Audrey shrugged. “She changed her mind. She talked to her mom and worked it out so she was getting way more money.”

Sally had told me the same thing and I hadn’t believed her.

“If she changed her mind, why would Brandon kill her?” I said. “It makes no sense.”

“Exactly,” Audrey said. “That’s what I’ve been saying.”

“How do you know all this? About the deal with Sally? How do you know about Hawaii?”

“She called me. Didn’t I tell you? I went there as soon as I got her message.”

“Went where?” I said. “When was this?”

“Help me pack this shit. Hey, here’s your dress. I told you I’d give it back.”

She tossed me the yellow sundress that she’d borrowed. I ignored it and it fell to the floor. I could hear blood beating in my head. My mind, slow and cold, tried to put it together. Danielle and Brandon fought, and Danielle went to the motel. At some point she called Audrey. Danielle changed her mind about the land, like Sally said. She talked to Sally and negotiated her new deal. Audrey went to meet her.

“You were at the motel,” I said. “That’s what you’re telling me?”

She kept filling the bag, her back to me.

“Did you see Brandon there?” I said.

“No.”

“Did you see anybody else? What time did you leave?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t keep track.” She turned to me, stricken. “Do you think if I stayed, she’d still be alive?”

“Oh, god. You’ve been driving yourself crazy, haven’t you?”

“I guess,” she said.

“What about what’s-his-name? Eddie?” I said. “The guy Danielle would meet there.”

“How the fuck do you know about Eddie?”

“Ash told me.”

Audrey laughed. “I forgot I told him about that. That’s not even his real name. We called them all Eddie.”

“What do you mean, all? How many were there?”

“I don’t know, a few. It wasn’t even the money. She liked it, she got off on it. Dani was so twisted.”

“Well, maybe it was one of them?”

“No one was there,” she said. “Just us.”

“Did the cops know this? When did you leave?”

“Let’s do some lines, all right? Is there any more?”

“I can’t,” I said. “I don’t feel well. Come on, tell me what happened.”

“She was saying this stuff, her big plans, and I was like, okay, cool. Hawaii, right? Let’s go. But she goes, ‘Audrey, I was thinking by myself. Leaving everything behind.’ Like I’m what she wants to get away from.”

She started to cry again, stuttering over the words. It annoyed me. I felt impatient.

“Go on,” I said.

“Everybody leaves me,” she said. “Everybody.”

“What happened, Audrey?”

“Look, it doesn’t have to be Hawaii. Let’s go to California. You would like California. I’ve been there before. I’ve been to the ocean. Have you ever seen the ocean?”

“No.”

“Please come with me,” she said.

She hunched over the coke on the table. She was blotchy from tears, skinny and red-eyed as a drowning kitten. I could easily picture her at fifteen, hiding in a dirty barn. She didn’t look pretty, or like anyone I wanted to go anywhere with. I thought of Danielle, her head beaten in, the blood.