Steve answered by the time I reached the kitchen. I took my keys and wallet off the counter, left the bat resting in the corner of the room, even though a part of me wanted to grab it.

“This is Amanda Francis’s husband,” I said. “Ryan.”

“Oh,” he said. “I see.”

“Yes, you see. Where is she?”

I started for the back door. If my collar had been hot when I was upstairs, it reached the boiling point when I heard his voice. My actions were frantic. I dropped my keys twice as I walked to the door, the phone cradled against my shoulder. My heart thumped, and I wanted to shout. Really shout.

I wanted to reach through the phone and throttle him.

“I don’t know.”

“Who is Lily Rose? What’s going on here? You know, the cops are looking for you. They’re going to track you down. They know about the hacking. Do you think you can skate on this?”

I stopped by the door, my hands shaking. I wanted to make sure I really heard what he had to say.

“Look,” Steve said. “I can tell you what I know.”

“Where’s Amanda?”

“That I don’t know.”

“Don’t lie to me.” I saw Henry’s high chair, his plastic cup sitting on the dish rack. A copy of his birth announcement still on the refrigerator. “You’re in the middle of this.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t be talking to you.”

His voice was so calm, so reasonable, that I wanted to shout. Then I saw my hurried movements and shaking hands from the outside for a moment. I was stomping around like an angry kid. And what was it accomplishing? Nothing. None of my theatrics would tell me where Amanda was. Or who Lily Rose was.

I took two deep breaths, felt the sweat on the back of my neck cool a little.

“Don’t say that,” I said. “What do you know?”

“I don’t know where Amanda is,” he said.

I hated hearing him say her name. Hated it.

He went on. “I texted her this morning. I looked over the messages on that Facebook account we hacked when I heard all the details of the murder. This Jennifer’s murder. I saw that someone had been threatening her. Someone named Lily Rose. So I wanted to tell Amanda about it. I knew she was dealing with the police. I thought she could put the detectives in touch with me. But Amanda . . . she acted very upset and scared when she saw that name. Lily Rose. It’s like she knew who that was.”

“And who was it? Is it someone you work with?”

“She didn’t say. She said she had to go. I tried calling her, but she didn’t answer.”

“That’s it?” I asked. “That’s all you know?”

“That’s it. Okay? If I knew more, I’d tell you.”