“He was in a relationship with her,” she said once she’d lowered her hand. “You mean . . . an ongoing one? Right now? What a . . .” She cut her words off, showing deference in the presence of the police officer.

“He broke it off when he got back together with Sam,” I said.

“So you did know about that relationship, Ryan?” Rountree asked, turning to me.

I felt three sets of eyes on me, all of them, including Henry, staring at me with great expectation. “He mentioned it,” I said. “He said it ended a few weeks ago.”

“And he wasn’t cheating on Sam?” Amanda asked, her voice skeptical.

“He says he wasn’t. He told me last night.”

“Last night? When he came to the house?”

I took a deep breath. “No. I saw him after work. We got coffee.”

“You were talking to him and not Tony?” Amanda asked.

“No. I did talk to Tony about his boyfriend. I did. But when I was leaving, I ran into Blake. He said he wanted to talk, so we got coffee at the Ground Floor.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Amanda asked.

Rountree lifted her eyebrows and looked at me.

“No, I didn’t,” I said. “He’s been persona non grata around here. So I didn’t tell you.”

“So you saw Mr. Norton twice last night,” Rountree said. “I think I need to know more about these chats with Mr. Norton.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

We all sat down, Rountree on one end of the couch with Amanda on the other, Henry balanced on her lap. I returned to my chair.

“What was Mr. Norton doing here last night? What time was this?”

I looked at Amanda and then back to the detective. “It was late. Amanda had gone to sleep already. Maybe midnight or so.”

“And this was after someone tried to break into your house?” she asked.

“We don’t really know if someone tried to break in,” I said.

Amanda cleared her throat. “The back door rattled. And the two officers who came found tracks outside. So did Ryan. None of that is normal, is it?”

Rountree agreed by nodding. “And why did Blake come by?”

“He was following up about his marriage,” I said. “He’s getting married on Saturday.”

“He told you about his marriage in the coffee shop?”

“He did.”

I shifted my eyes to Amanda, and she was watching me. Brow furrowed, thoughts swirling. She knew I’d withheld the information about seeing Blake. Yes, I’d had a good reason, but that didn’t mean she was going to like it. Her disapproval radiated off her body like summer heat from asphalt. Rountree had to have noticed. Any halfway intelligent detective would have picked up on it.

“Does he always come over late at night? Is that odd?”

“He’s not a conventional guy,” I said.

“Even though he knows you have a baby, he shows up late at night.”