting of Ali Rashad. But a wild card had been thrown on the table, and his office was actively investigating the claims made by Dr. Jenna Sorrel.)

And, of course, there was the constant worry over Karim. She called every- one she could think of who might know where he was. His closest companions, Josh and Jacqueline, she had called repeatedly. She was almost certain they were lying when they said they hadn’t seen him, but there was little she could do about it. Please, God, let this be over soon, so that I can get back to Boston and find my son.

Sam Adams Boyle arrived on their second day in Laguna Beach. He was a tough, red-faced, silver-haired, old-time Southie, with the sour expression of a Boston police captain hearing that his division’s budget was being cut. He was in time to watch Chiles sing a new tune to the press. The DA conceded that, because “new developments” made it unlikely that a prosecution of Malik Badir could succeed “regardless of its merits,” the state would not refile. As for Jenna Sorrel, alias Amira Badir and Amira Rashad, the investigation was ongoing, and he would not comment on it.

“What does all that mean?” asked Jenna.

“It means your brother’s free,” said Boyle. “Or will be as soon as they run through the paperwork. No more than a few hours, I’d imagine.”

“What about me?”