It was a measure of how crazy and upside down things had become that even Amanda summoned empathy for Blake, who had found himself a person of interest in Jennifer’s death. While I harbored my own anger toward him for so many things, not the least of which was involving me in Jennifer’s death by sending me into her house the night before, I shared that relief with Amanda. Some of the weight that had been pressing down on my shoulders had been lifted.

But I still had Dawn Steiner and her looming deadline to deal with.

One thing at a time . . .

“Just don’t let him hold Henry anymore,” Karen said. “You have to be careful with those things.”

“Excuse me,” I said, and stood up from the table.

As I left the room, I heard Amanda assuring both of her parents that Blake wouldn’t be holding Henry anytime soon.

“He’s getting married this weekend,” Amanda said. “And Sam’s a good influence. He might be ready to grow up. . . .”

As I walked to the front of the house, I started to recognize a shift in my perspective. Compared to Kyle Dornan, trying to break down the door of our house, Blake seemed like an okay guy. If the worst thing he ever did in Amanda’s eyes was bonk our baby’s head against a lampshade, then he seemed to be doing okay.

I went into the living room, which was small, overfurnished, and barely used. In fact, I didn’t think I’d ever spent any real time in there. When Karen and Bill hosted parties—at Christmas, say, or for the Kentucky Derby—their guests usually just threw their coats on the couch in there.

I looked over my shoulder to make sure I was alone and then I called Blake. And I waited while the phone rang incessantly.

“Come on. Come on.”

I heard the voice mail greeting again. I tried one more time, and on the third ring, he answered.

“Finally,” I said.

“Hey. Sorry.”

“Where have you been? What’s going on?”

“It’s a long story,” he said.

“I can imagine. But I’d like to know what you’ve been doing. The cops have been looking for you. Sam is worried about you. And this guy, this Kyle Dornan guy—did you hear about him?”

“Yes, I did. I just heard it on the car radio.” He let out a relieved sigh. “Yeah, it’s pretty crazy, isn’t it? I mean really, really crazy.”

“Have you talked to Sam again?”

“I’m going to talk to her. Soon. You know, she’s dealing with a lot too.”

“She’s at the police station,” I said. “At least, she was the last I knew. The detective working the case wanted to bring her in and talk to her about everything that was going on. I guess mostly she wanted to ask her about you.”