She shook her head. “No, I’ll be OK. Could you give Jurgen a hand for me?” She evaded Anouk’s inquiring eyes, hurried down the corridor, and retreated into a restroom. It was empty. She turned on the faucet and held her hands and wrists under the cold water. Splashed water on her face and neck. Stood there for several minutes, her chin on her chest.

4

4

Naomi moistened her lips by quickly running her tongue over them. Ralf found it an endlessly captivating spectacle. The sun played on her sleek hair as it hung over her shoulders. Brown, but glittering in the light. He had to restrain himself from running his fingers through it.

The car drifted too close to a bush. Branches scraped audibly over the paintwork. Ralf reached out and gave the steering wheel a nudge to send the car rolling back toward the center of the parking lot.

Naomi let go of the wheel.

“Keep your hands on it,” he instructed her.

She obeyed, with flushed cheeks, but took her foot off the accelerator and made a show of lifting her knees. “I can’t go any farther. Seriously.”

“You’re doing well. Now, push down the clutch.”

She didn’t react.

“The pedal on the left.”

She lowered her left leg and pushed down. Ralf put the car into neutral and pulled up the hand brake. “That’s enough for today.”

“I did everything wrong.”

“No, you didn’t. You did really well for somebody who’s never driven before.”

“Really?”

He nodded.

They swapped places. Ralf felt relieved to be back behind the wheel. Nobody had been run over, the police hadn’t shown up, and his car was still in one piece—aside from a few scratches, but they’d be easy enough to repair.

“How was your exam?” he asked.

Her face brightened. “That’s sweet of you to remember. It went really well. I think I passed.” She told him enthusiastically about various answers that she had managed to correct at the last minute. “By the way, I still haven’t heard from Brian. Have you?”

He shook his head.

“Don’t you think we should go and see his mother? I mean, three days is a long time.”

“Nah. It’s just Brian being Brian, right?”

She looked at him in surprise. “But you’re worried about him, aren’t you? You were yesterday, anyway. Or did you call all of his friends for nothing?”

Ralf nodded. Thought carefully.

“Well then.”

He broke eye contact and stared at a point in the distance. Tapped the steering wheel with his thumb. It was ridiculously unlikely, but nonetheless, suppose . . . suppose that Brian had been shot and yet still managed to get out of the house—bleeding, seriously injured. Where would he have gone? Not to his place, and not to a friend’s either.

“OK,” he heard himself say. “Let’s head over there now.”

5

5