Without saying a word, he slumps against the red clay bank, half in the water, half out. His wet T-shirt clings to his belly, his face is streaked with snot and tears and mud, and his hair sticks up in clumps.

“Where’s Carter?” Skylar asks.

“Back there somewhere.” He’s still breathing hard. “We split, and Diablo went after him.”

“Was Paul shooting at us?” I ask.

“He’s crazy.” Jason wipes snot off his face with his T-shirt. “He probably thought we were trying to steal his meth.”

We sit under the bridge. Nobody says anything. Not even Skylar. I try not to think about Diablo attacking Carter. Or Paul shooting him. I hate Carter, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to him. I don’t want anything to happen to Jason either. I especially don’t want anything to happen to Skylar and me.

“Didn’t me and Carter tell you to stop messing with us?” Jason asks. “Didn’t we say you don’t have any business coming here and spying on us?”

“We weren’t spying on you,” Skylar says. “All we wanted was a nice quiet place to read, and then you and Carter came along and ruined everything. This is all your fault.”

“Don’t blame me and Carter,” Jason says. “If you’d stayed home and minded your own business, you wouldn’t be sitting under this bridge.”

“If you hadn’t been selling drugs,” Skylar says, “you wouldn’t be sitting here either.”

“That’s why you went to the police station, isn’t it?” Jason asks. “You told them me and Carter were selling weed.”

This is still the same day we went to the police station? It seems way longer ago than that—a week at least, maybe even a lifetime.

“Oh, sure, it’s all about you,” Skylar says. “Well, here’s some news for you. Abbi and I were spying on the cars that used to park under the tree house, not on you. We went to the police to tell them that Mr. Boyce killed Ms. Sullivan.”

“Mr. Boyce—the teacher at our school? That Mr. Boyce?” Jason has a weird look on his face, like he can’t believe what he’s just heard. “You really think a guy like him could kill somebody?”

“He was having an affair with her.” Skylar is as sure of herself as ever. “They had a fight. She got mad and walked off. Abbi and I saw her go into the woods. Later he found her and killed her.” She folds her arms across her chest. “Case closed.”

“You are so wrong,” Jason says. “Boyce didn’t kill her.”

“Well, if he didn’t, who did?” Skylar isn’t about to back down. She’s made up her mind. A moron like Jason isn’t going to change anything.