“You weren’t there when it happened?” Lindsay asked.

He shook his head.

“You didn’t even hear the shot?”

He shook his head again, but Lindsay noticed the accompanying glance in his sister’s direction. She knew at least some of this was bullshit but saw no reason at this point to confront him.

“We went out the back door and jumped the fence,” he said, turning toward Hope. “You really don’t remember any of this?”

“Nothing at all. Did I have a car there? When Lindsay first found me after my car accident, I was in a stolen car, but the plates were from Indiana.”

“No, I don’t think any of us were the kinds of kids who could afford cars. You know how Wichita is.”

Lindsay reminded him again that Hope didn’t really know anything.

“They’ve got Uber and Lyft whatever now. But back then? We all had the bus routes down cold, or we hitched rides with friends. TC and I bummed a ride from a guy who was leaving the mall the same time we were. We didn’t want him tagging along, so we told him we were going to Denny’s. Once he was gone, we hoofed the rest of the way to the house.”

“I must have left town with Alex,” Hope volunteered. “Maybe we hitchhiked to Indiana and then managed to steal a car there. My accident was three days later.”

“The same day I decided to live my dream of moving to New York City.”

“So did we all talk about it afterward and agree to leave?” Hope asked.

“No, I never saw you or your boyfriend again,” he said. “I went to TC the day before I took the train for New York to make sure she understood the situation. No matter who pulled the trigger that night, we’d all be guilty of felony murder.”

Ellie touched her brother’s wrist at the mention of felony murder.

“How exactly did you know that?” Lindsay asked.

He shrugged. “Our dad was a cop. You pick stuff up, whether you want to or not. It had to be your boyfriend who shot Mullaney, though, right?” he said to Hope. “That’s what I’ve always assumed, at least.”

Hope had one hand over her mouth. “I can’t believe this. I basically got that man killed—and then skipped town with the guy who shot him?”

Lindsay wrapped an arm around Hope’s shoulder and gave her a quick hug. “Stop it. You have no way of knowing what Alex told you at the time about that night. Jess just said you were in a complete daze.”

Jess nodded. “For what it’s worth, TC was totally blacked out about most of the night. She vaguely recalled having to jump the fence, but not the reason why. It’s possible you left town without even knowing what went wrong at the house.”