“Some guy who worked on her dad’s boat for a couple weeks. Not from around here. Went to UCLA or USC, one of those California schools. For years I had these extremely vivid fantasies of tracking him down, bashing his head in with an oar. Later, I started to think that he was probably her victim. Like, she seduced him, lied about her age before they had sex, then afterward confessed the truth, laughed and laughed when he freaked out.” Tommy was quiet for a minute or so, picturing the scenario he’d conjured in his mind. When he spoke again, his voice was calmer, quieter: “So this dark side of Camilla’s that, like I said, was always there, got darker as we got older. Bigger, too. Then her mom died, and it just took over, blotted out the light side entirely. Soon there was no place for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I was part of the light side, so I was getting blotted out, too.”

“I don’t understand,” Alice said. “Blotted out how?”

“She was cheating on me at the end. Probably with a bunch of guys, but only one I knew for sure.” His face darkened, and he looked down at his hands. “Since we didn’t go to school together, it was hard for me to keep total track.”

“You didn’t?”

“No, she went to St. Augustine’s, which is in Greenwich. Not far. Technically she was a boarder, but she came here almost every weekend. And my family lives here year-round, so we saw each other plenty.”

“Anyway, that’s why I finally broke up with her, a week before she—” breaking off, like he couldn’t say the words.

“Killed herself?” Alice said, gently.

“I overlooked so much and for so long because I knew how wrecked she was over her mom’s death. Then I reached a point where I couldn’t overlook anymore.”

“Who was she cheating on you with?”

“Jude Devlin.”

“Jude?” Alice said, surprised, more than surprised—shocked. “Why him?”

“Because he’s a bottom-feeder. She was weak at the time, he preyed on that weakness. Believe me, it’s not something I’m proud of, not something I want people knowing, that she chose that scumbag over me. Luckily, they were quiet about it. I didn’t even hear rumors about them. She’s the one who told me.”

“It’s just, I wouldn’t have guessed they had much in common.”

Tommy shrugged. “They did drugs together. That gave them enough in common, I guess. He was probably into kink, too. I was definitely too meat-and-potatoes for her that way. She was dropping these little hints about wanting to—” He cut himself off, shook his head. “I’m sure you can guess what the little hints were about.”

Shocked on the inside, calm on the out, Alice lied and murmured that she could.