Violet lowers her forehead to her knees, clasps her hands in front of her shins. Officer Grady waits her out. I’ve got to give him credit. He’s being very patient. “You said that you and the other girls got separated. Where did you go?”

“I went to find Jordyn. She got mad and left,” Violet says, her mouth muffled by her knees.

This doesn’t surprise me. I like Jordyn but she runs hot and cold. One minute the girls will be laughing hysterically about something and the next Jordyn will be stomping away over some imagined slight.

“Why was Jordyn mad?” Officer Grady asks. He lowers his forearms to his knees and ducks his head to try to see Violet’s face still hidden behind a curtain of hair. Violet shrugs. Officer Grady waits.

“She said we were being stupid,” Violet finally says.

“Why did she say that?” Officer Grady eases his chair a few inches closer to her bedside.

Violet raises her head, tucks her hair behind her ears. Now that her hands are cleaned of the blood I can see that she has bitten her nails down to the quick. I thought she had broken that bad habit. Evidently not.

“Jordyn said he wasn’t going to show up,” Violet says and my blood runs cold. Without looking at me Officer Grady raises one hand in my direction as if to say, I’ve got this.

“Who is he, Violet?” Officer Grady asks. Violet ducks her head. Officer Grady waits a few beats to see if Violet will answer. She doesn’t so he decides to move on.

“So Jordyn left and then what did you do?”

“I went looking for her but I couldn’t find her, so I went back. I wanted to be there when he did come. And he did—Jordyn was wrong.”

“Who?” I ask before I can stop myself. “Who came?” Violet looks over at me as if she realizes for the first time that I’ve returned to the room.

Officer Grady’s radio crackles and he reluctantly removes it from his utility belt. He listens to a string of muffled words that I can’t understand but my attention is still on Violet. “Who came?” I ask again once he puts away his radio but Violet is watching Officer Grady carefully.

“Violet, this is very important,” he says. His voice has lost all of its earlier warmth. “Who did you see at the train yard?”

Violet ducks her head. “I don’t know.”

“But you saw someone?” Officer Grady asks. Violet nods. “But you didn’t recognize him? You didn’t know the person?” She nods again. “So you did know him?” Officer Grady says in exasperation.

“You’re confusing her,” I protest. “Violet, did you recognize the person?”

“You won’t believe me,” she answers with a slight shake of her head.