Do you think the cop will be smart enough to figure any of this out? Truly, how much more does she need to put it all together?

I think it’s nearly time for the show to start, don’t you?

I’m not saying I’m playing the man. I’m not saying I killed the girl. I’m just saying I think everything is going to change, very, very soon.

A Challenge Is Given

A CHALLENGE IS GIVEN

The ringing phone was Joel Robinson. Ethan had programmed specific rings into his mobile so he’d know when the calls were important and could ignore the rest. Joel was Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law,” Bill was Dvorˇák’s “New World Symphony,” Officer Graham was the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars.

“We may have a problem,” Joel said. “I need for us to have a little talk. You around?”

“I am.”

There was heavy knocking on the back door. “Is that you?”

“It is. Hurry up and let me in before the vultures see me.”

Ethan had almost forgotten the tribe of newspeople camped in his front yard. He was rather surprised the Franklin Police hadn’t shunted them off; from what he could see, they were practically blocking traffic coming off the circle onto Third Avenue.

Ethan unbolted the back door. Joel slipped inside. He was disheveled and sweating. He’d clearly run over.

“What’s going on?”

“Like I said on the phone, we have a problem. Several, actually. A witness has come forward.”

Ethan felt a spike in his heart rate. He tried to keep his tone even. “They found her?”

“You should sit down.”

Sit? Ethan felt like collapsing in a heap, throwing a tantrum, screaming, and beating his fists against the custom wide-planked rough-hewn white oak floors. You’re better than that. You need to stay cool.

“Tell me,” he said, steel in his voice.

“No, they haven’t found her. But this witness is claiming you killed Sutton. That you were systematically abusing her. They claim you killed the baby, too. The police are reopening Dashiell’s case.”

There were many things he was expecting Joel to say. This was not one of them.

“Dashiell?”

“Yes. The witness claims you poisoned him with an overdose of diphenhydramine. That Sutton discovered this, and you killed her to keep her quiet. It’s a very tidy story, and the police are all over it.”

Ethan felt the bottom of his world falling, slowly spinning away, until he was left standing in very thin air. Wind whipped his hair, lightning flashed. The storm blew in so quickly he didn’t know where it had come from. Rain began to pelt him, and he was quickly soaked to the bone.

To the bone.

To the depths of his soul.