The night air was so cold she felt the sober press of it on her hands and face. They shouldered her into the car. Louise closed her eyes and rested her head on the back of Harvey’s seat. She could feel their eyes on her. She knew they thought she was so drunk she couldn’t make out their talk. She heard their grim whispers to each other like lovers. She couldn’t help but laugh, and her laughter sounded loud and harsh in the car as if her lungs had exploded. “Are you two together?” she said. She had only meant to tease them, to break the ice. Jules turned to her. His face was heat on her. She knew. Right then she knew. She turned to Harvey and he tried to smile with her like he was laughing, too, but now she knew the both of them had done something terrible together. They had conspired together. She could feel something pass between the two men. Harvey Stoner’s cigarette lighter popped up and when he lifted it to his face she saw his teeth turn red.

She felt the buzzing spin of booze circle her thoughts. “I know you killed my husband,” she said. Before she had said the words aloud they were just crazy thoughts but as she listened the words fell around her like sharp stones. Both men were turning on her, stricken, their eyes suddenly hollow. “Louise,” Harvey said, “you’ve had a few.” She had shaken them. Fog surrounded the car. Fog so thick there was only the three of them and the words Louise had spoken. They had killed her husband.

Harvey pulled the car to a stop on the roadside. Louise tightened the muscles in her legs.

“What are you doing, Stoner?” Jules asked.

“What do you think I’m doing?” Harvey Stoner slammed the gear into park. Before Jules could speak Stoner was out of the car.

“You’re helping me on this one too,” he told Jules. Louise pressed her hands to the seat ready to run when the chance opened. Jules sat beside her, his eyes wide. He would look at the dash and then he would glance sideways at Louise.

“Out, you two,” Stoner said.

Jules opened the door and Louise slid over the seat to standing. She walked toward the front of Stoner’s car. She could hear the ticking engine cooling. She tried to think of a plan.

“You did me a favor,” she told the men.

“What are you talking about?” Jules was flexing his hands like he was working his strength up.