“No,” Lakshmi said. “She told me I was being dramatic, that she was too high to process, and that I should go with them to the bars and we’d talk about it later. Well, I couldn’t stand the idea of sitting across from Kieran all night, wondering if Angela would choose me or him. I told her to sod off.” Lakshmi wiped a tear from her eye. “And she did. I sent the girl I loved to her death,” she said, choking on the words, “because she hurt my feelings.”

Whatever dam protected Lakshmi’s reservoir of tears broke under two years of pressure. She leaned into Caitlin and sobbed.

Caitlin looked down at the mass of black hair shaking against her shoulder and tried to imagine two years of not being able to grieve for a missing lover. She put her arm around Lakshmi and squeezed her tight. Two years, knowing the people responsible for her lover’s death were walking around free. Two years of anxiety, fueled by the innocent actions of one night.

“I’ve got you,” she said, patting the girl’s back.

Lakshmi nestled in closer, still crying, each sob pulsing against Caitlin’s chest. “We’re gonna find her,” Caitlin started again, her own voice now fighting back tears, “and show the bastard that hurt you he’s not untouchable.”

Caitlin closed her eyes and shook her head.

“That hurt her,” she corrected herself, semi-aware that her comforting words might have referred to a different bastard, a different girl, and a different time.

Kieran Michelson or Troy Woods? Angela Chapman or Caitie Bergman?

She wiped a tear away, then pulled Lakshmi’s hair back. If there were words that could end their pain, she didn’t have them.

What would Scott Canton say?

Caitlin cleared her throat and reached for her bag. “Want to get high?”

*   *   *

Lakshmi picked through the last of the popcorn kernels. “This pot is great.”

Caitlin reached for the remote, turned down the streaming music. “Do you smoke a lot?”

“Oh no, not since the night.” She looked up. “Wow, I say that a lot. Not since the night. What a horrible phrase.”

“Speaking of which,” Caitlin said, far from tears and ready to work, “you said you were high that night. What sort of drugs did you girls play with?”

“Mostly weed. I’ve tried Molly—you know, MDMA? And ’shrooms once, but I puked.”

“What about coke?”

“Not me. Angela did occasionally with Kieran and Dave, but I was scared. The first time they offered, it was light green.”

“Green? And they called it coke?”

“She said it wasn’t quite right but still worked. Other times, it was white, but I didn’t trust it.”

“Where did they get it?”

“I don’t know, but they always had it.”

“What about pot?”

“Oh yeah, we got all of our pot from them; so did their whole fraternity. Can we order pizza?”