Right, I think, remembering the text exchange “BEST PARTY EVER”—they were still reliving it months later.

“And we filled the lawn with sand, had a hot tub and umbrella drinks. One of the guys dressed up like Captain Morgan, and there were girls in bikinis everywhere. We even hired a Jimmy Buffet cover band.”

“Sounds like a blast,” nice-guy Teddy says, but I hear a hint of sarcasm.

“It was.” Tripp’s eyes glass over with the memory, but then his shoulder twitches. “But after—Mike was furious. I guess Jay hadn’t approved all the expenses ahead of time, and Mike figured he did that intentionally—not an oversight, you know, but so he could do what he wanted.” He shrugs. “That’s just how Jay was.”

“Selfish?” I ask, thinking of Samantha and Katie Coleman.

“No.” Firm, no hesitation there. “He wanted everyone to have a good time. Make memories. But the band alone cost three grand—”

Teddy lets out a low whistle. “That’s a lot of money.”

Tripp shifts again. “Yeah, I mean, it is, but not for guys like Jay and Mike.” He squirms, and I think of the scholarship and the fact that his allowance must be significantly less than the other boys’. “So Jay’s all like, he’ll pay for it, why is Mike making such a big deal. And Mike’s trying to explain that that’s not the point. That there are balance sheets and the math has to add up. And they were both kind of pissed at our last spring meeting, but then Mike was gone all summer at an internship in Atlanta, and—I don’t know, they got over it.”

I lean in again. “Until…?”

“Until what?”

“Didn’t Michael call him out at a meeting?”

“Oh, that.” Tripp shakes his head. “That was nothing.”

“It didn’t seem like nothing—Jay sounded pretty angry in his texts.”

“Do I um—do I need a lawyer, or something?” Tripp looks sheepish, but he doesn’t blink under my stare.

“You can, of course,” Teddy says, sitting back in his chair.

“But then,” I chime in, “you’d have to wait until he gets here—and that can take forever. I mean, one time, this guy was here forty-eight hours waiting on his lawyer, because the man actually forgot about him.”

This is not in the least bit true, and if Tripp did talk to a lawyer, he’d tell him we can’t hold him without charging him and he can leave whenever he wants. I get that feeling again like he knows this but has been relegated the helpful role by the brothers in some larger game they’re playing.

“But you’re not a suspect,” Teddy adds. “And we’re wrapping up anyway. It sounds like we really need to speak to Michael and Katie Coleman anyway.”

A quick glance at Katie’s name.