“Erik’s not a killer,” said Pearson. “Neither is Hal. Maybe he warned Erik about that video. Maybe Erik said something to Brenae that hurt her deep. But she took her own life, and that is a terrible, cowardly choice. For anyone. They didn’t pull the trigger. She did.” A frowning grin broke his face. “LAAC gave Brenae a full ride, and she squandered it. I got the whole bill. Sixty thousand dollars in loans. I’m still paying them off, and Hal’s the only reason I can, and still be making art for a living. So am I going to protect him and the school, and not some tragic narcissistic bitch? Yes. Did I know what was on the videos? No. I thought they were just some protest message. Brenae whining about the system that obviously doted on her. I never guessed it was that.” He looked away, his neck pulsing. “I could bash Erik’s face in for what he did.”

I waited.

“Anything else?” said Pearson. He folded his arms.

“Do the others know?”

“About you?” he said. “I think Layla suspects something. She’s the one who wanted to invite you tonight.”

Pearson swung away and lunged through the doorway, into the inky dark of the cellar. “You ask me again, I’ll deny everything. You quote me, I’ll sue you.”

20

WHEN I CRUISED FROM NELSON’S driveway at precisely 9:00 p.m., Ray appeared in his sedan and motioned me to keep driving, so I took a number of twisty turns until I reached the Pacific Coast Highway. I skimmed south along the edge of the continent, watching the steel-gray ocean stretch westward on my right. Ordinarily, I would have been relieved to see the sea, but I felt taut and sick. The surface looked impenetrable and unimaginably powerful, barely suppressing a violence that could sweep over us all.

When I hit a standstill, my phone rang and Ray told me to pull into the next beach parking lot. His car slid in beside mine, facing the water, and we both got out and leaned on the hood of his sedan, arms crossed.

“How much time do we have?” I said.

Ray checked his watch. “About twenty minutes.”

Pulse racing, I told him about the party, the trophy room upstairs, Brenae’s photo and message, the stalking petition, leaving through the wine cellar, and Pearson’s confession. I left out the kiss. As usual, Ray didn’t interrupt me once, and I wondered what his mind was fastening on.

“So there it is,” I concluded. “Hal asked Pearson to do it. I don’t know if he’d ever go on the record, though.”

“Might not matter,” said Ray. He was looking far out to sea, his eyes on a shipping vessel close to the horizon. “At least for Janis.”

“What’s her update?”

“There’s a special meeting of the LAAC board of trustees tomorrow with Hal. Closed session,” said Ray.