“On the phone to Munich, you told me she was in her room sulking over toys she hadn’t picked up,” I said.

“I was totally overwhelmed, and I said something stupid because I didn’t want to start a long, painful fight while you were stuck in a hotel room overseas,” he said, leaning his hip on the counter.

“It was wrong of me, Val.

Twenty minutes later I called Mary Bennett to make sure Sadie was warm over there across the street.”

He said it with easy sincerity, with no idea that Mary had already given me the exact timeline of the night.