“She likes to push the edge,” Jo-Jo had said to Richards. “Once we were sunning on top of her father’s garage. We did that a lot because it was fun to be above everyone and the rays felt more intense on the roof. Plus, we could take our tops off. Mom keeps saying we’re ruining our skin, but we all look better and thinner with a tan, right? Anyway, Marisa rose up out of her chair and walked to the edge of the roof. She dangled a leg over. Clare told her to stop. I didn’t because the more you tell Marisa not to do something, the more she’s prone to do it. The fall likely wouldn’t have killed her, but it would have broken bones or caused a head injury. Clare begged her to stop, and she finally did.” There’s a paragraph break, and I imagine Jo-Jo reaching for a can of diet soda and taking a long sip—she drank diet sodas obsessively in high school. “Yes, she uses drugs. Pot before school, coke at parties. Who knows, maybe someone in her drug world mistook Clare for her. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Where does she get her drugs?”

“I don’t know. That’s not my world.”

“Brit’s boyfriend, Jack Dutton, sells drugs,” Richards said.

“Like I said, not my world.”

“Marisa’s been in trouble with the law?” Richards asked.

“Yeah, since her mother died. That really messed her up. Brit tried to play mommy, but it never worked. Marisa resents her, and I think she does half the shit just to piss off Brit and her father.”

“Her father is about to be married.”

“Yeah, Sandra. Nice, I guess. Marisa said they started seeing each other when Mrs. Stockton’s mental health started declining. Brit really hates her. Clare never talks about Sandra.”

“What about Clare’s relationship with Kurt?” Richards asked.

“What about it? They’ve been dating about six months.”

“But he sees other girls?”

“Not really. I think Tamara was about making Clare jealous.”

“What’s Kurt like around Clare? Possessive? Easygoing?”

“He’s cute but not the brightest. Clare likes him, but she sees other guys. She fought with him at my party.”

“About the other guys?”

“Yes.”

“Who else was Clare seeing?”

“I’m pretty sure she hooked up with a guy before Thanksgiving. I don’t have a name. Maybe Brit would know.”

“Did Clare hook up a lot?”

“She got around. She said the sex made her feel less lonely.”

“Sleeping with Kurt wasn’t enough?”

“She’s kind of like Marisa. Trying to fill a bottomless hole, you know.”

“And Brit?”

“She tried to hold it all together, but since she went off to college, Clare and Marisa got more out of control.”

“The drugs and boys,” Richards said, flipping to a clean page on his pad.