Maya had finally stopped crying, and the two of them had fallen asleep almost as soon as they hit the bed, not waking until glaring sunlight blasted through the thin draperies. She’d been horrified to see that they’d slept past noon. She’d hustled Maya out of bed, put her in the shower with her, and headed back toward the interstate.

Of course, the child screeched with joy when she spotted the golden arches at the strip of shopping centers and fast-food joints near the interstate on-ramp. They were devouring their chicken nuggets and French fries when Letty noticed the car parked several yards away, facing traffic. It was a silver Kia with a FOR SALE sign posted prominently on the dashboard, and it offered the solution to something she’d been worried about since leaving the Hertz lot at Newark.

She’d rented an Acura with Tanya’s credit card. Although Letty was three inches shorter with hair several shades darker than Tanya’s, on a driver’s license photo she could easily pass for her younger sister.

The police would probably be looking for her by now. Maybe they had found Tanya’s Mercedes in Newark already, or maybe not. Maybe they had traced the credit card and seen that it had been used at the Hertz counter. Maybe she was already the subject of a multi-state manhunt. She needed to ditch the rental car, and fast.

From the plastic booth in McDonald’s, Letty called the number on the Kia’s dashboard sign and, after a short discussion about price and the car’s mileage, arranged to meet the seller in the Hertz lot at the Raleigh-Durham airport. He pulled up alongside her at the appointed time, got out of the Kia, and seemed surprised to find someone who looked like Letty standing there, clutching the hand of a little girl, surrounded by two small suitcases and a child’s car seat.

“Here’s the keys,” he said. “And the title. You gotta sign it right there.”

She wrote her name on the registration in a deliberately illegible scrawl, then handed him the money. He counted the bills and nodded. “I gassed it up like you asked.”

“Thanks,” Letty said.

Now she didn’t know what to do about the Kia, or Joe the cop. Should she move on? Where would she go? The Murmuring Surf seemed like as good a place as any to lie low and figure out her next move. Tanya must have had a reason for saving that magazine article about the motel. But sooner or later she’d need a job. She didn’t want to touch any more of the money in Tanya’s stash than was absolutely necessary. That was Maya’s money, as far as Letty was concerned.

Right now, though, her most urgent concern was to keep as far away from Maya’s father as possible.