“You can search,” Diana says, “as soon as you have a warrant. My client doesn’t need his rights violated any more than they already have been. That’s assuming the guy down at the station, the one who has already displayed violent tendencies and a predilection for breaking into my client’s home, isn’t the source of any other evidence you might be searching for.”

“You’re lucky, Diana. I do need to get down to the station and talk to Mr. Greenfield.”

“As taxpayers, we all appreciate your dedication to your job.”

“This isn’t over, though,” Bowman says. “Where’s the passport?”

Diana looks at me.

“It’s in my office. Top drawer on the left. I can get it—”

“You sit,” Diana says. She goes to retrieve it and comes back. “Here you go.”

“And he can’t go anywhere else,” Bowman says to Diana as if I’m not here. “Not out of the city. At all.”

“He’ll be here.”

Bowman smacks the passport against her palm.

“We’ll be talking soon, Dr. Nye,” she says as she goes. “Very soon.”

Once Bowman and the paramedics are gone, I look at Diana. She sits down in the chair across from me, her purse in her lap.

“What gives?” I ask. “I thought you wanted me to tell her everything?”

“I want you to tell her everything that’s relevant. Maybe the authorship of the book isn’t at this point. Or maybe you want to take a little time to decide if you really want to admit to that. You were under duress before—and now. Do you still want to do it?”

My head is throbbing. And so is my heart. But I’m not really under duress. Not about this issue. Not in the way Diana suggests.

“I do, Diana. I just want to be finished with my part in this mess. I want a clean break. And if they figure out Zach did all this, then I can help them wrap it up.”

“Fair enough.” She stands up from the chair. “I’ll arrange it with Bowman. Once she’s done with Zach, I’ll get you there.”

“Thanks, Diana.”

“Stay out of trouble in the meantime, okay?”

“I promise.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

REBECCA

PRESENT

Rebecca returns home at the end of the day. Ordinarily she rides the bus, a slow, rattling trip from campus back to her apartment.

But not tonight. Not after everything that’s happened.

Not after working, after classes.

Not after spending the morning at the police station.

Not after finding out someone murdered Madeline. Someone who is still out there.