“Yes, I called Nick. I got hold of his sister, Sabrina. She said she’d be down to see you later today. She said she normally charges a ten-thousand-dollar retainer, but because you know her brother, she’ll drop it to five.”

“We’ll use the bonus money. You know which account it’s in, right?”

She didn’t answer.

“Lisa, listen to me. It’s going to be okay.”

“How can you say that? This is exactly what you were afraid would happen. I begged you to go to the police from the start. Look around, look where you are. Police have searched our home, seized my car. I had to rent one. I’m terrified. I had TV reporters knocking on our door.”

“Did you tell them anything?”

“No, nothing,” she said. “This is a nightmare.”

Through her tears, Lisa stared long and hard into his eyes.

“Tell me, Jeff. What did you do?”

“Stop.”

Tears rolled down her face. “Because you know—”

“Stop asking me questions. Nothing is what you think it is. Nothing, I swear.”

“—you know what I found in—”

“Lisa, please stop! Everything’s being recorded!”

“I don’t care! I’m your wife! I deserve to know the truth. Or else I walk out of here and get on the next plane to Cleveland!”

She searched his face, finding his desperation so intense that for an instant she no longer recognized her husband. A stranger was sitting on the other side of the glass.

“The truth,” she said again.

“I believed Vida was going to destroy everything, and I believed—truly believed—we would end up with nothing, end up on the street. It terrified me. I panicked, tried to stop her. I looked for her but couldn’t find her. I didn’t hurt her, and I didn’t have sexual relations with her. I took her concept, her idea, and built on it, and maybe I tried to pass it off as my own. But that’s all I did.” He looked at the ceiling; he was blinking back tears. “I know I’m asking a lot of you, Lisa, but we’ve built a life together. We’re having a baby.” Jeff rubbed at his haggard face. “In your heart you know me, like I know you. We’ve carried so much pain all of our lives. God knows I’ve got problems, and I don’t have all the answers, but I’m telling you the truth, and I’m begging you to believe me.”

Pushing back on her tears, she managed a tepid nod that wounded him.

“I have to go,” he said. “I have to work on some notes for the attorney. They haven’t charged me with anything. I don’t know how long they can hold me. I hope Sabrina can get me out of here as soon as possible.”

Lisa brushed at her wet cheeks.