She ended the call and slid the phone into her pocket. "Brady's headed this way."

Marisa stopped. "No. We don't need to pull him into this. He could lose his job. And you should go, too. You don't need the trouble."

Johnny squealed and squirmed, and Rae set him on the floor. He immediately crawled away. Marisa could remember when Ana had been that age, just itching to walk, to run, to explore her world. Marisa had been terrified every minute, more in Mexico than she would have been in a safe place like this. Mexico had never seemed as dirty as when Ana was sticking everything in her mouth.

Where was that sweet girl now? What kind of environment had the kidnappers taken her and Leslie to? Was it clean? Were they feeding her?

Eat your eggs. She'd said it every day, hoping her daughter would grow up strong and healthy.

Now she just wanted her to grow up.

"We're not going anywhere," Rae said.

Marisa had to blink to return to the conversation, the room.

"Kopp doesn't know we know you're a fugitive," Rae continued.

"Do you think I'm doing the right thing?"

Rae watched Johnny as he tried to pull himself up at the coffee table. The pause told Marisa she was taking the question seriously, which Marisa appreciated. Finally, Rae said, "I don't know how Nate getting arrested would help anything. Brady was right about that—it would just put the authorities onto the fact that you were in the country, and Kopp already knows that. Nate wouldn't give you up."

"I always trusted him."

"But the police would be looking for you everywhere. You'd have to flee, and how could you figure out who stole the money on your own?"

"But what if Kopp arrests me? What if the people who took Ana...?"

Rae wrapped her arms around Marisa and pulled her into a hug.

Marisa barely knew the woman, but Rae's arms felt like a lifeline in a stormy sea. Rae patted Marisa's back. "Brady knows what he's doing. You have to trust him. And Nate."

Marisa stepped away. "And the federal agent who wants to arrest me?" Marisa started pacing again. "I don't even care at this point. I just want Ana and Leslie safe."

"I know. Why don't you sit?"

The sound of tires on gravel sent Marisa to peer out the window. Nate parked Brady's blue truck in the short driveway, and he and Sam stepped out. A black sedan stopped on the narrow road in front of the cabin.

Marisa had the overwhelming urge to bolt. She turned, spied the back door. Right, and then what? Jump in the lake?

She stepped back and stood between the breakfast bar and the sofa. Rae picked up Johnny and joined her.

The door opened, and Sam and Nate stepped inside. "I'm sorry," he said. "This isn't what I thought would happen."

"I know," Marisa said.