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so we did a few of those, couple rounds of beers. You know, the usual let-me-get-my-date-ready scenario. We head back to the hotel, do some lines, and I think things are going to go well from there, so we start—”
    “Spare me the details, please,” Pete said. “Did she leave? Did she spend the night? What happened?”
    “We argued,” Rick said. “We didn’t even get to anything physical. She asked where ‘this’ was going and I sprung it on her. She flipped; started throwing shit, yelling. Threatened to call Emily and tell her everything. It was nuts. She went fucking crazy. Finally, she wore herself out and bolted.”
    “Did you try calling her?”
    “No, I just tried to fix the room up and get out of there. I was worried she was going to call Emily, but when I got home and realized she hadn’t, I just figured she needed time to cool off.”
    “You didn’t try to reach out to her, then?”
    “No, man,” Rick said, confusion in his voice. “Why would I? Bullet dodged, you know?”
    “You’re an asshole,” Pete said, standing up. “You can leave.”
    Rick got up and followed Pete toward the door.
    “But why? What am I supposed to tell the cops?”
    “Exactly what you told me.”
    “But that sounds terrible.”
    “That is accurate,” Pete said.
    “I need your help,” Rick said, his voice pleading. “I could be seriously up shit creek for this.”
    Pete opened the door.
    “I don’t care,” Pete said. “I used to think you were a good guy. After all the shit I’d put Emily through, I thought, hey, OK, at least she’s with a stand-up dude and they’re going to have a decent life together. But you’re not. You’re a piece of shit and you’ve come to me to get you out of a bind of your own making. You know what? Fuck you. You’re not my concern.”
    Rick seemed taken aback and let out a quick, dismissive sound.
    “Suddenly you’re this high and mighty force of good? I remember when you’d spend hours on the phone, crying and begging for Emily to take you back. I’m not the sad piece of shit, man, you are.”
    “Get the fuck out of my house.”
    “That’s it, then?” Rick said, venom in his voice. “You’re going to let me dangle because I fucked around on your ex? You know what she’s like as well as I do, and after a while, the joke gets old. It doesn’t change the fact that Alice is missing, and I could be getting the blame for it. You’re going to let her disappear because of some petty vengeance against me?”
    Pete locked his eyes on Rick’s.
    “I’m not going to help you,” Pete said. “Your story—true or not—sounds terrible, even if you’ve done nothing wrong. As for Alice, well, that’s different—but none of your business. That goes for Emily, too. Leave us alone.”
    “She’s never going to take you back,” Rick said as he turned toward the open door.
    It was only then that they noticed Emily standing in the doorway, her arms looped through a half-dozen grocery bags. Her eyes were red. The rain had stopped.

CHAPTER TEN
    “Leave us alone?” Emily said.
    “Let me explain.”
    Rick didn’t stick around to see the fireworks. Upon realizing Emily had heard most, if not all of their heated exchange, he sidestepped his estranged wife and darted off. Stand-up guy, Pete thought.
    “There’s nothing to explain,” Emily said, walking into the house and plopping her groceries on the dining room table. She gave Pete’s gun a quizzical look. “Why is that out in the house?”
    Her tone gave Pete pause. “The house?”
    “Yes, this house,” Emily said, her volume rising. “Why is there a gun on the dining room table of this house?”
    “Because this is my fucking house,” Pete said. “How many times am I going to have to remind people of that today?”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Never mind,” Pete said. “I thought someone had broken in. I pulled out the gun and found Rick in here.”
    Emily began shuttling grocery bags to the kitchen and