The highway dips and rises, hugging the coastline. In the daylight it’s a beautiful drive, one many people make just for the pleasure of going around a bend and coming out of it to see the ocean spread out in front of you. It’s so pretty it’s dangerous. I’m glad we’re doing this at night. The snow has held off, thankfully, so at least there’s some small reprieve. And I have the radio to keep me company.

That is, until the Detroit song comes on, and I hear Nate’s voice.

I switch it off before I can hear my own. But it’s too late. The mood changes. It’s no longer a pleasant night drive with only the taillights of the car ahead of me to keep me focused. It’s a drive to hide away a girl I’ve put in danger by simply being alive. I used all the countersurveillance tactics I learned from life and Stevie Warsame before going to meet Bonnie and her family, but Nate reminds me that it’s never enough. I can’t seem to help myself, though. Now that I know Bonnie’s not safe and that someone has tried to take her, I have to know where she is.

This, perhaps, is what danger does. It helps you to stop questioning your instincts.

Less than two hours after starting out, we’re at the cabin. From the spill of light on the porch a woman emerges and beckons us inside. Everett goes first, with Lynn and Bonnie trailing after. I let Whisper out to stretch her legs. She sneezes at all this crisp mountain air and urinates by a nearby bush.

We wait.

Five minutes later, Bonnie comes looking for us. We go inside for a family reunion.

“You didn’t tell me there was going to be a dog,” says Adele, Everett’s new lady. Well, maybe not so new. He’d been having an affair with her while still married to Lynn.

Everett glances at me. “I didn’t know the dog was coming.”

“She’s a good girl,” Lynn says, having met Whisper exactly once before tonight. “I’m sure she’ll be no trouble at all.”

“I’ll walk her before we go to bed,” Bonnie offers.

Adele nods. “Okay.” She doesn’t like Whisper in the cabin but is prepared to put up with her because it’s Everett’s family. I get the feeling that mother and daughter have met the new woman in Everett’s life before, but this might just be their first time being in such close quarters. And now there’s a dog to factor in.