“Well, I’m sorry you went over there for nothing,” she said. “Look, come back. Okay? We need to talk. I’d get my dad to drive me over there, but he’d just ask a bunch of questions. They both would. And I’m not up for that right now. I want us to talk first. Okay?”

“And you’re not going to tell me about what?”

“So you’re coming back over?” she asked, her voice brightening.

I heard Karen talking in the background. She must have come in, and was hovering over Amanda like she was a teenager plotting with her boyfriend.

“Okay. See you soon.”

If Amanda’s goal had been to light a fire under me, it worked. I rushed through the house, out to the back door. I dropped my keys and then kicked them, like I was in a one-man Three Stooges routine. When I straightened up from grabbing them, somebody called my name.

A familiar voice.

I looked over to the garage. Blake emerged from around the corner, looking like he hadn’t slept in a month. His clothes were disheveled, his hair wild.

“What the hell happened to you?” I asked.

“I thought you were meeting me here.”

“I was. Now Amanda needs me. And I’m sorry, but I take her wishes more seriously than yours. Especially when you’re late.”

“It was unavoidable.”

“It must have been. You look like you couldn’t avoid the tractor that rolled over you.”

He sighed and leaned against the side of the garage. In the bright sunlight, I saw a bruise on his left cheek. His shirt hung out of his pants, and his shoes were covered with mud.

“I’m tired,” he said.

“So am I. Tired of all of this. And I want it finished. I thought that’s why we were meeting here today. We were going to do something together, and that would be the end of this. Kyle killed Jennifer. And he’s dead. So what else is there?”

“I just wanted to look at that stuff from Jen’s phone before we go to the police. I just want to see it.”

“Why? Never mind. There’s plenty to see.”

My phone chimed. Amanda.

Are you on your way?

I should have been driving. She hated it when I glanced at my phone while I was driving. And my car was too old to have the most up-to-date Bluetooth technology that read your texts to you.

“I have to go,” I said. “And after all the craziness of the last day, I don’t want anyone in the house. Can we do this later?”

“It can’t wait.”

“Why?”

“Ryan, just let me in to see it. There are things going on with Sam. I just need to figure some things out. Okay?”

“Wait until I get back.”