“They’re fine,” she said. “Any idiot can run those things. I told your brother to put on a life jacket. Say, are you hungry? I’m damn well starved. There’s a little place around the corner that serves up hot catfish and shrimp plates. I think you’d like it.”

TJ shook her head, the girl looking a hell of a lot better after Chastity improved her appearance by a thousand percent. That little country girl could almost pass for an Abercrombie model.

“Still full off that stolen steak?”

“It wasn’t stolen.”

“Borrowed steak,” Chastity said. “Y’all are still full off that borrowed steak?”

“I don’t want nothing to eat,” TJ said, moving closer in the bathroom and taking a seat up on the sink counter. “I saw something online that’s made me ill.”

“I told you to steer clear of that crap,” Chastity said. “Remember what I said. Control the message. Use your damn voice and your good looks. You’re gonna be the one to tell the whole truth about the real killers.”

“Things have changed,” TJ said. “I don’t know what to think.”

“About who killed your mom?”

TJ nodded, pulled out her phone, and showed Chastity as Chastity pulled her hair up into a cute little messy bun. The whole idea of getting the boyfriend and the kid onto a boat was to spend a little more time with TJ to coach her on the finer points of being a social media sensation. She’d already registered TJ’s new Insta page, her old one depressing as hell with nothing but pictures of old rock stars, rusted cars, and Bible quotations. The new one was called FREEBYRD.

The girl showed her a story off some news station in Memphis, footage of a bony-looking old dude in a fuzzy sweater with sunglasses on top of his head. The bottom of the screen said boyfriend says teenage lovers plotted murder.

“What in the fuck is this?” Chastity asked.

“Lies,” TJ said. “Lies and bullshit. Bullshit and lies.”

CHESTER PRATT: I was worried about Gina’s safety after her daughter pulled a gun on us a few weeks back. She said if we tried to send her away, she’d kill both of us. We prayed and prayed on it. Thinking she’d never do something so horrible. Good Lord. It didn’t have to be like this. I only wish I could’ve been with Gina when the kids came for her.

REPORTER: Chester Pratt says TJ Byrd had bragged about Ladarius McCade’s ability to steal cars and strip them for parts. According to Mr. Pratt, TJ said the same thing might happen to them if they tried to separate the two teenage lovers.

“Holly was right,” TJ said, taking the phone back and sliding it into the sweater dress pocket. “Chester’s behind all this.”

“Who’s Holly?”