They’ve told him about Julia’s apparent suicide attempt. He cannot believe it, that their lives have fallen apart so completely so quickly. They let him talk briefly to his lawyer, who updated him on Julia regaining consciousness, but he doesn’t know any more.

And now they’ve pulled him from his cell and made him wait, when a woman comes in.

Alone. The woman sits down across from him. He glances at the door and sees Ames standing there. Then the detective shuts the door.

This woman looks vaguely familiar but he can’t place her. Grayish blue eyes, tiny mole on her cheek, slightly crooked front tooth.

“Hello, Mr. Pollitt. It’s been a long time.”

“Do I know you?”

“We never formally met. I spoke to your wife, not to you.” Her voice is soft, with a slight New England accent. She’s in a somber gray suit, her hair pulled back, minimal jewelry.

Now he sees it. He knows her.

Iris called her “the warning woman.” The one who made Iris nearly lose her mind in the London airport. The one who told them to go home.

“In London,” he says, stunned.

“Yes. And also in Saint Petersburg, but I don’t think Iris ever told you about our meeting there, did she?”

“No, she didn’t.”

“Things might have been so different if she had.”

“What—what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to help you. But I need to know information.”

“Who are you?”

“If you want to help your family, we won’t spend time on your questions. Do you understand me?”

“No! What is going on…?”

“Do you understand me?”

He stops. He looks at her. Somehow she has gotten into this room, with the blessing of the police. “Yes.”

“Did you kill Danielle? There is nothing to gain from a lie.”

He wonders if Ponder is watching. “No. I didn’t.”

“Why did you say you did?”

“I thought…I thought I would be protecting someone.”

“Iris?”

“Yes.”

“She had a motive to kill Danielle, as did you. You’ve had a motive for a while.”

He doesn’t want to say it, but finally he does. “But we didn’t.”

“Did Danielle ever tell you what really happened in Russia?”

“What really…?” He stops, waits for her to say more, but she doesn’t. So he can only give one answer. “No. I guess she didn’t.”

She slides a phone to him. “Call your wife. Tell her to collect your son and go to an address I’m going to give you. We will meet them there.”

He slides the phone back. “I’m not telling her to go anywhere with you until you tell me what is happening.”

“I can do that, but I cannot do it here. Not here.” He realizes she means not here in the jail.

“Well, I can’t go anywhere right now,” he says.