“Through the record-room window,” Tracy said. “The same window you broke.”
“Good,” Kim said. He took Tracy’s hand. Together they dashed to the record-room door. Just as they were entering, they heard approaching voices.
Kim motioned for Tracy to be silent as he quietly closed and locked the door. In the darkness they first went to the library table, where Kim snatched up the incriminating papers. Then they made their way to the window. Through the wall, they heard commotion in the men’s room followed by running footsteps down the hall.
Kim climbed out first. Then he helped Tracy. Together they dashed for Tracy’s car.
“Let me drive,” Kim said. He jumped behind the wheel while Tracy got into the backseat. He started the car and drove quickly out of the parking lot.
For a while they drove in silence.
“Who could have guessed it would have turned out like this,” Tracy said at last. “What do you think we should do?”
“Maybe you had the right idea back there,” Kim said. “Maybe we should have called the police ourselves and faced the consequences. I suppose it’s not too late to turn ourselves in, although I think we should call Justin Devereau first.”
“I’ve changed my mind,” Tracy said. “I think your first instinct was correct. You’d certainly go to jail and probably me too, and it would probably be a year before there even was a trial. And then who knows what would happen? After the O.J. Simpson case I have zero confidence in the American court system. We don’t have a million dollars to throw away on Johnny Cochrane or Barry Scheck.”
“What are you implying?” Kim asked. He cast a quick glance at Tracy in the rearview mirror. She never failed to surprise him.
“What we talked about last night,” Tracy said. “Let’s go far away and deal with this mess from abroad. Someplace where the food is uncontaminated so we could continue our fight against that issue as well.”
“Are you serious?” Kim asked.
“Yes, I’m serious,” Tracy said.
Kim shook his head. They’d mentioned the idea and even had their passports, but he’d truly not taken it seriously. In his mind it had been more of a desperate scheme of last resort, something to consider in a worst-case scenario. Of course, thanks to the killing, he had to admit things couldn’t have turned out much worse than they had.
“Of course we should call Justin.” Tracy added. “He’ll have some good suggestions. He always does. Maybe he’ll know where we should go. There are probably some legal issues relating to extradition and all that.”
“You know what I like best about the idea of us going to a foreign country?” Kim said after a few minutes of silence. He looked up to make eye contact with Tracy in the rearview mirror.
“What’s that?” Tracy asked.
“That you’re suggesting we do it together,” Kim said.
“Well, of course,” Tracy said.
“You know,” Kim said. “Maybe we shouldn’t have gotten divorced,”
“I have to admit the idea has crossed my mind,” Tracy said.
“Maybe something good will come from all this tragedy,” Kim said.
“If we did get remarried, I know we couldn’t have another Becky, but it would be nice to have another child.”
“You’d really want to?” Kim asked.
“I’d like to try.”
Silence again reigned for a time as the former lovers struggled with their emotions.
“How long do you think we will have before the authorities catch up with us?” Tracy asked.
“It’s hard to say,” Kim said. “If you’re asking to know how long we have before we have to make up our minds about what we’re going to do, I’d say we don’t have much time. I think we have to decide in twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”
“At least that allows us time for Becky’s services tomorrow,” Tracy said, choking up all over again.
Kim felt tears arise in his own eyes with the mention of Becky’s imminent funeral. Despite his best efforts to avoid facing it, Kim could no longer deny the horrible fact that his beloved daughter was gone.
“Oh, God!” Tracy whimpered. “When I close my eyes I can see the face of the man I shot. It’s something I’ll never be able to forget. It’ll haunt me the rest of my life.”