“Because you weren’t talking to me. I knew you were keeping something from me but I wasn’t sure what. I wanted to see if the bizarreness of the request would get you to tell me something. Anything.”

“Those requests scared the daylights out of me. I thought someone was watching me, tracking me.”

“I wanted to shake you up, not terrify you.”

“Why are you here?” I asked. “Of all places. When the police are looking for you . . . and you left the house saying you were going to your parents’ to get Henry.”

I struggled to say the next words, to force them out of my mouth.

“The police, Amanda. They want to know where you were the day Jennifer was killed. During the time of her death . . . you called your mom and had her come over. And you went somewhere. You said you sent that friend request because you thought I went to see her. But when I did that for Blake and went to her house, I didn’t know she was dead. I truly didn’t.”

She stared at me. She cocked her head to one side. Her lips parted in an almost expectant fashion.

“And?” she asked.

“I didn’t know she was dead but . . .”

“You can’t even bring yourself to ask the question, can you? You came over here ready to talk to me, but you can’t ask what you really want to know.”

“Because I’m afraid of the answer.”

She brought her lips together and then spoke. “You’re afraid to ask me if I called my mother that day so that I could go over to Jennifer’s house. You’re afraid to ask if I’m the one who killed Jennifer.”

CHAPTER NINETY

Amanda took a step back. She placed her hands on her hips and looked at the ground, apparently taking the time to choose her words carefully.

“I don’t know what I think of that question,” she said. “And I don’t know how to respond to it. Not really.”

“Just tell me the truth. I can handle it. . . . I just want to know what’s going on. I don’t want to believe it. I don’t believe it. But I don’t know what else to think. . . . We’ve both acted crazy.”

She looked up at me. “I’m surprised, really surprised, that you would even ask me that question. As long as we’ve known each other . . .”