“Nobody had broken into her house,” Kyle said. “The cops mentioned that to me.”

I knew what I knew—Blake had the door code. It surprised me the cops would tell Kyle something like that if he was a suspect. But as if he had read my mind, he provided more information.

“See,” he said, “they figure somebody knew her door code. That’s what they kept talking about. That door code. They think that’s how the killer got in without breaking and entering or whatever. And I knew that code. Jennifer just gave it to me recently. It’s silly, but it felt like a step forward for us. You know?” He almost smiled at some private, happier memory. “We’d had some rocky times lately because of Blake. He kept trying to contact her, and I didn’t like it. I don’t know what he wanted, but he kept reaching out to her. But she told me she was really done with him. Absolutely. Sometimes she went to yoga late, and I’d meet her afterward. That’s what we were doing last night. Or, I guess, trying to do before . . . Well, I went over there to surprise her.”

“Surprise her? She didn’t know you were coming?”

Kyle’s eyes flashed. “Sure. Don’t you ever surprise your wife? Chocolates? Flowers? A surprise. That’s what it was.”

I wasn’t reassured, but I nodded. “Sure. Okay. Well, let’s hope the police figure it all out soon.” I took a step back, heading for the door.

“Where is he?” Kyle asked. “Blake. Where is he?”

The temperature in the room dropped. A cold sensation passed across my skin. Kyle’s voice had taken on a different timbre. Something edgier. More desperate. More angry.

“I told you—I don’t know. That’s why I’m here. I’m looking as well.”

Involuntarily, I took another step backward.

Kyle turned to face me. Finally. I saw his face. Pale. But something hot burned in his eyes.

“They’re going to hang this on me, you know,” he said. “We’d been dating. They always look at the boyfriend. And I knew the code. . . .”

“Maybe it was one of those convicts she worked with. That’s something for the cops to look into.”

“Maybe. Or maybe your friend.”

“If I find him, I’m going to make him go to the police.”

“I’m a suspect,” Kyle said. “They told me not to leave town. They want to keep talking to me. They want me to give hair samples . . . DNA. . . . She really drove me crazy, you know. How much I wanted her . . .”

“I have to go,” I said. “I have some other problems to solve in addition to whatever is going on with Blake.”

But Kyle was shaking his head. And then he moved toward me before I could get away.

“I can’t let you leave.”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO