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‘I dropped out of college,’ Brooke lied with an easy grin.

He handed the fake ID back, then nodded to me. ‘And what’s your name?’

‘Jenna Roberts,’ I said, praying that he didn’t ask for us to go to the station with him to confirm our identities.

‘Okay, Ms Roberts. Why don’t I give you both an escort down to the rest stop?’

I couldn’t get a read on him to decide if he was trying to follow us because he didn’t trust us, or if he was one of those over-eager, concerned types.

I glanced at Brooke.

Brooke turned to the deputy. ‘We’ll probably head straight on into Atlanta. I feel much better now.’

‘No problem, ma’am. Drive safe.’

We made a performance of getting into the car and putting our seatbelts on before heading back onto the road.

The deputy lifted his hand in a wave as we pulled away.

‘Shit,’ Brooke murmured. ‘Shit, shit, shit.’ She was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel in a nervous tattoo. ‘He’s going to run my license plate.’

‘You think?’

‘Yeah.’ Brooke looked back over her shoulder, then glanced ahead at the road. ‘I’m going to get off at the next exit. We should take a different route into the city. Maybe bypass Atlanta altogether. Go to Athens, or Birmingham. One or the other, it doesn’t matter.’

I hadn’t seen Brooke this flustered since … ever. But she was right. We had almost got caught, and now it felt like there was a massive spotlight on us.

‘I think we need to get out of this car,’ I said, still checking the rearview mirror every few seconds. ‘It’s too recognizable.’

‘No,’ Brooke said sharply.

‘I know it’s your car, and you love it, but –’

‘No,’ she said, cutting me off. ‘I’m not selling the car. I can’t, Jessie.’

There was something in her voice, theI can’t, that reminded me that this was more than a car to Brooke. It was her freedom. I didn’t know how to balance that against the very real fear that had gripped me.

‘Maybe we should drive it to the airport and leave it in a long-term lot, then?’ I suggested.

‘Someone will steal it,’ she said, her voice rising in panic. ‘And we don’t have enough money to pay to park it and hire another car. We’re just going to have to figure out how to fly under the radar.’

‘Okay,’ I said, taking a breath and trying to think rationally. ‘Okay. We’ll keep going to Atlanta – it’s a big city, right? We can find a hotel with an underground parking lot. Let’s get it out of view, at least.’

I glanced in the rearview mirror again, then at Brooke.

She was chewing the edge of her thumbnail.

‘That could work,’ she said. ‘As long as they don’t follow us into the city.’

‘You can drive faster,’ I said.

‘I can always drive faster,’ she replied with a little smile, and I tried to force myself to relax.

Just outside Atlanta we stopped for gas, this time at a rest stop that looked busy. That was better. It was easier to blend in.

‘You want anything?’ I asked, heading inside to pay.

Brooke shook her head. ‘I’m good.’