103Immediately after his attack on Noah Tanner—an event that had given him an unexpected thrill—he had driven about ten miles and pulled off the road. He removed the SIM card from his phone and tossed it and his mobile in the river. His next concern was the car. The rental was in his name.
He had lied when he told Noah he knew nothing about cars. He had some well-heeled friends who enjoyed racing expensive sports cars for fun and who found some strange joy in getting their hands dirty under the hood. Though he didn't understand the attraction, and though all of them could afford to pay mechanics to tweak the car engines, they performed the chore themselves, and, on occasion, he learned useful skills. That his pathetic father had toiled as an automobile mechanic his entire life—coming home
