John Wesley stopped shuffling around and smiling. He turned to TJ while his face broke apart and his whole body shook, convulsing like she’d seen people do at that church they opened up in the old Hollywood Video. The kid started to speak but something caught in his throat. TJ got up and ran over to him, dropping down on her knees and hugging him tight.

“Go on,” TJ said, yelling at the girl. “Call the police. Do what you need to.”

“Did y’all do it?”

“Hush,” TJ said.

“Really?” the girl said. “I hate my damn stepmother so much my teeth ache. That woman must’ve done something awful for you to do what y’all did.”

John Wesley couldn’t take it anymore, standing tall and wiggling free of TJ, little fists balled up at his side. “That’s a lie! You’re a damn liar! My momma’s not dead! She went to Louisiana! You’re a bullshit liar!”

“We didn’t kill anyone,” Ladarius said. “Police wanted to put TJ in jail. Me, too. So we ran. Okay? That good with you?”

Holly hadn’t said a damn word since breaking her plate, getting down on her hands and knees cleaning up the mess she’d made. Now she was sitting back on her big haunches, looking up to this girl and back to TJ, not sure which one was more in charge. That was Holly, always looking for a damn leader.

“Please don’t call the police,” TJ said, pulling John Wesley close, who was now silently crying while glaring at the girl. “I can explain some things. And then we’ll leave.”

The girl slipped the gun inside the pocket of the fancy cheetah-print coat, still holding the phone in her right hand. “Y’all are famous,” she said. “You’re all over the damn news. Got your lover under your spell and everything. In love and on the run.”

“He ain’t my lover,” TJ said. “He’s just a friend.”

“Not from what I’m hearing,” the girl said. She nodded to the middle of the island where Ladarius had left half a joint at the edge of a saucer. “Wait a second. Y’all have some weed?”

“Help yourself, sweet thing,” Ladarius said.

TJ shot him a look. She turned back to the girl, waiting to see what she was doing. Behind her, she could hear Holly Harkins sobbing, hands over her eyes, not wanting to see what happened next.

“Only an insane person would sit down and smoke a joint with a bunch of redneck outlaws like you,” the girl said.

Ladarius reached for the joint and handed it to her. She reached out and took it.

“Well,” the girl said. “I guess it’s your lucky goddamn day. I just got back from rehab last week. My counselor told me to get out and live my own life. You know? All that good shit.”

TJ held John Wesley as tight as she could, looking back to Holly. Holly, covered up in a big blue sweatshirt, had her hands still over her face and eyes, turning her head from side to side and mumbling some kind of prayer.