“I haven’t decided,” he said. “I was only putting it on the table.”

“Ben was home,” Lia whispered. “They were in his backyard, and they stabbed him so hard they couldn’t get the knife out. They wore latex gloves so he couldn’t fight back. Not playing isn’t going to keep us safe. If anything, we should spend more time together.”

“But it might keep us safer, especially since they don’t know who killed Ben.” Devon unsnapped his lunch box and pulled out a sandwich. “Or why.”

“Yeah, but what’s the likelihood it’s a serial killer?” Lia asked, picking at the knot of the Kroger bag she used for lunch. “Isn’t it always a family member or friend? We could win, and if we donate a lot, they have to match it.”

Devon waved to someone behind Lia and shook his head. “We can donate and volunteer without wandering around in the dark.”

“It’s not like we would be alone like Ben,” mumbled Lia. They shouldn’t have left. They should’ve stayed. They should’ve done anything else. “Our grief is making serial killers out of circumstance.”

“Pithy but too late,” Devon said. “Faith, you still want to swap?”

The other girl appeared near Lia’s left shoulder and sat delicately at the end of the plastic bench. She pulled a paper napkin out of her metal lunch box and laid it on her knee. Devon handed her a sandwich bag of crackers. She set a knob of tinfoil in front of him.

“Wow,” Gem said. “This is the most secretive I’ve ever seen you. A lunchtime swap, mysterious tinfoil. It’s so clandestine.”

Faith laughed. “I don’t like eating garlic bread at school.”

“Fair.” Lia took a sip of her water to hide her wince. She hadn’t heard such a loud laugh since before Ben. “You can stay and eat with us.”

“Thanks, but I do not do the cold.” She wiggled her gloved fingers as if playing a piano and tossed her fancy silverware, new crackers, and napkin back into her lunch bag. “My fingers get all shaky, and I told Georgia I’d eat with her.”

She waved goodbye, and Lia ripped the handles off her lunch bag. A team of two people was at a severe disadvantage, but Lia had been planning for months. Maybe she could do it alone.

“I’m going to keep playing,” Lia told him. “I hope you do, too.”

Devon got up abruptly. “I’ll let you know.” And then he walked away.

“So I guess you’re not dating, then?” Gem asked.

Lia groaned. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to think and can’t think and need to think about something not Abby or Ben, and Assassins is that for me right now.” She picked up Devon’s forgotten garlic bread, peeled back the foil, and tossed a piece into the bushes. A robin pecked at the bread and dragged a chunk back to a small tree.

“You want to get milkshakes and see if we can knock Nora out after school?” Gem asked.