“I have a three-month-old baby. Well, three months next week. She kept us up most of the night,” he explained.

Somehow, I managed to smile back at him. “I remember those days. It’s exhausting, but wonderful at the same time.”

“True enough. Your husband will be out shortly.”

I sat down at one of the unoccupied tables. They’d taken my handbag away when I entered the jail, so I clutched my hands in my lap.

Suddenly, James was there, shuffling toward me. He was wearing the same blue scrubs as the other prisoners, as well as plastic shower shoes. I stood quickly and reached for him. Before I could touch him, the officer behind the glass window spoke through an intercom. “Ma’am, you’re not allowed to touch the inmate.”

I froze, staring at James wordlessly. Inmate?

“Maggie.” He breathed my name. “I wish you hadn’t come. I don’t want you in this place.”

“Of course I came. I was talking to Paige. She was freaking out, and I was in the middle of trying to calm her down when your lawyer called and told me you were arrested . . .” I stopped, as the words stuck in my throat. “What’s going on?”

James shook his head, and then briefly pressed his hands to his face. “They arrested me for murder. I have no idea why, or on what grounds. Natalie said we’ll find out more at the bond hearing tomorrow morning.”

“So you have to stay here overnight?” I’d assumed I’d be able to post his bail immediately.

“Maggie, you don’t understand. They think I did it. They think I killed Hannah. They want to put me in prison for the rest of my life.”

My husband and I stared at one another as the terror of this reality stretched between us.

“You said Paige is upset?” he asked.

“Of course she’s upset! She’d seen a bunch of news stories about Hannah’s death online, and your name was apparently mentioned in connection with them. She had . . . a lot of questions.” And she would have many more now, I thought, with a wave of dread. “She wants to come home. But I’ll call her back tonight. I have to tell her you were arrested, but I’ll try to talk her out of taking time off of school to come home. That’s not going to help anything.”

“No, please don’t tell her I was arrested. I couldn’t bear that.”

“James.” I frowned at my usually whip-smart husband, concerned that the stress was starting to affect his mental acuity. “Of course she’s going to find out. Your arrest is going to be on the news. Certainly locally, and possibly even nationally.”

James covered his face again. “This is a nightmare. This can’t be happening. It’s just insane!”

“I know, it doesn’t make any sense. Did the detective find new evidence?”