His expression collapsed.
“What did you do?”
The question came out so quietly that I almost didn’t hear it.
I stared at him.
“What did I do?”
He didn’t answer.
The officer immediately told him to sit down.
Ethan remained standing.
His eyes stayed fixed on me.
“I can explain.”
Those four words destroyed whatever remained of my denial.
Because there was nothing to explain if everything was innocent.
The police questioned him for hours.
Eventually, the truth began coming apart piece by piece.
The missing man was someone Ethan had known before we met.
His name was Daniel Mercer.
Years earlier, Ethan had been involved in a construction business with him.
There had been a financial dispute.
A confrontation.
Then Daniel disappeared.
Ethan had always told me he had left town after their partnership collapsed.
But that wasn’t true.
Daniel had come to our house.
There had been an argument.
