Lila looked at the picture, at the people in the background. She studied their faces but recognized no one. “There were a lot of people there, so I’m sure there were others from South, but I can’t remember. Is there any mention of a guy with a lisp?”

“Nothing.”

Lila returned to her medical reports and came upon an addendum that cataloged her suicide attempt. It had been authored by Dr. Roberts and included notes from her stay in the psych ward as well as the failed hypnotherapy session. The report didn’t mention the guy with the slur, a point possibly too minor to be included.

Niki leaned back in her chair as though pondering some new thought. Then she said, “How did you hear about the party in Uptown?”

“John—” Lila stopped to pull a memory from the darkness. Detective Yates had never asked her that question. “John told me about it. He called to say he was getting a carload of kids from South together to go to this party. He wanted to know if he should save a seat. By that point, I didn’t want anything to do with him, so I drove myself.”

“A carload of kids?” Niki picked up one of the reports and read. “He told Detective Yates that he left the party alone. If he went there with a car full of kids…wouldn’t he have given those same kids a ride home?”

Lila thought about that for a moment. Had he said those words—about taking other kids from South? Yes, she was sure of it.

“Maybe he was trying to get you alone,” Niki said, “for old times’ sake. Maybe it was part of a bigger plan.”

“A bigger plan?”

“I’m just thinking here, but…the one fact we know for sure in your case was that there were two of them. We have the picture.”

“Okay.”

“And then there’s your reaction to Gavin Spencer in court. It could have been nothing more than you hearing a lisp, but what if it wasn’t? What if Gavin was there?”

“The modus operandi doesn’t fit.”

“I know, but there were two of them. We don’t know what the MO of the other guy is—or was. The pattern could be different because of the second guy being there.”

“But Gavin was in Indiana.”

“Well, there’s that, but Gavin Spencer isn’t your run-of-the-mill criminal. It’s possible he faked an alibi. It’s a stretch, I know.”

“How could we find out?”

“I can look into that graduation ceremony, see if anyone remembers seeing him there.”

“It’s been eight years.”

“Yes, it has—eight years of this case gathering dust. Eight years of this thing hanging over your head. That has to be…pure torment.”