Someone We Know: A Novel

Carmine, convinced that Raleigh broke into her house, asks her neighbor Zoe to ask Olivia if she wrote the anonymous letter. Zoe refuses and expresses great skepticism that the Sharpes were involved. Detectives Webb and Moen interview Becky again. She insists that Robert is innocent but reveals that, before Amanda disappeared, she saw her sitting in a car with Olivia’s husband, Paul Sharpe. It was about nine o’clock at night, and they seemed to be arguing intimately. Becky insists that she did not tell Robert what she saw. From there, the detectives go to Paul Sharpe’s workplace to question him. When the detectives confront him with Becky’s anonymous allegation, Paul turns pale but denies involvement with Amanda. He says that in the office, where Amanda worked as a temp, Amanda had a reputation for promiscuity. He caught her in the act with his coworker Larry Harris, Becky’s husband.

Becky and Larry Harris are having dinner at home; she has told him nothing about being questioned by the police. The detectives arrive to question Larry. Becky blurts out to Larry that she slept with Robert Pierce. She then repeats her claim that Paul Sharpe was having an affair with Amanda, but the detectives share Paul’s admission of speaking with Amanda about ending her affair with Larry.