I perched on the edge of the bed, where Lina sat with her knees to her chin, while Tori and Carmen sprawled on the floor. All three were fixed on the TV. A joint smoldered on an empty can of Surge.

It was nearing the end of the fourth quarter. The Heat were losing to the Magic.

Carmen asked, “You booting for us?”

“No.”

Tori told her to be quiet as time expired.

“Clowns.” She shut the TV off. “We almost came back.”

“Tough season,” I said. “Maybe try being a Lakers fan.”

Tori laughed bitterly and picked the joint off the can. It seemed huge in her fingers.

“I found out some stuff about Jules,” I said, and all three girls looked away. “She left the hospital in December.”

“No,” Lina said, “she never came back.”

“Maybe she left town.”

“Why would she do that?”

“To start over,” I offered, “without her pimp coming after her.”

“Pimp?” Tori coughed, and the girls nervously laughed.

“That’s what I was told,” I said. “Isn’t that who attacked her?”

“Pimp would be, like, a promotion,” Lina said. “It was her idiot boyfriend, Deck. He took off for Tampa.”

“She better not’ve gone to Tampa,” said Carmen.

“There’s no way,” Lina said.

“But that would be like her.” Tori tapped her head. “Jules isn’t so quick.”

“Don’t diss Jules like that,” said Lina, snatching the joint.

“I’m not dissing her, it’s just facts.”

I explained a little about how Jules was involved in a medical trial, for which she would’ve been paid.

“If you had some money,” I asked, “would you leave?”

“Leave?” Carmen said. “No.”

“Hell no,” said Lina.

“We grew up here,” Tori told me. “Everything is here.”

“But I hate the way it’s changing, though,” Carmen added.

“You know,” Tori said, “if my grandma ever moved out of here, they’d tear this whole block down.”

“You think so?” I said.

“That’s what happened with the Glades,” Tori said. “It was just this one old lady who wouldn’t sell. They were waiting on her to bulldoze the area.”

“What happened to her?” I asked.

“The place next door caught fire and I guess she had to go. I swear it was like two weeks later and they already had workers out there. You know how much they make?”

“No,” I said, taking notes. “How much?”

“I was asking you.”

I told her I didn’t know. “So what happened with Deck?”

“Deck is way old,” Carmen said. “And I mean, I like older guys.”

“Jules says he has white hair on his balls,” Lina said.

The girls laughed, the joint was passed.

“Deck’s basically just a mean asshole,” Carmen said. “He beat up Jules lots of times, lots. I told her it would get worse.”

“We found her,” Lina said, “me and Tori.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s us that called the ambulance, the purple people.”