I bite my lip. He’s right, of course. So right it hurts. He’s seen me all along. That selfish, self-destructive little girl, banging her head against the concrete just to watch everyone run. And for a moment, I wish we could start over. I wish I could rewrite that entire morning, so I was nowhere near campus when Jay was hit. Anywhere but at that house the night of the party. Suddenly I’m so tired that I have trouble keeping my spine straight. My feet feel heavy, like I’ve been dragging my body around in someone else’s shoes.

The restaurant door swings open, and I smell coffee and roasted carrots.

“I’ll resign,” I say. “When this is all over, I’ll hand in my badge.”

He reaches his palm out, as if to take back the words, but then he drops it.

“That’s not what I want,” he says.

No, he wants me to sit in the stands. To obey orders and risk justice looking away again. I can’t do that. As much as I want to—for him, for us, whatever we are. I can’t let another fraternity skip freely away from their responsibility. And so this is what I have to offer: the job that brought us together but is tearing us apart.

“You said it yourself.” I smile sadly. “I’m a good investigator, but a terrible cop.” I take a breath. “And I’m sorry,” I say. Sorry for being a shit partner. Sorry for Cindy. Sorry for what this might mean for my career. For our friendship. But I’m not sorry for solving the case. Not sorry for chasing leads he didn’t. Not sorry for not giving up.

Teddy, I think, sees all of this, too, as if it’s seared plainly onto my flesh.

He nods and turns away from me, his voice stiff.

“All right,” he says. “Let’s go.”

Fair Play, South Carolina, is two exits north of the Georgia–South Carolina line. The lake house—the one from the infamous fishing trip, the one Colin told his father he visited—belongs to Michael Williams. Not his parents. Not an uncle or grandfather. Him.

Despite what I told Teddy, I don’t know for certain Colin’s there. It’s a hunch, but a good one. Michael said he and Jay went fishing at the lake the same weekend Dr. Watanabe told us Jay was writing his class essay. Mr. Haines said Colin spent his time partying at the house and at the lake, but the brothers claim not to know him. We now have two conflicting stories regarding Jay, Colin, and the lake, and no one has been up there yet to check it out.