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ordered a burger from room service. Even with his new look, he wasn’t interested in being out in public more than necessary. He ate his dinner in front of the TV, then, still without an answer from Anita, reluctantly went to bed.

Liam stared at the ceiling for a long time. He wasn’t sure what he would do if she never responded.

Liam Parker

Liam saw a Facebook message from Anita when he woke up saying she would meet him at the diner at eleven. He checked the digital clock on the bedside table. That was two hours from now.

I’ll be there, he responded.

He took the same booth he’d sat at before and ordered coffee to keep the waitress at bay. He watched the window. Anita’s VW was easy to spot. The missing headlight was not the only thing wrong with it. The car was tan, but the rear door on the driver’s side was blue, suggesting it had been a junkyard replacement. Two hubcaps were missing and one of the mirrors was cracked.

She drove into the lot, taking the corner a little too fast, popping one wheel up and over the curb, and parked by the door.

Liam went out to the parking lot to meet her. He wasn’t sure Anita would recognize him and didn’t want to draw attention by waving to her when she came inside.

Anita got out of the car. She looked Liam over. “What’s going on with all this?” she said, gesturing in such a way as to suggest she was talking about Liam’s appearance.

“You don’t want to know,” Liam said.

“I think I do.”

With his hands in his pockets, Liam nodded toward the diner. “Come on. I’ll buy you something to eat. I need to know what you can tell me about the people Elise was hanging around with before she ran away.”

Anita grabbed his arm. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. That’s not why I’m here. You think I came to give you information? Think again. I want to know what happened to my sister that night as much as you do. If you’re serious about looking for her killer, I’m in.”

Liam glanced over both shoulders. “I’m not looking for a partner here.”

“Too bad, because it’s all or nothing.”

She was serious. She wanted to help, and who could blame her? But if he was caught, anyone with him might be charged with aiding and abetting. He didn’t want that to happen to Anita. She and her family had suffered enough already. Maybe if he told her, she’d let go of the idea.

“There’s something you have to know.”

“You mean that you’re on the run?” She gestured to his clothes again. “I kinda figured that out.”

The door to the diner swung open and two teenage boys exited. They both looked at Anita. One winked. She flipped them the bird. They chuckled and walked away, but were still within earshot when they stopped to light the cigarettes one had taken out of a pack.

“So, do you want my help?”

“You know how it’s going to look if I get caught,” Liam whispered.

“Do you want my help?” Anita repeated firmly.

Of course he wanted her help. In fact, the more he thought about the idea, the better it sounded. Liam didn’t know what he was up against and Anita might prove more valuable than a mere conduit to Elise’s past. If she was willing to take the risk, then yes, yes, a thousand times, “Yes.”

She gestured to the car. “Get in.”

She drove them to Uptown. The neighborhood was being revitalized. New midrise apartment buildings and scattered pockets of upscale shopping were popping up along Lake Michigan. Everyone wanted a view of the water.

They spent most of their time cruising the streets that hadn’t seen this influx of cash. Graffiti marred the facades of gas stations and convenience stores. A particularly active artist (if Liam could call him that) had tagged more than two dozen businesses with the handle “Red Bear.” Half the pedestrians looked sketchy and a quarter of them looked homeless. Everything seemed a little gray and sagged under the weight of neglect. Although Liam had grown up on streets not much better than these, he still felt out of his element.

“Why does your dad blame himself for Elise?” he asked, remembering that her mother had said as much at the funeral.

“Oh, that. He shouldn’t, you know. He just kept telling her to go to school or get a job or do something with her life. He said she couldn’t keep going out at all hours and sleeping until noon. Nothing good would come of that, he insisted. Elise complained about it a lot, said he needed to stop nagging her. She told me over and over that if he didn’t stop she was going to leave and we’d see how he liked that, but I didn’t think she really would. I thought it was all talk. Then, one day she was gone. None of us believed it at first. We kept thinking she’d hooked up with some guy”—her eyes cut from the road to Liam—“Sorry. Anyway, we kept thinking she’d come back after a little while. But, you know, she didn’t.”

“That’s not your fault. Or your dad’s.”

“I suppose. But we all kind of blamed ourselves for a while. I could have helped her get into nursing school, like I did, or gotten her a part-time job at the jewelry shop where I worked before that. I should have done more than just listen to her complain.”

Liam knew there was nothing he could say to assuage her guilt. But he said, “I’m sorry,” anyway.

Anita wasn’t having it. She shot Liam a look that said Whatever. He let it go.

They came to a red light. Somebody on a bicycle whizzed past, traffic be damned.

“You’re a nurse?”

“Night shift over at Rush Medical. Any idea who you want to talk to?” she asked.

“Not really.” Liam realized he was going to have to tell her about the arrests, and now seemed like as good a time as any. “Look,