They talked to her and she answered, but she had no idea what she said. She had no idea what they said.

No, she hadn’t seen it happen.

No, she hadn’t been running with Abby.

Yes, they were playing that game and she was stalking Abby.

“I was just following a little ways behind, and then I heard…I thought…” Lia sniffed. “I thought she had kicked a rock or stubbed her toe, because I couldn’t hear her running, and then Omelet was howling, and I tripped on something, and then Omelet came over to me, and I knew Abby wouldn’t leave Omelet. She’d never leave Omelet, so I stood up and—”

“You tripped too?” one of the cops asked.

Too? Abby ran everywhere. She couldn’t die from tripping.

Lia nodded, and a detective in a neat suit and wool coat glanced at her over the rim of his glasses.

Lia nodded. “It took me a minute to get up, and Omelet came over.”

Lia’s dad talked to the cops while her mom herded her to the car.

“Abby ran all the time,” Lia said softly, an ache that had nothing to do with her wounds spreading through her.

“She wasn’t supposed to be running,” Lia’s mom said. Her arm was tight around Lia’s shoulders, and her lips were set in a hard, thin line. “You shouldn’t have been out either.”

“Sorry.”

Her mom sighed and hugged Lia to her side. “No, no, it’s fine. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

They passed a crowd of onlookers, old neighbors bundled up in dressing gowns beneath puffy coats and people on the way to work clutching travel mugs in their hands. Nothing worth gossiping about ever happened in Lincoln, but an ambulance and a cop car at dawn must’ve been worth talking about. Lia tucked her face into her mom’s shoulder.

“So senseless.” Lia’s mom stroked her hair and tucked her into the back of their car. “Her poor parents. I was just talking to her mom yesterday. And for Abby to just…”

Lia could still remember the soft thrill in Abby’s voice as she told Omelet that maybe they would run a little.

“It’s not Abby’s fault,” Lia said quickly. “Even if she wasn’t supposed to be running, it’s not her fault.”

Her mom reached back from the front seat and took her hand. “Of course it isn’t. It’s just so senseless. She had so much ahead of her—she just got that full ride, you know. And now—”

“I don’t want to do this,” Lia said. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

Her stomach dropped. How could she have been so jealous of Abby? She was terrible.

Her dad opened the door and climbed into the driver’s seat before her mom could respond. “Home first, and if your head starts hurting, the hospital. Got it?”

Lia nodded. Once home, she stayed curled up in her room, half asleep, for the next three days. The ache didn’t vanish, but the roar in her ears that rose whenever she thought about Abby kept the silence at bay. She talked with Gem a lot, and she texted a bit with Devon. Even Ben called to keep her company.