“Yes, you do. I’m old and I don’t want to go to prison. All you need to tell them is that I invited you here, and when I attacked you, you defended yourself. You can tell them I’d stopped being able to sleep, and that I did it all for you. Or just tell them you have no idea what went wrong with me, and they’ll come up with their own ideas.”

“It’s too warm in here, Jake,” Alice said, standing and going to look at the thermostat on the wall.

“Do you remember when we first met? Right down there on the beach. You were in a green bathing suit and I’d never seen anyone so beautiful.”

“You were with my mother.”

“No, I don’t think so. It was just the two of us.”

Alice turned from the thermostat to look at Jake. He was wrong about how they’d met, but she did remember meeting him, how strong he looked, how sure of himself he was. He’d lost all that now.

“Okay, I’ll do it,” Alice said.

“Yes?”

“How . . . exactly?” Alice walked to the nearest window, the one that looked out over the parking lot. She twisted the lock, noticing the grime that had accumulated on the sill, and cracked the window. The smell of salt air came into the condo almost immediately.

“There’s a knife in the kitchen,” Jake said. “I’d get it for you but I think you should be the one who pulls it from its block. I’ll hit you once, very lightly, with the cosh, and then you stab me. There won’t be any suspicion, and even if there is, they’ll never prove you weren’t protecting yourself.”

Alice watched as a familiar car—it looked like Harry’s green Honda—turned from Scituate into the condo’s parking lot, pulling into an empty spot next to Alice’s Volvo.

“Harry’s here,” she said, still watching the car.

“What?”

“I’m pretty sure Harry’s here,” she said, then watched as the driver’s side door opened, and it was Harry who stepped out, turning and looking up at the condo building. Alice moved back from the window. “It’s him. He’s here.”

“Then it has to be done right now.”

“Okay, I’ll do it,” Alice said. “Where?” And suddenly she did want to kill Jake, not as a favor to him, but because she was angry.

“In the kitchen.” Jake picked up the sock filled with quarters from the coffee table, and Alice followed him into the alcove. “Tell them we were talking in here. I wasn’t making any sense, and I threatened you. You pulled out the knife and protected yourself.”

“You have to hit me.”

“I’ll hit you lightly. It won’t matter.” Jake pointed at the knife block. “Take that one there, top right, it’s the sharpest.”