“Are you thinking of killing David?”

“No! We’re talking about me.”

He sat on the edge of the bed. She was still naked from the waist down and it was not a bad view. “The two best ways to murder someone—if you want to get away with it—are to either push them off a cliff, or drown them in the ocean.”

“Why?”

“Unless someone sees you push your victim off the cliff, you can always argue in court that they jumped or slipped. It’s similar with drowning in the sea, particularly if you can get enough alcohol in your intended victim. You can argue that the person simply fell off the boat and you didn’t know it. That works especially well if you’re in the middle of the sea. In both cases there’s plenty of room for reasonable doubt.”

Amy was interested. “How do you know all this?” “I’m smart.”

“No, really. How did you know how to fake out the FBI when you collected the ransom?”

“I gave it a lot of thought. I had plenty of time.”

“You didn’t read it in a book or something?”

“No.”

She was impressed. “You should have been someone famous.”

“Thank you, darling.”

“Were you scared you would get caught?”

“Of course. But I was confident as well. Where is this conversation going?”

She smiled to herself. “You’re amazing. You do what you want.”

He felt uneasy. The observation more accurately applied to her.

“Violence is for the impatient,” he said.

She continued to dress. “I’ll talk to David again tonight.”

“Have you brought up the idea that you might be leaving the state?”

“Yes. He just gets furious.”

“Has he given up hope of finding Jimmy?”

“He’ll never give up hope.”

Matt felt a stab of guilt. “He loves him that much?”

Amy shook her head as she pulled on her jeans. “I don’t know if David knows what love is. But he misses Jimmy, he’ll never stop looking for him.”

Again, the threat. “We should leave now,” he muttered.

“No. It’ll look suspicious. Besides, we need the money.”

“You won’t get that much. You weren’t married long.”

“He’ll pay me to keep my mouth shut.”

“About what?”

“How he messed up the ransom exchange, for one thing.”

“He didn’t mess it up. He never stood a chance to begin with.”

“It doesn’t matter. David is sensitive to criticism. He can’t stand people knowing what a prick he is. You know he’s hit me. So far, I haven’t talked about it, but he knows I might.”

He did not like the way her mind worked—so calculated. “This is California. He has to grant you a divorce. You don’t need to threaten him.”

She was annoyed again. “You talk to me about threats?”