THEY SPENT A FEW MORE minutes with Esther, but the woman had no idea why Alyssa left. She would have graduated if she’d completed her finals, but she was a no-show. Her mother was asked about it, but she was no help. The woman had given up on life after her husband’s death. Eventually she was placed in a nursing home, where she stayed until her death. Esther said she didn’t believe that Alyssa ever came back to visit her mother.

Abby was just about to put the car in reverse and leave the care facility parking lot when her phone buzzed. It was Bill, her partner in homicide. Heart skipping a beat, she immediately thought the worst: that something had happened to Luke and Woody on their drive down.

“I have to answer this,” she told Gunther as she left the car in park. “Bill, what’s wrong?”

“Whoa, sorry you think I’d only call you when something is wrong.” He paused and Abby started to relax. Everything changed when he continued.

“And doubly sorry, because something is wrong. Kelsey Cox escaped from custody.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“There was a crash on the 710, city of Commerce. What I’m hearing is that there was lot of chaos, a fire. One of the drivers in another car was killed, and in all the confusion, four prisoners slipped away and Cox was one of them.”

Abby frowned and had to think for a moment. The city jail only held prisoners for a short period of time, unless they were sentenced to city time, and that only happened with male prisoners. There was no long-term female prisoner detention. “Why wasn’t she transferred right after her plea? Why a week later?”

“I can’t answer that. . . . Uh, wait . . .”

Abby could hear the crackle of the radio in the background.

“Looks like three of the escapees are back in custody.” There was another long pause. “But Cox is not one of them. I’m sure she’ll be caught quickly, but I just wanted you to know.”

“Thanks, Bill.”

Luke and Woody were almost to Long Beach before the radio broadcast a breaking news story.

“What did he just say?” Woody asked as he turned up the radio.

Very clearly the newsman announced an escape from the jail bus.

“What? Escape to where?” Luke wondered, knowing there wasn’t anywhere to run to in the area mentioned.

As the story continued and the names of the missing prisoners were mentioned, he tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

“Kelsey Cox?” He cast a surprised glance at an equally surprised Woody and wondered what the calamity would mean to Abby

“She’ll be caught. Don’t sweat it,” Woody said with conviction.

“She pleaded guilty. No one forced her to admit to the crime. Why run now?”

“Maybe she just realized how tough fifteen years will be and wanted to see how far she could get. It won’t be far.”

Luke relaxed his grip on the wheel and conceded that he had to agree with Woody. In the age of electronics, helicopters, and heat-detecting radar, a jailbreak was foolish. Back east there had been a sophisticated prison break when two men had tunneled out from the largest maximum-security prison in New York. Sure, they were on the run for a few weeks, but they were eventually caught. One was killed, the other taken back to jail. Even if Kelsey could evade for a while, where would she go?

All Luke could do was shake his head. Kelsey Cox couldn’t be a danger to him or Abby anymore . . . could she?