“A vacation?” Amanda sang. “How thoughtful. Time alone. Far, far away.” The laughter sounded like glass breaking somewhere you couldn’t reach in time to catch it.

“If there’s nothing else,” I said, refolding the ticket with hands I kept from shaking by force.

“Actually,” Palmer winced, “a stipulation. Should you decline to use this ticket, Mrs. Thompson, any potential future considerations will be nullified.”

“Future considerations?” Amanda’s brows knit and then smoothed like silk. “What does that even mean?”

“I’m not at liberty to explain,” he said, and looked like a man who disliked the shape of the room he was in.