The table that Ashley sat at was close. She tilted her head as I looked at her, her expression still grim.

“My sister’s coming,” she said. “So am I.”

“Walk over here first,” I said. “No stumbles, no falls.”

She stood from her seat, her leg wobbling as she put weight on the peg that Capricorn had provided. Back ramrod straight, chin high, she made her way to us, her hand going out once to correct her balance. Not what I could call a stumble. Not quite.

I caught her as she reached us, and she leaned heavily on my shoulder.

“Okay,” I said.

We had the verdict from Natalie. We had the opportunity, we had the motive. The means—we would see if we had the means.

Interlude 12.z

“You can’t put that down there.” The words were hushed, furtive. May’s mother snatched up the violin case that May had just set down. In the process of straightening up, her hands fixed May’s shirt collar, then smoothed her hair down. “Everything matters.”

May put one hand inside the other, rubbing where the weight of the case had pulled at her fingers, her expression unmoving under the attention of her mother. A kiss at the top of her head, a smoothing of the hair, another kiss.

“We’re going to be late,” she murmured. A strategic move. In the moment, mentioning the time took the attention off of herself and put it toward the time. Toward digital clocks on the walls, the number of people gathered at the subway platform.

Even in her distraction, her mother’s hands were still at her shoulders, rubbing through thin, papery-crisp fabric. Her mother’s lips absently pressed against the top of her head again. She was embarrassed, and in her glances to either side, she saw a group of girls about her age, talking and joking together. They weren’t looking at her though. They were roughhousing.

“My friend thinks you’re hot!” one of the girls shouted across the subway platform, aiming the comment at a guy that was at least two years older than any of them. The other two girls, a blonde and a redhead, tried to shush her, one of them pinching her hard, the other trying to cover her mouth.

“Don’t be distracted. Play the music in your head. Go through the words, remember the inflections. If you’re confident about the singing, work through the violin piece. If you’re confident about the violin, think about the singing. Visualize.”

May was distracted. The blonde girl dragged her friend away, while the redhead pushed. All of them had faces that were varying shades of pink, from exertion, from embarrassment, from fun.