Jeppe looked down at the crossed-out name in his notebook and the empty space underneath it. The pulse in his head grew louder; he closed his eyes and tried to think. Iben asked him something, but her voice was drowned out by the pulse and the sound of puzzle pieces that were finally falling into place.

THE RURAL ROAD drifted in and out of focus, its turns coming without warning, unpredictable and unreliable, to put it mildly. Kasper Skytte gripped the steering wheel harder and forced his eyes open.

He had only made it to Hannover the day before, had gotten so tired that he had been forced to scrap his plan to drive through the night and slept at a cheap motel by the highway instead. More than anything it was the emotional strain that drained him—Iben, the fear of being caught, worrying about what Henrik might do. His mind was racing, and that robbed him of the ability to do the most basic things. Even driving a car became an insurmountable challenge.

This morning he had forced himself to lie in the motel bed until nine o’clock, even though he had barely slept a wink. He was dead tired. A shower in the chilly shower stall and a visit to the motel’s sad breakfast buffet didn’t make it better. The panic returned, threatening to boil over, and keeping it in check took all his energy. His eyes kept slipping shut. He didn’t get farther than Heidelberg before going one hundred miles per hour became downright irresponsible, and he had to exit the highway.

At a gas station he bought two chocolate bars and a bottle of Schinkenhäger schnapps in a dusty gift box. That helped a little, especially the schnapps. He got back into the driver’s seat and washed bites of chocolate down with big gulps of alcohol that cleared his throat and made his forehead tingle. Cars pulled in and out of the parking spaces around him in a harmonic stream, regular like a unison breath. A breath he was no longer part of. The tears came unexpectedly, a deep spasm from his diaphragm that made his shoulders shake uncontrollably.

Iben had run away. His own daughter was scared to be with him. The thought was unbearable.

Kasper wiped his nose on his sleeve and drank from the bottle. There was nothing to do but take it one hour at a time and balance step-by-step toward his uncertain future. But he’d probably better stick to back roads from now on.