They eventually learned the rest from Adriana, in pieces, across four interviews, in the manner of a person who cannot resist being the most interesting one in the room.

She had picked the girl up at a service plaza.

She said it as though it demonstrated something good about her.

She had been driving to a rented house at the lake — she had, in fact, already moved money, already booked the surgery consultation, already begun a life she intended to walk into.

Leo was in the back.

The girl was in the passenger seat.

The brakes went at the bottom of the descent.