Jesse let out a sound that was half laugh, half something darker. I was kind of hoping you could help with that.
Grim looked at Danny. Danny looked back with the expression that meant yes, I know we'll figure it out.
Keep moving. "Get back inside," Grim told Marco.
"Get Sarah and the kids ready to move. Don't tell them why yet."
He turned to Jesse. You come with us.
You don't make calls. You don't contact anyone.
You understand? Yes, sir.
Don't call me sir, Grim said and went back inside. The next 20 minutes operated on pure momentum.
Millie's sister was called and said yes without hesitation in the tone of a woman who has been waiting for her sister to need her for a long time and is not going to waste the moment on questions. Marco pulled the car around.
They weren't putting Sarah on a bike, not in her condition, not with two children. The retired couple, whose names turned out to be Frank and Dolores, turned out to own the sedan parked outside and offered it without being asked.
And Frank said he'd been a Marine. And Dolores said she'd been married to a Marine for 40 years, which amounted to the same thing.
And Grim looked at both of them for a moment and then said, "Thank you." In a voice that meant it.
It was while they were moving Sarah toward the back door that Clay Mercer called the diner.
Millie picked up. She almost always picked up.
It was a reflex. 30 Years of running a diner.
The phone rings and you answer it. She had the receiver against her ear before her brain fully processed the possibility of who it might be.
The voice on the other end was smooth, almost pleasant. The voice of a man who has never had to shout because people have always understood very quickly that he doesn't need to.
I'm looking for my girlfriend, Clay said. Sarah Cole.
I think she might have come in there tonight. Millie's hand tightened on the receiver.
Her face gave nothing away. She was a woman who had been operating in complicated situations for most of her adult life and her face was very good at its job.
Lots of people coming through here, she said. Can't say I recall the name.
Dark hair, early 30s. She might have been.
She had an accident tonight. I'm worried about her.
The concern in his voice was so perfectly calibrated, it was almost convincing. Almost.
Millie had heard real worry in a man's voice before. She knew the difference.
Sorry, hun, she said. Haven't seen her.