“I don’t understand,” Jenny said. She looked from me to Land. “You think Junie’s father might have had something to do with this?” I could hear the accusation in her voice, and underneath it the total lack of surprise. No one would want to hurt Izzy, no animal who would cut a girl’s throat was part of the Logans’ neat and tidy lives. So it had to be Junie. She’d brought this on their daughter, not the other way around. The worst part was I thought Jenny was probably right.

“Jimmy Ray’s not her father,” I said, voice hard. “And he wasn’t involved. Even he has standards.” Honestly, I had some doubt about Jimmy Ray’s standards, or lack thereof, but I needed to believe he wasn’t capable of something like this.

For a moment no one spoke, the buzz from the fluorescent lights like a jackhammer inside my head. “What about her actual father, then?” Land said finally. “What’s his story? Could he have been involved?”

“No,” I said, nothing more.

“He live around here?” Land pressed.

I sighed, knew he was doing this for the benefit of the Logans. Land was already well aware of my status as a tried-and-true single mother. “Nope,” I said. “It was one time. He was passing through town. A fuck-and-run, I think they call it.” Zach stiffened up next to me, and I felt a cheap thrill at having shocked him.

“Never saw him again?” Land said.

Memories of that single night flashed through my mind: dark, tousled hair and big-city dreams; equal parts wild and sweet and my back scraped raw on the edge of the diner’s countertop; the hand he’d laid on my cheek before he drove away. I pushed the memories back where they belonged. “I haven’t laid eyes on him since that night.”

Land nodded, looked down at the notebook in front of him, but not before I saw the gleam of satisfaction in his gaze. But if he was hoping to humiliate me, he’d have to do a lot better than that. He already has, my mind whispered, and now it was my turn to look away.

“Can you walk me through this morning?” he said, glancing at Jenny. “What time did the girls leave your house?”

Jenny worried her hands together, took a shaky breath. “Um . . . Junie was planning on going home after lunch. Early afternoon.” She glanced at me. “I made them grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup around one, and then Junie packed up her things. I was going to drive her home, but Izzy begged me to let them walk. They wanted to play in the snow.” She swiped at her wet cheek with one hand. “They were only twelve,” she whispered. “They just wanted to walk in the snow.”

Zach put one arm around her shoulder, and she leaned her head against him. Her voice was slightly muffled as she continued, “Izzy was going to call me as soon as they got to Junie’s, and I would drive over and pick her up. But instead the police showed up at our door.”