“Doesn’t surprise me. She’s a very bad person.”

“Maybe it’s coming back to haunt her. I think she’s in physical danger. She’s missing, and no one knows where she is. If you know any friends who might be hiding her, I’d like to hear about it. Be nice to know that she’s alive.”

Jacob blanched. For a brief moment, Decker entertained the thought that Jacob had something to do with her disappearance. And although that was absurd, Decker had a sinking feeling that he had touched upon something. He continued to examine the boy’s face. “Do you have something you want to tell me?”

Jacob was silent, but unnerved.

“Jacob—”

“Nothing!” He turned his face away. “I don’t know anything!”

Decker didn’t have time for niceties. “Stop lying, damn it! Jacob, she’s in trouble. Spit it out!”

“I don’t know where she is!” Jacob screamed. “Why the hell do you always assume the worst with me! I’m not a total fuckup! And fuck you, if you think I am!”

Without thinking, Decker slapped him across the face, hard enough to snap the kid’s face back; hard enough to leave a sizeable palm print. “Don’t you ever, ever speak that way to me!”

The boy’s eyes smoldered as he held his stinging cheek, glaring with hatred at his stepfather. “I could report you to the authorities.”

“Go right ahead, big shot! I’ll give you the goddamn number!”

Tears formed in the bright blue eyes. “How come you can swear and I can’t?”

“Because I’m a parent and I’m a hypocrite.” Decker leaned over, grabbed the boy’s chin, and bored into his eyes. “She’s either a perpetrator or a victim. Either way, she’s in deep shit! What can you tell me about it?”

Jacob jerked his face away and looked down, still holding his cheek. “I don’t know where she is!”

Decker was silent. Then he spoke softly. “But you know something.”

It took a while for Jacob to find his voice. It was hidden somewhere between embarrassment and rage. “You remember that I…I told you that I got into a hassle with her at a party—”

“You told me that you threatened to kill her.”

Jacob nodded. “Sort of.”

“Go on!”