“I can’t say it,” she said between sobs.

“What can’t you say?” Freddie asked.

“I can’t say what I saw because then he’ll want to kill me too.”

“We won’t let that happen,” Freddie said. “We’ll take care of you, Hoda. You have my word on that.”

“I shot at you and your partner. Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Because I believe you witnessed something no one should ever have to see, and that made you do something you wouldn’t ordinarily do.”

“I’m sorry I shot at your lieutenant. I was so scared, and I didn’t want to have to go with you.”

“I understand. Can you tell me what happened Friday night?”

She sat up, wiped her face and seemed resigned now to her fate, even as her chest continued to heave with sobs. “You know about me going to get Brooke at her school, right?”

“Yes.”

“She wanted so badly to see Todd, and I wanted to help her. We weren’t sure if it would work, but it did.”

“What time did you arrive at Hugo’s house?”

“Around nine thirty or so?”

“And what did you do once you got there?”

Hoda shrugged. “Had some drinks and stuff. Hung out, listened to music.”

“You both took some of the pills Hugo had provided?”

She nodded. “It was Molly. We’d done it before.”

Hearing Brooke had done Molly before, Sam closed her eyes and shook her head in dismay.

“What happened then?”

“Brooke went to hook up with Todd in the bedroom. I stayed in the other room. I was kind of hanging with Kevin, making out and stuff. After a while Todd came out and some of the other guys went in the back bedroom. I had to go to the bathroom, and I think I fell asleep or something while I was in there. I woke up when I heard someone screaming. The music was really loud, but I could hear screaming. So I opened the door a crack to see what was going on.” Her voice broke on those words and new tears tumbled down her cheeks.

“It’s okay, Hoda,” Freddie said, offering her a drink of water. “Take your time.”