I sat down heavily on the carpeted step. John Pinnock had been in the hospital on the night Pug was murdered. There was no way he could be the killer.

*   *   *

That evening, Rafe and I drove out to meet Ryan. It was Thursday night, and though we were far closer to finding out who’d killed Pug, we still didn’t for sure know the killer’s identity, and we didn’t have proof of anything. We’d come up with the bare bones of a plan to discuss with Ryan, but we still had two suspects.

“John Pinnock couldn’t have done it,” I said. “So it’s either Ian Breece or Skyler Ellison.”

Rafe looked grim, an expression so rare on him it took me a minute to recognize it. “What you said about Ian. All those financial setbacks. He’s a good guy. I like him. But if you have enough money troubles that you might lose your home, your livelihood, the life you’ve been building for yourself and your family?” He shook his head. “I can see how that would drive you to desperation. To do things you’d never consider otherwise.”

I’d been thinking the same thing. Briefly, I tried to put myself in Ian’s place but gave up quickly. Until you were in the middle of a situation, could you know what you’d do? Know for sure? “And there’s Skyler.”

“Yeah, I know he’s the other one on the list,” Rafe said. “But I don’t get the why. What’s the motive?”

I was having the same problem. Money didn’t seem to make sense, as Skyler had already walked away from a huge inheritance and, if we could believe what the neighbor had said, he could walk back to it anytime he chose. “Doesn’t mean there isn’t one,” I said weakly.

Rafe nodded. “Everyone has secrets.”

“Not—” I stopped, because there were indeed a handful of things Rafe didn’t know about me. Embarrassing things that weren’t important in the grand scheme of things, but was there any real reason for him to know that I’d once mistakenly sent a text to my graduate school adviser that had been meant for my then boyfriend? No, there was not. I faked a cough and said, ungrammatically, “Not hardly anyone has a secret worth killing over.”

After a quick glance at me, Rafe said, “And there’s always the chance that the killer is someone we haven’t considered.”

I didn’t want to think about that, but since I was trying to be a better person, I sat up straight to face the truth of his statement and said, “Well, if Ian and Skyler don’t show up tomorrow night, the trap will let us know that, too.”

“What if one of them is the killer but has something else going on?” Rafe asked. “How will we know?”