“No, she’s an art history major. I’m an econ major actually. Why else would I be at Morse McKinley. But I find that marketing and acting have a big area of intersection. Anyway, Lance used to bring Angeline to the theater parties. It’s probably how we met, although I don’t remember the specifics.”

McAdams asked, “What was Angeline’s substance of choice?”

“She liked whiskey and bourbon. Jack Daniel’s. I don’t do booze . . . too many calories.”

Decker said, “What else did Lance tell you about Angeline?”

“Just that she was nuts. He didn’t elaborate.” She started chewing on her thumb again. “I know they still talked. Every time she’d call, he’d, like, turn around and talk quietly into the phone, protecting the call like I’d listen in. Finally I told him, ‘Look, if you want a girlfriend, you’ve got to stop behaving stupid. Just cut her out of your life!’ ”

“Did he?”

She blew out air. “I don’t think so.”

McAdams said, “Booty calls?”

“If anyone did the booty calling, it would be her. According to Lance, they used to fuck all the time.” She rolled her eyes. “God, as I’m talking about him, I don’t know why I put up with it.” She shrugged. “I guess I don’t care all that much. I mean, it’s a college fling. And he takes me out to nice dinners when we go into the city.” She checked her watch. “It’s two-thirty in the morning. I need to get some rest.”

Decker said, “Just a couple more questions. Lance mentioned another guy. Someone he called a freak named John. What do you know about that?”

“Nothing.”

“C’mon. Lance must have mentioned him when he was pissed at Angeline.”

“All he said is that she’s seeing some freak.”

“How did he know?”

“Beats me. When he went on his tirades, I barely listened.”

“Did he give the freak a name other than John?”

“No.”

“Did he know where the freak lived?”

“I wouldn’t know.” A pause. “This could be totally wrong, but I got the feeling that the freak wasn’t a student at any of the colleges.”

“Tell me why?”

“Because Lance used to rant about how old he was.”

“How old was he?”

“From the way Lance talked about it, he was around thirty.”

“And he never said where the freak lived?” When she didn’t answer, Decker said, “It’s not a time to be holding back, Lucy. Angeline was murdered and I really need to talk to this guy.”