Archie indicated the flash drive, his eyes still on the screen. “This is footage from the security cameras on the island last night,” he said. “A young woman was found dead this afternoon on a dock at a nearby property.” There was still no flash drive icon on the desktop—the laptop wasn’t recognizing it. Archie tapped the return key a few times, squinting at the starry landscape. “I saw her at the party last night,” he continued. “Before I blacked out.” He stopped there, deciding to leave Leo out of that particular part of the story. “I woke up this morning on the embankment outside the boathouse,” he said. He touched the wound on his head. “With this.” Maybe the flash drive didn’t work. Maybe it was corrupted. “There’s a boathouse camera,” Archie said, remembering what Leo had said. “I want to see that footage.” He scanned the keys helplessly, trying to figure out what more to do to get it to work.

Susan closed her computer and set it on the kitchen bar next to his. “Here,” she said, moving his hand away from the keyboard. “Let me.” He stepped away from the computer gratefully, and allowed her to take his place.

He watched as she studied his laptop. Then she reached out and wiggled the flash drive in the USB port and the flash drive icon instantly appeared. Apparently, he hadn’t inserted the flash drive correctly. Susan glanced over at him with a slight smile, but didn’t comment.

“Click on it,” Archie said.

Susan clicked on the icon and a window opened with dozens of thumbnails, each with a different label. SE Garden. Pool. Dock. Archie scanned them until he found the one called Boathouse.

“Here,” he said, pointing at it.

Susan moved the cursor over it and clicked.

Another box opened on the screen and the video started loading.

“Can you make it go faster?” Archie asked.

“Maybe if you had updated your video player in the last three years,” Susan said.

The status bar ticked forward at a glacial pace.

“Is that how you hurt your head?” Susan asked.

Archie stayed focused on the screen. “I don’t know how I hurt my head,” he said.

“So what’s the last thing you remember?” Susan asked.

A face flashed in Archie’s mind. “Leo,” Archie said numbly.

Susan turned to him, eyebrow arched. “What did he do?”

The status bar was at 60 percent.

“Can we agree to let that go for now?” Archie asked.

Susan pressed a key with her thumb and the status bar stopped moving. She had paused it.

“What are you doing?” Archie demanded.

Susan crossed her arms and faced him. “Tell me what happened.”