“Because you want to ask me about the fire?” I say.

“Yes,” the detective says. “We need to know about the fire. You were the last person there before it started.”

“You mean back by the rooms?” I ask. “Is that where it started? Because Teresa was there, too.”

“Wylie,” Rachel jumps in. “Make sure there’s an actual question for you to answer. Don’t volunteer information.”

But that’s because Rachel is used to dealing with guilty people. I don’t have anything to hide. I want to get it all out in the open.

“Seriously, you should ask Teresa about all this,” I go on. And I am trying to decide how and when to mention Kelsey, or whatever her real name is. Despite all her lies, I do feel a weird kind of loyalty to her. She is one of the original Outliers. Throwing her under the bus when I don’t know for sure that she did anything feels wrong. “Anyway, I was back in the common room when the alarm went off.”

The detective is quiet for a moment, staring past me at a blank spot on the wall, a flat expression on her face. She’s pretending to consider what I’ve said, though she isn’t really. She is waiting to ask her next question. I don’t think this is going well.

“Well, we would ask Teresa, but we can’t,” she says. And then she waits, staring at me. This is supposed to mean something. But it doesn’t. Not to me.

“Okay, I’ll bite,” Rachel snaps. “Why can’t you ask her, detective? Because we’re getting a little tired of the ‘hide the accusation’ game you’re playing. We’d like to be cooperative, but if you don’t get to the point soon, we’re leaving. I remind you that we are still here voluntarily.”

“We can’t ask Teresa because she’s dead, Wylie. She died in the fire.”

“What?” I lean forward, heart racing. “What are you talking about?”

“Okay, hold on.” Rachel holds a hand up in front of me to keep me from talking. Worried. She is a lot more worried now. “What exactly is the scope of this investigation?”

This has caught Rachel off guard. The situation is much worse than she thought. She doubts her instinct to cooperate. But all I feel is numb. Teresa? How is that even possible?

“It’s hard to say right now,” the detective says. Her partner is looking on, still mute. “I will say we’re doing our best to keep an open mind.” Except I’m not exactly sure that’s true. “We feel we have enough evidence at this point to charge your client with arson and reckless endangerment, at a minimum. Unless she can explain away some of this evidence.”

“At a minimum?” Rachel snaps. “And what evidence?”

The detective’s eyes stay locked on mine.