That fear had been so total that when Detective Vance said there were no remains, my body simply could not hold the reversal, and for those few seconds I was weightless with it, undone by good news, my legs actually unsteady under me.

And then the mind does what the mind does: it will not leave you in relief for long, because relief is not safety, and some vigilant animal part of you knows the difference.

Elena was not in the pool.

Wonderful.

Where, then, was Elena?

A man who would sink safe-deposit boxes and luggage in a swimming pool to hide his theft, a man capable of everything the day had already revealed — where had that man taken my ex-wife, and in what condition, and with how much time already gone?