Bill sat up straighter. “You think the police might have shot Blake? That he’s the killer?”

“We don’t know,” I said. “We really don’t. But we’re worried.”

Karen and Bill exchanged a look, their faces pale.

“And we’re worried about his fiancée, Sam,” Amanda said. “You’ve met her, Mom. She came to the baby shower here.”

Karen nodded as Henry squirmed on the floor next to her. “A sweet girl, yes. I remember her. The teacher.”

“She’s at the police station too. They wanted to talk to her about Blake. So it’s kind of a stressful time.”

“I hear you,” Karen said. “But she’s a smart girl. It’s always up to the women to keep things together when the men do crazy stuff and go off the rails. Do you remember when your father wanted to buy a motorcycle and I had to talk him out of it?”

Bill ignored Karen as his face shifted from confusion to concern. “Do you want me to turn it off, honey? I can if it’s upsetting either of you. A young girl dying like this. I guess it’s upsetting to all of us. They showed her parents this morning . . . coming into the police station.” He swallowed. Hard. “It’s hell for them.”

And my mind went to the Steiners. To Dawn. If Amanda’s family found out about the accident, about my being the driver . . . everything would come up again. The old scabs and scars would break open like a fault in the earth.

“I know, Dad. But we want to watch it. We just . . . It could be difficult. For all of us.”

“Keep the volume lower, Bill,” Karen said.

The commercial ended, and first we saw the anchor in the studio, and then they threw the feed back to the reporter at the police station. She held a piece of paper in front of her and, just as Bill turned the volume back up, she told us that she had breaking news from a source inside the police department. They had learned the identity of the man killed by the police earlier that day.

My hand fumbled in the space between Amanda and me until it gripped hers. When it did, I squeezed tight, and she squeezed back. Her skin felt warm. Comforting.

I had no idea how much this announcement meant to me. I had no idea how much I feared hearing that Blake was dead. I felt a variety of emotions for him, many of them negative. And I had no idea what he might have done to Jennifer.

But to think of his life being extinguished, to think of him losing his cool so much that the police killed him, how could it even be possible? The fear I felt traveled through me like freezing water, chilling every outpost of my body. I pulled Amanda a little closer, hoping for warmth.