I hung up and placed the phone face down on the nightstand.

The room was cold, the heater on the wall emitting a dry, metallic rattle.

I pulled my knees to my chest and watched the green neon light of the motel sign flicker against the water-stained ceiling.

I did not sleep.

At dawn, the rain turned into a heavy, gray drizzle that blurred the Seattle skyline.

Lily stirred, rubbing her eyes with her small fists and clutching her stuffed rabbit.

“Where are we, Mommy?” she asked, her voice raspy with sleep.

“We are staying here for just a little bit, sweetie,” I said, smoothing her tangled hair. “We’re going to get some breakfast, and then we’re going to see Naomi.”

“Is Daddy coming?”

“Not today,” I said.

We ate dry cereal from the motel vending machine, sitting side by side on the edge of the mattress.

By nine-thirty, I was driving through the slick downtown streets, the wipers scraping against the windshield.

Naomi’s office was on the forty-second floor of a glass tower overlooking Elliott Bay.