“Tell me again why you want him dead?”

“I’m sick of him. He disgusts me. And he’s cheating on me.”

“Cheating? But you just said—”

“I said not that I know of. Meaning, I have no proof. But a wife always knows.”

Milo gives her a look. “Are you sure about that?”

“No. But I know he’s cheating.”

“How?”

“He’s way too full of himself lately.”

Milo wonders how she can tell. As far as he’s concerned, Jake’s been full of himself from day one. It’s one of the reasons Milo volunteered to kill him. At the time, she thought he was joking. She was upset. He asked if there was anything he could do to cheer her up. “Yeah,” she said. “Kill my husband.” He said, “I’d love to.” She laughed, he didn’t. She said, “You could never kill a man.” He said, “You might be surprised. All my life I’ve wondered what it would feel like to take a person’s life. I never acted on it because I was afraid I’d get caught. Not to creep you out, but I would definitely do it. For you.” She said, “Okay, you’re officially scaring me now.”

But the following week she brought the subject up again. He couldn’t do it on his own, he said, but if the two of them were in on it together, he’d have the confidence to make it happen. He didn’t mention he had a huge crush on her, or that he hoped to leverage the murder into a sexual relationship. “Just say the word,” he said, and never thought she would.

But here they stand.

Faith says, “Are you going to make it look like a robbery? Because there are things I don’t want you to take.”

“No. People get in trouble when they try to stage a crime. I’m just going to shoot him, wipe the gun clean, put it back in the drawer, and leave.”

“It’ll look like a hit.”

“I doubt a hit man would use the victim’s gun to kill him. But in any case, if there’s no motive, and no evidence, it’ll be hard for the police to build a case against either of us. Just stay strong, freak out when they tell you he’s dead, and don’t say anything that could implicate you.”

“Like what?”

“Like, ‘I can’t believe someone shot him!’”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing, if they tell you he was shot. But they probably won’t. So try to pretend you know nothing about it.”

“What if they ask me to come to the station?”

“Tell them to set it up with your attorney. And Faith?”

She looks at him.

“You can shout, ‘Oh my God!’ or scream the word, ‘No!’ several times, or say those things quietly, while crying, but add nothing else, and don’t overdo it.