Kayla’s voice is so screechy that if it gets any higher, only dogs will be able to hear her. But I can’t blame her because I’m feeling the same way. Tim went on a date with Tracy Gifford? How did that happen? In what universe did my neighbor go on a date with a dead girl?

“Two dates.” Tim looks like he wants to disappear into the folds of the sofa. “That’s it. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“Not a big deal!” Kayla bursts out. I notice her thigh is no longer touching his. “I’m sorry, but that’s a very big deal.”

Tim squirms. “It’s really not.”

Brandon’s chiseled features are twisted in amusement. I always thought he looked like the handsome rich kid in every John Hughes movie. “I underestimated you, Reese. Nice going. Did you score with her?”

“No!” Tim’s face is turning red. “I told you, it was just two dates.”

“Exactly,” Brandon says.

“Christ.” Tim rakes a hand through his short hair, which is now sticking up a bit. “I’m telling you, it was nothing. Nothing. We met at the library, we got to talking, and we went out two times. Then she stopped returning my calls.”

“Because she was dead?” Chelsea supplies.

Everyone else is firing questions at Tim, but I am completely speechless. I never could have imagined this in a million years. And how did Shane know about it? He must’ve known, because when he said it, he was looking right at Tim. I glance at Shane now, and he’s watching everything unfold, a look of amusement in his eyes.

“Did the police question you?” Kayla asks.

“No.”

“Did they know you went out with her?” she presses him.

“I have no idea.” He squirms on the sofa. “Whether or not they did, it wasn’t a big deal. I mean, two dates, and it was like a month before she died.”

“You mean,” Chelsea says, “before she was killed.”

Tim shoots me a pained look, but I have to look away. I thought I knew him better than anyone else in the world, but I didn’t know about this. I’m reeling from the shock. I can’t wrap my head around it.

“You should go to the police,” Kayla says. “Tell them what you know.”

Tim grimaces. “I don’t know anything. I have nothing to tell them.”

With those words, he jumps off the sofa and stalks in the direction of the kitchen. He shoves the door open and disappears inside.

“Wow,” Kayla breathes. “It just shows, you never know…”

I can’t sit here another second while they speculate about what Tim might have done. I get up off the loveseat and follow Tim back to the kitchen. I can feel Shane’s eyes on my back, but I don’t turn around.