I will never stop driving. I will never get out of the car. I will not run out of gas. I will not get hungry. It’s warm here. I have my son. He’s safe. I’m safe. I will never stop driving. I will not tire. I will never stop.

The road lies open and endless before me.

My son turns his head away from my hand and says, “Where’s Mom?”

“I don’t know,” I say.

“But it’s okay?” He looks up at me.

“It’s okay,” I say. “It’s fine. Go back to sleep.”

My son goes back to sleep. I keep driving.

And both of us vanish when I wake.

The first time I met Karen Nichols, she struck me as the kind of woman who ironed her socks.

She was blond and petite and stepped out of a kelly-green 1998 VW Bug as Bubba and I crossed the avenue toward St. Bartholomew’s Church with our morning coffee in hand. It was February, but winter had forgotten to show up that year. Except for one snowstorm and a few days in the subzeros, it had been damn near balmy. Today it was in the high forties, and it was only ten in the morning. Say all you want about global warming, but as long as it saves me from shoveling the walk, I’m for it.

Karen Nichols placed a hand over her eyebrows, even though the morning sun wasn’t all that strong, and smiled uncertainly at me.

“Mr. Kenzie?”

I gave her my eats-his-veggies-loves-his-mom smile and proffered my hand. “Miss Nichols?”

She laughed for some reason. “Karen, yes, I’m early.”

Her hand slid into mine and felt so smooth and uncallused it could have been gloved. “Call me Patrick. That’s Mr. Rogowski.”

Bubba grunted and slugged his coffee.

Karen Nichols’s hand dropped from mine and she jerked back slightly, as if afraid she’d have to extend her hand to Bubba. Afraid if she did, she might not get it back.

She wore a brown suede jacket that fell to midthigh over a charcoal cable-knit crewneck, crisp blue jeans, and bright white Reeboks. None of her apparel looked as if a wrinkle, stain, or wisp of dust had been within a country mile of it.

She placed delicate fingers on her smooth neck. “A couple of real PIs. Wow.” Her soft blue eyes crinkled with her button nose and she laughed again.

“I’m the PI,” I said. “He’s just slumming.”

Bubba grunted again and kicked me in the ass.

“Down, boy,” I said. “Heel.”

Bubba sipped some coffee.

Karen Nichols looked as if she’d made a mistake coming here. I decided then not to lead her up to my belfry office. If people were uncertain about hiring me, taking them to the belfry usually wasn’t good PR.