“I don’t hate you, Trevor,” I said.

“Then let me come in,” he begged, reaching one hand out toward the porch railing.

“Give me a second chance for Sadie’s sake.”

I looked down at his face and saw plainly for the first time the desperate, calculating lines hidden behind his warm smile.

“I’m not going to destroy you, Trevor,” I said.

“But I’m going to let the law do what it was made to do.”

Trevor stood frozen on the second step for three seconds, his jaw setting into a hard, narrow line as the softness drained out of his face.