“I don’t,” I say. “I don’t want to protect him.”

“Can I get some water?” Eli asks.

Detective Anderson nods and gestures at someone else in the room. Oh, it’s the other detective, the man who’d been with her the other day. I can’t recall his name. He brings two glasses of water from the tap. Eli drinks his greedily, but I can’t bear to even sip mine.

“I don’t know where Ken is. We had an argument, and he packed some things and left. I haven’t heard from him since then.” I watch water droplets slide down the side of the glass. They’ll make a puddle on the kitchen table. Someone should get a towel.

“What did you fight about?”

“Money,” I answer honestly. “I was questioning him about why his paychecks weren’t arriving. I didn’t know at that time that he’d been fired.”

Eli grunts. “Mom. What?”

“It’ll be okay.” I reach for his hand and squeeze it. His fingers are cold. To the detective I say, “I really don’t know where he is.”

“He lost his job?” She pulls a small spiral-bound notepad from her pocket and tugs the pen free of the coils. She jots something down and looks at me again. “When?”

I tell her the whole story. Ken’s company being restructured. Him being let go but not telling me. His “bonus” that was really severance pay, and the paychecks he pretended were simply late. How he kept traveling, and I had no idea that he wasn’t actually working.

“How long has this been going on?”

“Since Labor Day, I guess,” I tell her. My mouth is dry, lips sticking together, tongue cleaving to the roof of my mouth. I swallow what feels like razor blades. Still, I can’t bring myself to try and drink, too afraid I will vomit it all over the floor.

“Could you tell me some of the places you know he’s been?”

“I could tell you where he told me he was going, but at least once, I know for sure he was someplace other than where he said he’d be. Wisconsin, once. He went to the Dells.”

“Asshole,” Eli barks out. “He promised to take me and never did!”

She nods, scribbling something. “Do you have any proof that he was in those locations on the dates? Credit card charges? Anything?”

“Mom, should you be waiting for a lawyer?”

I squeeze Eli’s hand again and address the detective. “I don’t know. Should I?”

“You’re not under any investigation or charges, Jewelann.”

“But Ken is?” One plus one plus one is sometimes something other than three. It’s falling into place for me, now. “You’re asking me all of this because of what they found in the backyard.”

“Yes. We haven’t made a positive identification yet, but the size of the remains indicates that it was a child.”

Eli moans. He buries his face in his hands and puts his head on the kitchen table. I get out of my seat to wrap my arms around him as best I can.