“So I gathered. But she told her parents she had somewhere else to go, and you don’t know where that is. Right?”

“I don’t know where she is.”

“Do you track each other on your phones? Do you use a friend finder app or anything like that?”

“No, we’ve never used those.” The next words I said came out with more difficulty. I still wasn’t looking at Rountree. “We trusted each other. We said we wouldn’t even do that to Henry when he was older.”

Rountree took a few steps across the room until she’d moved into my line of sight. She made it impossible for me to pretend she wasn’t there. “Do you want to sit down? Maybe she’ll get your messages and call back. Let’s give her a few minutes.”

It was nice of her to say, and she spoke in soothing tones. But I could hear the undercurrent of doubt in her voice. She didn’t really think Amanda was going to call me back. Not anytime soon.

Rountree took the lead and sat on the couch. What else could I do? I followed along and sat on the opposite end. My palms were sweaty, and I wiped the one that wasn’t holding a phone against my pants leg.

“I should offer you something,” I said. “Coffee or water?”

“I’m fine. Do you know why I’m here looking for your wife?”

My mouth felt dry. I wanted water. But I stayed rooted in place on the couch. “No, I don’t. But I assume it has something to do with all of this craziness that’s been going on. Like I told you when you first came in, Amanda didn’t know anything about it. She didn’t know Jennifer or Aaron. She didn’t know I went over to Jennifer’s house. Of anybody remotely tied up in this, she knew the least and did the least. Aaron came over here and threatened her. She could have been hurt.”

Rountree nodded, her face full of sympathy. “I know Amanda isn’t working now, not since she had the baby, right?”

“That’s right.”

“But before that she worked at Global Educational Enterprises. Right?”

“Yes. She wrote grants for them and brought in a lot of money. Once Henry gets a little older, she’s going to go back and consult or freelance. Why does any of this matter?”

“You and Amanda both spend a fair amount of time on social media? You’re both pretty active there?”

The direction of her questions irritated me. “What is this? Some kind of anti–social media screed? I can’t get ahold of my wife, and you have a murder to investigate. In fact, don’t you have Jennifer’s murderer down in the jail? Or maybe it’s one of those other ex-cons who killed her. The ones she helps at work?”