It would make all the difference if he were to throw his arms around her now and make her feel that they had a connection—but he didn’t. Instead, he turned away and rested his hands on his neck, his eyes closed.

6

6

Naomi and Sara knew each other. The longer Ralf thought about it, the more certain he was. Brian had invited a group of people over to drink at his place not too long ago, and that girl had been there. She had caught his attention—not just because she was good-looking, but because there was something unusual about her. She seemed older than everyone else, more sensible. Maybe even smarter too. More and more details bubbled up in Ralf’s memory. She had a German-sounding surname. Muller, Mahler, something like that.

On a whim, he pulled his phone out and looked up Naomi’s number. She responded enthusiastically when she heard his voice. That felt good, somehow.

“I haven’t spoken to him,” she said. “He isn’t answering his phone. I guess you haven’t seen him either?”

“No. We’d agreed to meet today, but he didn’t show up.” He paused for a moment. “So, I wanted to call a few of his other friends, but I don’t have their numbers.” He gave the names of some guys that Brian vaguely knew.

“Oh, I think I have those,” he heard her say cheerfully.

Ralf ran his index finger along the inside of the steering wheel. “How about I come over to your place?” he ventured.

“OK.”

OK?

Ralf grinned broadly. “Great, see you soon.”

7

7

“I could drive to the Czech Republic. Remember when we went skiing there? Completely isolated—all tiny villages and roads that don’t go anywhere. I could push him into a ravine somewhere and come straight back home.” Werner spread a layer of tapenade over a piece of toast. “My parents’ house in the Gers never gets any visitors either, for that matter.”

Helen picked at some loose skin on her cuticle. “You’d be away from home for the night.”

He shrugged. “I do that fairly often anyway, when I go away for trade fairs.”

“But there aren’t any trade fairs at the moment.”

He paused briefly. “I could leave early in the morning, then. I’d be back around midnight. If we planned it right, the kids wouldn’t even notice I went away. I wouldn’t need to spend the night anywhere either.”