And yet, despite how hurt I was that James had never told me about the engagement, I could also understand why. He must have known it would upset me to learn that he’d wanted to marry another woman, and probably decided that since it had all happened long before he met me, there was no reason for me to know. He wouldn’t consider it a lie but a small omission—just a way to spare me pain. I knew him well enough to understand that this was how his brain worked.

And yet. Now that I knew my husband had been keeping one secret from me, I couldn’t help but wonder what else he hadn’t told me. About his relationship with Hannah. About his life before our marriage.

James walked into the living room and kissed me hello on one cheek. Then he saw my expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“We need to talk.”

“I know. That’s why I came home a little early. I wasn’t up to it at last night, after the day I had, but I know you need to be in the loop about everything that’s going on.”

“Yes. I’d like to know everything.”

James sat heavily on the opposite end of the couch from me. He leaned forward and bridged his hands in front of him. When he spoke, he stared straight ahead, not looking at me.

“The police are working on the theory that Hannah was likely killed on the night she disappeared. They have two possible scenarios: The first is that she was killed on the beach, and her body was carried roughly a half-mile into the campgrounds to the location where she was buried. That would explain why the search dogs lost her scent at the shoreline. The problem with that is, it would’ve been really difficult for one person to transport a body that far on foot, and on uneven ground.”

He sounded so dispassionate, I got the feeling that he had rehearsed what he was telling me. Also, I noted that he had finally referred to Hannah by name.

“So it would have probably been a man,” I interjected.

“Right. If that’s what happened, it was most likely a man, or possibly two or more men.”

“What’s the other scenario?”

“That someone—and this could be anybody—lured Hannah away from the campsite and killed her closer to the location where her body was discovered,” James said.

“Okay. But either way, you were asleep in your tent when Hannah left the campsite. Parker said he saw you there,” I said. “Shouldn’t that be enough to clear you?”