“That computer. The story. I threw the phone away, but there’s stuff on the computer.” He placed his hand on my chest, letting it rest there. He patted me and then squeezed the material of my shirt. “People can get hurt by those things on there. People who don’t need to get hurt.”

“You mean Sam? Doesn’t she know about Jennifer?”

He scrambled to find the right words. “It’s . . . People can get hurt. That’s all I’m saying. Think about whether you want all of that to happen.”

The door opened above us. Footsteps moved across the floor above us.

“Rossingville Police.”

“I want the truth to come out,” I said. “All of it.”

I saw the veins in his forehead, the pores on his cheeks. “You don’t know what you’re doing, Ryan. Just be careful about what you say. A lot of people can still be hurt here.”

“What are you worried about? Losing a job with Sam’s dad? Is that all you care about?”

“Be careful.”

“You’re going to face legal jeopardy for the accident. Remember? No statute of limitations. I’m telling them everything. And Sam’s family will know. Everyone will know.”

The cops started down the stairs. I saw their black shoes, their guns drawn.

And I said one more thing to Blake. And I hoped to stick to it forever.

“And then you and I really and truly won’t ever see each other again.”

CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX

When we first arrived at the police station in Rossingville and before the questioning began, Detective Rountree allowed me to call Amanda on one of their landlines. They’d removed my personal effects, including my phone, so I sat at an empty desk and resorted to using a beat-up and out-of-date phone book, the cover so battered it fell to the floor, to find my in-laws’ number. I didn’t know it by heart. I hadn’t dialed it that way in . . . ever.

When Amanda came on the line, I told her what I could tell her in the few minutes I was allotted, straining to hear her voice over the din of the police station. Ringing phones and chattering conversations, a siren wailing outside. More than anything I made sure she and Henry were safe, and I told her Aaron was in custody, unable to come near or harm anyone else.