Jamie Usher returns to find a Manchester police car parked across his driveway and immediately assumes the officers are inside speaking to Jill. Seeing the living-room curtains closed, Jamie imagines Jill trying to shield the scene from neighbours while also realizing that whatever the police want, it will likely destroy the fresh start they tried to build in Manchester.

From his car, Jamie tries to work out what mistake has exposed him. He reflects that Jill moved with him so he could leave his old criminal habits behind, but Jamie has slipped back into them. Jamie knows Jill will not protect him if the police ask questions, and he fears that breaking his promise to change may finally end the marriage.

Jamie forces himself to think practically instead of emotionally. Because he does not know whether the police want him for something minor or something serious, Jamie decides he cannot risk going home. Jamie concludes that he must run, using the money he has and leaving Manchester before the police become alert to his car.

As Jamie considers who could have led the police to him, he remembers the two older women who recently visited Jill. One of them, Elizabeth, struck Jamie as unusually sharp, and the police arrival soon afterward no longer feels like coincidence. Jamie takes out the card Elizabeth gave him and studies her name and phone number.

Knowing Jill will soon expect him home, Jamie drives away before his absence makes the police more suspicious. At the main road, Jamie chooses south over north after recalling that Elizabeth said she was from Kent. Accepting that both Manchester and perhaps Jill are now lost to him, Jamie heads south with Elizabeth Best's card and the radio on for the journey.