“I was awake,” I said. “He came by and must have seen the light on in my office.”

“Could he have . . . ?” Amanda said.

“What’s that, Amanda?” Rountree asked.

She shifted Henry’s weight from one side of her lap to the other. He found a strand of her hair and started tugging on it, making Amanda wince. She shifted him again, hoping to break his grip.

“Could he have been the one outside the house, trying to open the door?” Amanda asked.

“You think Blake was outside your house when you were home alone with the baby, but he didn’t ring the bell or anything?” Rountree asked.

“He and I have had our differences,” Amanda said. “Which I’m trying to get over. Although this news about this woman . . . Never mind. If he thought Ryan wasn’t home, he wouldn’t have knocked. He might not knock at all if he thought I was home.”

“But the shoe prints,” I said. “I’m not an expert, but the shoe prints looked smaller than Blake’s would have. And Blake wasn’t wearing sneakers when he came over. I don’t know.”

But I wondered, Smaller feet. Sneakers. Dawn Steiner?

Rountree arched one eyebrow as she thought about the tracks. “So we do know Blake came by around midnight, talked to you, and then left.” She turned to me. “Where was he going?”

“I don’t know. Home, I assumed.”

“Have you talked to him today?” Rountree asked.

“It’s pretty early.”

“Do you know what he was doing yesterday?” Rountree asked, ignoring my comment. “Did he say? You saw him in the evening at the coffee shop, and then you saw him last night here. What about the rest of the day?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “He must have gone to work. I mean, I assume he did.”

“Did he say if he went to see Ms. Bates?”

“I think . . . he might have mentioned that he went to her house early yesterday.”

Rountree nodded, her face a portrait of sagelike patience. “Did he say why?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” I said. “I assume to talk about their relationship. Probably to make it clear it was really over.”

“And did he say how it went?”

“I don’t know. I assume not well. None of it sounds good.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Did something happen?”

“A neighbor saw him there yesterday,” she said, drawing her words out. “Late morning, early afternoon. They’re not exactly sure. And the neighbor thought he heard arguing. Shouts coming from the house. Faint, considering the distance and the closed windows and everything. But he heard voices raised. We don’t know yet how that visit lines up with the time of Ms. Bates’s death. But we’ll know that soon.”