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I went through.” She tugged on Alaska’s leash and stumbled to the front porch stairs.
    He called after her, “You’re right. I have no idea. Because you won’t tell me.” His voice rose. “This is about trust, goddamn it. If you can’t even tell me the truth…”
    She stopped abruptly. She hadn’t been able to tell him the truth four months ago. But, by God, she’d tell him now. Let him know just how lucky he was to have gotten away from her. She turned around. “You want the truth?”
    He said softly, “Yeah. I do.”
    “Fine.” You’re opening Pandora’s box, baby, but it’s your choice. She took a deep breath. Made her voice flat. “Here’s the story.”
    Her eyes forced him to hold her gaze.
    “When I was sixteen I killed my sister.”
    He flinched. “The report says you were driving. The car crashed.”
    “I was speeding. I killed her.”
    It was as simple as that. A blink of an eye. A life gone.
    “Are you satisfied now?” She didn’t wait for an answer. Ethan had gotten the truth. Whether he could live with it was another question. She pulled out her house keys, fumbling. The leash tangled in her fingers.
    “Kate. I’m sorry.” His words sounded hollow.
    “I don’t think you are. You got what you came for. Now go.”
    “Kate…”
    “Go!” She refused to look at him. She put the key in the lock. She heard him retreat haltingly down the walkway, his car door close, the engine squeal to life.
    She pushed open the front door. The swollen wood stuck and then released suddenly. She pitched forward into the hallway. “Fuck!”
    Alaska ran through to the kitchen, leaving muddy footprints and trailing his leash behind him. She caught a glance of herself in the antique hallway mirror. Her eyes, ringed with smudged mascara, stared back at her. She headed into the kitchen.
    Alaska paced by his food bowl. He gave an expectant whine. She snatched his water dish from the floor. Water sloshed onto her fingers. “Fuck!” She banged the water dish onto the counter. Water splattered her T-shirt. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
    Her fingers were shaking. She leaned against the counter, head down, breathing deeply until the anger leached from her body. So much for celebrating her new case.
    When she opened her eyes, she saw Alaska watching her by his food bowl. “Sorry, boy,” she said wearily. “You’ve been way too patient with me. I won’t do this again.”
    She grabbed the bag of Kibbles ’n Bits from the cupboard, shame at her outburst overriding her anger at Ethan. She poured extra food into Alaska’s bowl. He lunged forward and gobbled it hungrily.
    She had no appetite, but she knew she should eat something. She needed protein for her run tomorrow morning. Not only that, the bottle of wine on the counter beckoned her, and if she drank on an empty stomach she’d end up on the kitchen floor.
    She popped a frozen lasagna in the microwave. It was the last one. She needed to get to the grocery store. The thought of it exhausted her. She needed to get to bed. As soon as she ate, she’d have a hot bath and go to sleep.
    Alaska gave his food bowl one last lick and began tocircle in front of the kitchen door. She let him out, watching the husky trot across the back porch down to the yard. He loved nosing around the overgrown shrubs, chasing the cats that slinked along the tattered garden bed. She turned from the door and poured a glass of wine.
    The microwave beeped. She pulled her dinner from the oven. The pasta was limp under the unnaturally red sauce. The cheese looked stringy, not brown and bubbly.
    A high-pitched howl split the air.
    She started, tipping the tray. The lasagna slid over the plastic edge and fell to the floor.
    “Fuck!”
    There was another howl.
    “Alaska?” The only sound she’d ever heard him make was whining.
    A shiver snaked up her spine. She stepped around the splattered pasta and opened the back door.
    Alaska crouched under the porch light, tiny drops of rain electrifying