My voice remained harsh in the darkness. “You set me up. You sent me in there, to a dead woman’s house. I could have been caught. I still might get caught. And if I get caught for that, then everything comes out. What were you thinking? Everything you touch turns to shit, Blake.”

Blake’s hands lowered. His face fell, transitioning from fear to shock. “What are you talking about? Who’s dead?”

If I’d had more time to think or if I’d been in a calmer state of mind, I would have hesitated or softened what I said. But given the long night I’d already been through and the amount of blame I placed on Blake’s shoulders, I blurted the information out.

“Jennifer, of course. Jennifer’s dead.”

He stared at me, his face stricken. Then something seemed to drain out of his body, and he grew limp. He fell back into the grass and placed his hand over his eyes as though shielding them from a bright light.

“Jen? Dead?” he asked. “Don’t say things like that. Don’t talk about her like that.”

“You didn’t know? Are you kidding?”

It took him a moment to answer. “I went by there. A little while ago. I saw cops and an ambulance and everything. But it wasn’t her. It’s probably one of the neighbors. The couple next door is elderly. One of them probably fell or had a heart attack or something.”

I tried to be sympathetic, to soften my tone. It wasn’t easy.

“That’s not it. She’s dead, Blake. I saw her body on the bedroom floor when I went in to get the letters. I’m sure somebody killed her. She had blood on her head and in her hair . . . and the room was trashed. And the letters are gone, by the way.”

Again, he remained quiet for a long time. If I’d just come across him without knowing why he was lying in my backyard, I would have thought he had fallen asleep. His chest rose and fell, and his hand still covered his eyes.

But he suddenly lowered his hand and sat up, lifting his torso off the ground. His eyes bored in on mine. “Do you really think I killed her? You really think I’m capable of that? Is your regard for me that low?”

“What else could I think? You lied about seeing her today. Did you do it? Why did you send me there?”

He continued to stare at me, in his eyes a mixture of anger and hurt. He started to shake his head.