“Amelia,” she said, setting down the soup, “I know.

Connor finally told me enough.”

I braced myself for excuses.

Instead she sat beside me, slowly lowering herself onto the floor despite her bad knee.

“He said he gave a watch intended for me to someone else,” she continued.

“I’m not angry about jewelry.

I’m angry that he used both of us as props in his lies.”

“I thought you’d defend him.”