Harlan Coben's Run Away Recap ‘Tattoos While U Wait’: Hit List

Run Away Episode 2

At the hospital where Ingrid Greene lay in an induced coma after she was shot by a drug runner named Luther, young Anya overheard her father telling her aunt Yvonne that he was leaving to continue his as yet fruitless search for Paige. She silently approached on her wheel chair and angrily declared that Paige was not coming back. Young Sam, when he finally called his father back, was also mad at Simon for taking their mother to a drug den, again in search of Paige. The scenes with the two Greene kids cut through the throbbing pain at the heart of the series. Paige was not just missing. She was a drug addict. The last time she was home, six months past, she just left again. It was difficult enough to look for someone, it was doubly difficult to search when that someone did not want to be found. 

Anya and Sam had for sure felt the effects of their father’s desperate desire to bring their sister home. Simon’s viral moment, which led to him getting questioned by the police whilst he was in Anya’s school, came about whilst he was looking for Paige. Whatever was happening with Sam and his need to raise funds (he sent someone eight thousand pounds), it did not look like Simon knew, but Yvonne did. Since he somehow got ahold of Paige’s guitar — which he sold to a jerk who destroyed it on camera for social media clout — perhaps whatever he was doing had something to do with Paige as well. Poor Sam looked so young when he so sincerely told the buyer he was glad the guitar was going to someone who loved music, only to be shaken when his sister’s beloved instrument was destroyed, and he picked up the pieces, including that small piece that had her flower sticker. 

Simon refused to give up on Paige, even with his other kids in pain and his wife in a coma. He went to see Cornelius again, and assured him he did not tell the police he was the one who shot Luther. Cornelius was in the army and was a great shot. He also knew Rocco’s mother from church, and he took Simon to her house so he could talk to Rocco one more time, at a place where he was least likely to wrought violence.

Rocco said Paige came to him wanting a fix after Aaron beat her up, but she had no money so he did not give her any. He never saw her after that. He posited that perhaps Paige killed Aaron; she had reason to. Simon could not accept that, and offered him fifty thousand pounds (his previous offer was ten thousand) to find Paige. 

As Simon and Cornelius left Rocco’s mother’s house, Cornelius received a call from his neighbour. There was a woman in Aaron’s flat. When they got there — Simon thought the woman was Paige — they instead found private investigator Elena, who was also looking for Paige, who messaged Henry (the boy she was paid to look for) and sent him an email. Since Simon had money, why didn’t he just hire a private investigator to find Paige? Perhaps he did and it didn’t work out? And so it was with a Harlan Coben tale — two of the threads have met. 

There was a third thread, the assassins Ash and Dee. When Dee sent Ash off on another assassination, she reminded him to do it differently. Ash shot the man twice, and Dee came up from behind him scolding him, because the last guy also involved two shots. Ash said he was going to make it look like a robbery. As they bickered, a kid came out of the tattoo parlour they had been watching, and saw Dee’s face (Ash was masked). Ash followed the kid inside and killed him. 

So far, it was Ash we saw do the actual killings, but it seemed like Dee was the contact to whom the orders to kill were being coursed. Dee also had this wide and bright eyed look of a fanatic, and from the way she prayed on top of their new stolen vehicle, she seemed to be into something called Shining Truth. Ash was there out of loyalty to what appeared to be a shared childhood. Why Dee was doing what they were doing, it has not been revealed yet.

And what of Ingrid, still in a coma as events happened around her? Was she having an affair with another doctor, Jay? That seemed to be what the police were implying, since Jay remained at Ingrid’s side for hours and he was her alibi on the night Aaron was killed. They were also seen having a rather heated discussion. Later, when DS Fagbenle and his partner who also happened to be his lover received the CCTV footage from the hospital, they saw Ingrid leave on the night Aaron was killed. 

Rating: B

Strays

🪷Elena was definitely freaking out Maria for being at her cafe, again. Perhaps that was why she made sure her daughter was not hanging around?

🪷What was Elena intent on hiding from Lou?

🪷Henry’s father gave Elena a flyer for a tattoo parlour that he found in Henry’s room. This is the same tattoo parlour that Ash and Dee watched, where the second man they killed may have worked. There was a number written on the flyer that she wanted Lou to trace.

🪷I am so happy that Elena’s tech person is not some young whiz but an older lady. 

🪷DS Fagbenle’s theory was that Simon went to Rocco’s drug dungeon because Luther saw him on the night that he killed Aaron, and he went there to silence Luther. With his wife? Without carrying a weapon? Surrounded by other drug dealers? His partner pointed out that Aaron’s death had all the hallmarks of gang on gang violence. 

🪷Luther was in the same hospital as Ingrid; Simon identified him. DS Fagbenle thought Luther looked scared when he saw Simon, which only further convinced him Luther saw Simon kill Aaron.

🪷Cornelius was the keyholder of the Marinduque Estate. But he said he was given a key by Paige and Aaron since they kept losing theirs? If he was the keyholder for the whole estate, would that not mean he had a key on most if not all the flats there?

🪷On that tense scene between Rocco and Simon, with Cornelius watching, the background sound threw me off a bit. Marcus Fraser did well in that scene, the music felt more of a distraction that something that added to the tension. 

🪷What on earth were Yvonne and Sam up to?

Episode Title: Tattoos While U Wait

Episode Writer: Tom Farrelly

Episode Director: Nimer Rashed

Original Release Date: January 1, 2026

You can view Recap Lab’s full coverage of Harlan Coben’s Run Away via this link.