Chip said to Decker, “What’s so funny? You a fag or something?”

Decker said, “Is this where we talk about the Darcys?”

Chip said, “Darcys! Sheeeet! Byron was around here yesterday, telling us what the fuck went down. Or his version. Old man’s face was green, man. Fucking green. Never saw By like that. Like he needed a drink. Gave him a beer on the house. You guys want a beer?”

Marge said, “I’ll pass.”

Decker said, “What did Byron tell you?”

“What a mess it was. That Linda, Luke, and Carla was whacked.”

“I heard Byron had a thing with Linda,” Marge said.

“Byron?” Chip exclaimed. “With Linda? You’re shittin’ me!”

“That’s what I heard,” Decker said.

“Well, Byron was upset, I’ll tell you that much,” Chip said. “Old man usually talks in one-word sentences. But yesterday, man, he let it all hang out.”

“What did he say specifically?” Marge asked.

“I remember him saying, ‘Who woulda done it, who woulda done it,’ over and over. Byron gets a whole sentence out, he likes to repeat himself.”

Decker wrote in his notepad: Byron upset! Too upset?

“Remember him saying anything else?” Marge said.

Chip shook his head, paused a moment, then said, “Byron Howard and Linda Darcy.” He shrugged. “I sure wouldna figured it, but who the fuck knows? Linda was rumored to have a thing with lots of people, but I never seen it. Never, ever. Boys ’round here like to wag their dicks, know what I mean?”

“What about Carla?” Marge said. “She was also rumored to have a lot of boyfriends.”

“Carla’d fuck anyone in pants. Right out back—two, three in a row. In daylight. That lady was a rabbit. You ever see Carla?”

Only dead, Decker thought. He shook his head no.

“Man, she was ugly.” Chip sniffed his nose in disgust. “I mean ugly—big ears, big nose, no tits, and an ass as flat as a pancake. And was she stupid. Used to be a rumor going round that she and Earl were twins. You know ’bout Earl, don’t you?”

Marge nodded.

“’Course, it ain’t true,” Chip said. “Earl is retard stupid. Carla’s just normal stupid. But she was nice enough. Nice fuck if there was no one else around. Linda was a different piece of ass altogether. Smart, sexy. Maybe a few of the guys were slipping it to her, but she kept it to herself.”

Chip stopped and yelled another order to the sauce-splattering hype. Then he said, “I had the hots for Linda. Almost had her once. Think she was strung out, then.”

“On what?”

“Mostly booze, but a little weed, maybe. I thought she was giving me that hungry look, but it didn’t work out.” He frowned at the memory. “Best I got that evening was a blow job from Dawg’s old lady. What a pisser!”

“Know anyone who didn’t like the Darcys?” Marge asked.