Lucy nods, then says: ‘Save the day?’
‘I’m not cooking,’ Simone says with a smile.
‘Saving the day doesn’t have to be cooking. It can be anything leisurely that makes the time right before you go to sleep better. A tiny thing to say, OK, today was trash, but at least I did this one thing.’
‘Got it.’
Lucy turns on the television in the bedroom, navigates the apps and finds an old episode ofGilmore Girls, their favourite. They get into the bed together and watch it in companionable silence.
Partway through, Simone reaches to touch her daughter’s shoulder. Lucy leans against her, and – Simone could swear it – she feels baby soft, again, once more. Skin on skin.
It’s much later, after midnight, when Damien shows her the news.MOST WANTEDstates the headline.
DAMIEN SEABORN ALSO MISSING
IN A TWIST in the British mother/daughter fugitive story, husband and father Damien Seaborn is now missing. Police suspect him to have joined his wife and daughter in shock on-the-run move.
Houston FBI Special Agent Fiona Blakemore and Fort Davis Police Chief Michael Holmes have today announced a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Damien, Simone and Lucy Seaborn.
The article goes on to rehash events they already know about, and Simone closes it, then stares at her husband.
‘A reward,’ he says. ‘It’s so much easier to find three peoplethan two. We’re so distinctive as a three. And now the general public will be motivated to do it, too. We’ve got to get out of here. We’ve got to have a plan to get out of here. Once I got to Terlingua, Simone, you were easy to find.’
‘I promised Lucy we’d see it through with Moody.’
‘Look.’ Damien sighs. ‘Let’s try and get the identities. You just send the guy a message. With photos.’
‘That’s such a risk.’
‘Everything’s a risk,’ Damien says tightly. Simone looks at her patient husband in surprise. Their relationship creaks and strains under the weight of their crimes.
‘Let’s just … take the photos. Tomorrow,’ he says. ‘We don’t have to send them.’
And Simone supposes that this is how it goes. The slippery criminal slope.
Damien rubs at his forehead. He starts to pull his T-shirt off, then stops halfway through. ‘God,’ he says. ‘It’s unbelievable. These will be for false identities. False IDs. Us!’
‘I kind of can’t believe you’ve even researched this,’ she says. He stands there and looks at her, his expression hurt. ‘In order to be with us.’
‘Of course I have.’
‘But …’
‘I would never want to be anywhere else,’ he says. ‘Despite –’ He pauses, appearing to stop himself.
‘Despite what?’
‘Despite everything,’ he says, but it’s clearly a lie. His Adam’s apple bobs up and down in a hard swallow.
‘What did you really mean?’
‘Despite our argument,’ he says quietly.
‘OK,’ she whispers, and she thinks about how she went from her maiden name to Seaborn, and now, with him, will be called something else entirely.
They move around each other, husband and wife in this most domestic of scenes, removing their clothes for bed, knowing that, together, they’re about to enter some other place. An underworld that neither of them is prepared for or understands.
CHAPTER 57
