For a long time, he studied me. I thought I’d gotten through to him, that my calm, logical plea had busted through his thick skull and reached him. But then he smiled, his mouth crooked.

“Are you crazy, Ryan? Just call the police and tell them everything? And ruin what I have with Sam?”

“Ruin what you have with Sam?” I said. “You mean the job her dad is going to give you?”

Blake looked stung.

“I know. A job from her dad. And your dad out of money. Sam told me. Is that why there’s such a rush to get married this weekend? To lock everything down?”

“That’s really low, Ryan. That’s insulting. We’re friends. Why would you say those things?”

“Why else is all of this happening?”

“I don’t know. And by the way, if you call the police, you know what’s really going to come out? The truth about the accident. How you were driving and not Aaron. They’ll want to know why you were in Jen’s house. Are you going to lie to them about that? Are you going to mention the letters? It could all be out there for the world to see. You’d be facing the legal music, and my relationship with Sam and her family would be damaged. Do you want all that? Do you want to get arrested for vehicular homicide? They can still pop you for that, remember? There’s no Instagram filter that can put a shine on that giant turd.”

“What are you hiding, then?” I asked. “You lied to me. You said you hadn’t seen her or talked to her for weeks, but you texted her this morning. Did you lie to me because you really do have something to cover up? Did you hurt her?”

“How do you know I texted her this morning?” he asked.

“Because I took her phone. I was looking for the letters. But her phone was on the floor underneath the bedside table. I just impulsively grabbed it because I thought it could tell me something about what was going on. I was just about to look through it more carefully when you showed up.”

“You have her phone? Here?”

“It’s inside.”

“You idiot. You know they can track that shit. They might be on the way here now.”

“The cops were already here once tonight. Somebody tried to break into the house. Was that you?”

“Why would I try to break into your house? Where is the damn phone?”

“Wait a minute. Why were you there this morning? At Jennifer’s? What did you do there?”

“Get the phone, Ryan.”

“Did something happen? Did you have a fight? Did she try to blackmail you with the letters?”

He lifted his hands to the stars as if he expected God Himself to deliver him from my obstinance and stupidity.