"It offers its share of options anyway," John says and he knows from experience it's a good city to disappear into. That might not have been what Karen wanted, a fresh start can mean any number of things, but he knows there are plenty of people who run to New York for the crowds, for the relative anonymity, for the ability of people to slip through the cracks and never be heard from again.

That had been his plan, after all. To sleep on the streets, to be homeless, nameless, entirely without identity until one day he just died.

"I had someone ask me once, if I wanted to be homeless why I didn't go somewhere warmer," he admits with a small smile. "And I think the truth is that I would have missed the snow."