Client invited me over to Brittany; Xmas shopping, taking Izzy and Lina. Borrowing car. M.

He will be furious but she won’t be here to suffer that; the lie might buy a little time.

She places the carrier on the passenger seat of Paul’s car, throws her bag in the back seat, slips her portfolio beside it, and drives off. Tears well and she lets them come. Tears of exhaustion, relief, sorrow. She should stop because she can hardly see and is skidding around corners, a hand on the carrier to steady it. She is aware, as the car lurches, that the weight in the trunk is shifting and rolling from side to side. She hadn’t noticed it on the motorway today, but then she hadn’t been skidding at speed. What if Paul was lying about the golf clubs? He lies about so many things; there might be something else rolling and sliding in the trunk, something he wanted to take out or hide. Melissa drives the remaining streets very slowly; it’s hardly any distance but she needs to take great care. She steers the car around corners as her heart bangs against her ribs, her mouth dry with a new, deeper kind of fear.

Grace

Blake hunches down in the passenger seat, eyes lowered, brows drawn tight. This close she can smell his fear, man sweat already. His hands are larger, she looks closely, more muscled. She’s missed this recent growth; he’s on that cusp tilting toward puberty, hormones swirling, impelling recklessness.

“Your teacher believed the story about the shears but I don’t, not completely.” It was that glance in Mr. Richards’s office, the way Blake checked her face to see if she’d been fooled as well. His hands clench tighter, he doesn’t move or turn. He’s so still he might not even be breathing, though she knows at any moment he could jump out and disappear into the dark street.

“It’s okay, Blake. I’m not angry, just worried.”

Terrified. There is something Blake is hiding, though the explanation of why the shears were in his bag seemed genuine. She turns farther toward him, trying for a reasonable tone.

“Eric supported your story, it’s probably true. The teacher thought it was, but I’m your mum. There’s something else.”

His eyelids lower, shutting her out. Despite her intentions, her voice rises. “You’re in danger, Blake, Dad talked to you about this months ago. If you carry weapons, it makes it more likely that weapons will be used against you.”

He turns his face to the window, waiting this out. She leans over, rests her hands on top of his clenched fists.

“It’s me. I’m on your side.” She can feel the heat of his skin, imagine the sweating palms. He jerks his fists away. He might find it easier to tell the truth to Martin than to her, but Martin would probably turn this into a joke. She leans closer. “When a child in a family goes missing, the suspects are the people closest to the family, relatives and trusted friends. When he works out our friendship with Eve’s family, that safety officer Mr. Richards told me about could put two and two together and come up with an answer that’ll do, even if it’s wrong. You know what police do to us, people like us. They could make you out to be dangerous.”