Lakshmi noticed, leaned back. “Not losing you—that sounds crazy. But maybe crazy’s right.” She pointed to the wall behind her. “Look at this place. I was almost gone. You being in town, listening to me, talking with me—you’ve helped me remember the bigger picture. I didn’t want to give you any reason to doubt me. Now I see how wrong that was. I should be telling you everything.” She put her beer down. “There’s something everyone probably knows, but I have to say it. I love Angela, Caitlin, and not as a friend.” Her eyes looked close to tears. “We used to joke about it all the time, but I never actually said it out loud. I’m a lesbian.” She smiled. “My God, I totally just came out to you. I’m the worst.”

Caitlin laughed. “Did you really just come out, like this is the moment?”

“I’m the worst,” Lakshmi repeated. “I haven’t told my father, never said it to Angela. I mean, she knew, obviously.”

“Meaning you had sex?”

Lakshmi’s eyes brightened. “Yes. I’m sure the police guessed. That’s why they treated me like a suspect for so long. Most of the time, when a woman’s murdered, the spouse is the one who did it, right?”

“And Angela?” Was she a lesbian? Caitlin almost said, then remembered both Doris and Lakshmi’s need to keep Angela in the present tense. “Did she identify as a lesbian at the time?”

Lakshmi blushed. “Well, she knew the buttons to push.”

“But did she feel the same way about you?”

“When we were drunk or high, we were the only two people on Earth. But when she’d sober up, she’d joke about it, like she was going through a phase.”

“And Kieran?”

“Kieran, other guys. She threw herself at them.”

“Like she had something to prove?”

Lakshmi shrugged. “Maybe she’s gay, maybe just playing. I don’t know, but there’s one more thing.” She took another sip of beer. “The night she disappeared, we got in a fight. It was meant to be our night, a date. We had some drinks, got high, and I told her.”

“That you loved her?”

Lakshmi nodded.

“And what did she say?”

“It was awful. She just said, ‘No.’ ”

“No to what? That you loved her?”

“That’s what I asked. She stood up and said we should do shots. I got upset.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning I followed her to the kitchen and said I wanted to know what she thought. She turned to me, vodka in hand, and said she didn’t have time to dyke out with me because she’d made other plans.”

“With Amireau and Michelson?”

“Yes, those knobs.”

“That was it? End of discussion?”