So Spencer drove even faster, careening from gap to gap, lane to lane. Sweat ran down his body in rivulets, soaking his stinking T-shirt. He didn’t notice. He drove as if fleeing a phantom.

He fished his phone out of his pocket, flicked through the numbers, and looked up just in time to slam on the anchors to avoid smashing into the back of another car. Phone in hand, he shifted down and sliced around the offending vehicle, ignoring the pale face of shock worn by its driver.

He hit Dial. The ringtone reverberated in the car.

Come on, Chris, come on . . .

Chris’s voice filled the car. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Chris, listen—”

“You drop off the grid after—”

“Chris, shut up and listen to me. We don’t have much time.”

“You just realized that?”

“No, you don’t understand. We really don’t have much time.”

Car horns rebuked him for slashing across the freeway from carpool lane to exit on a forty-five-degree trajectory.

Follow that, Yo-Yo.

“What are you talking about?” asked Chris.

“The court petition’s been granted.”

Silence.

“Chris? Did you hear what I said? CPS is—”

“I heard. What do you mean? They can’t. They only just told us!”

Spencer tried to lie as fast as he was driving. “Well, that CPS officer is just, she’s like, some psycho child-stealing terminator bitch.”

“They can’t. I mean, how can they? Abby’s safe. She’s—”

“Chris! I been doing a lot of thinking.”

“That’ll be a goddamn first.”

“That’s right, Chris. You’re so right, but hey at least I’ve started to realize . . .”

More car horns.

“That you were right.”

“How so?”

“I needed a new start. We needed a new start, I mean. All of us. I can still keep, we can still keep Abby, but we have to act now. You just need to trust me. We can make this all turn out OK. But Chris?”

Tire squeal. Engine roar.

“What?”

“You need to start packing. You need to start packing right now!”

The silver Volvo was a legit rental, but its plates were stolen from a Nissan. It would have been better if they’d been stolen from another silver Volvo, but Denny hadn’t been given a lot of notice so he’d done the best he could. The automotive alias wouldn’t stand up to a police check but it was enough to fool CCTV. And it wouldn’t be needed for long. Denny expected to return it to the rental company that same day, with its original plates.

Cal drove. McGrath sat next to him. They waited for the barrier to rise.

“Which way?” asked Cal.

“Head west.”

“Where’s he at now?” asked Cal as he turned onto Noble.

“The Yo-Yo says he’ll be leaving soon.”

“We know which way he goes?” asked Cal.

“The Yo-Yo’s been on it.”