I showed them the threatening text on my phone, and the older detective read it, and his jaw went tight.

“Does your husband have a criminal record?” he asked.

“Not that I know of.”

He looked at me with a weariness I have never forgotten — the weariness of a man who has heard that exact answer from too many women in too many waiting rooms.

“We’re pulling traffic cameras, phone records, and financial accounts right now,” he said.

“Stay here, near the surgical floor.