“You and Oscar Green have had a romantic relationship in the past, have you not?” he pressed.
“No, it’s not—we’re not—” Romantic had never factored into it. Relationship was laughable.
Sawant kept going. “Not back then, of course—you were only eleven. But your best friend’s big brother? Handsome guy, popular, cool as can be? It would be surprising if you didn’t have a little crush.”
I choked on a laugh. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said. You and me—
“Oscar has quite the record. Nothing at all in his juvenile record and then he moves away from Chester for a few years and boom. Assault, disorderly conduct, assault.”
“That’s Oscar for you,” I said. The idiot should have realized he couldn’t get away with half the shit he did once he wasn’t in Chester with a mayor for a dad.
“I got to thinking. If it wasn’t Stahl who attacked you, why would you say that it was? Unless you were covering for someone. Like the mayor’s son.”
“Why would Oscar try to kill me?” I asked, shaking my head.
“Maybe you knew something that could derail his privileged little life,” Sawant suggested. “Something he’d done.”
Bones in the woods, I thought. She used to hang around with Oscar Green. “I can’t imagine what that would be. And to be clear: I wouldn’t cover up littering for Oscar Green. I sure as shit wouldn’t fail to mention he’d stabbed me.” But would Cass? I wondered, and hated myself immediately for thinking it.
“Interesting. Because I’ve heard some things about the two of you that might cast doubt on that,” Sawant said. “Lies have a way of rippling out. Sometimes the consequences arrive years later. Liv wanted to tell the truth. Did you want that, Naomi?”
The truth.
I could have told him everything. I could have made Agent Sawant my savior, my way out—hand over everything I knew, everything I’d done, and trust him to put the pieces together. It was the smart thing to do. The right thing to do.
And I couldn’t. I’d held on too long and too tightly. The truth belonged to me, and I would be the one to find it. To find her, I thought, and I wasn’t sure if I meant Liv or Persephone, or why it still felt like they were lost.
“I’m done having you call me a liar,” I said. I stood abruptly, powering through the burst of pain. “We’re finished.”
“Naomi—”
“The lady said she’s finished,” Dougherty said. He put a hand on my shoulder as I walked past Sawant and ushered me out into the hall.
I glanced behind me. Sawant turned in the chair, relaxed with one elbow on the table, watching me with sharp eyes. He wasn’t fooled.
But was he right?
I couldn’t avoid Oscar any longer.
I’m sorry about that. I don’t know what Bishop is thinking, letting him spring all that on you,” Dougherty said once we were safely out of earshot.
Past him, down the hall, Bishop herself stood in her office doorway, watching us. She’d stayed out of the room. Left herself room to claim she had nothing to do with it, if the wrong people got pissed. She straightened up and walked toward us.
“Bunch of nonsense, really. Oscar’s rough around the edges, but he’s a good kid,” Dougherty said, just as she got to us.
That “kid” was forty. “Can I go now?” I asked Bishop. Dougherty half-turned, as if just realizing she was there.
“We really can’t keep you,” he said.
Bishop’s cheek twitched like she was trying not to scowl at him. “No, we can’t,” she agreed.
“Okay, then,” I said. I headed down the hall, shoulders tensed and ribs twinging, leaving them to their little power struggle.
The problem wasn’t that Sawant had been off base. The problem was that he was almost right about so many things. No, I wouldn’t have covered up for Oscar. But there were plenty of people who would. Who might have seen Dougherty’s eagerness about Stahl as an opportunity to shift the blame.
Like Cass.
Cass and Oscar had always been close. He had no time for Liv or me, but whenever Cass wanted a turn with the Nintendo or a lift into town he’d always oblige her. And she thought the world of him. She’d never seen the other side of him—the one he saved for people like me, who couldn’t complain. I’d never told her. I was too afraid to find out who her loyalty really belonged to.
And it wouldn’t have been the first time she covered for him, either. As far as their parents were concerned, Oscar could do no wrong—the trouble he got into was never his fault. I remembered vividly the night Chief Miller came by the Greens’ house, asking where Oscar had been the night before. Big Jim looked over at Cass and said Oscar had been home watching her, and she’d chimed in to confirm it, her eyes wide and sincere. Except Cass and I had been together that night, and Oscar certainly hadn’t been there.
But that was some vandalism charge. This was attempted murder. Would Cass have gone that far for her brother? And made Liv go along, too?
Lost in thought, I stepped out into the main lobby and halted, surprised. Cody Benham was standing by the front desk, chatting amiably with the secretary, who was beaming at him. When he saw me he straightened up, murmured something, and tapped the desk in a kind of casual goodbye. He strolled over to me with a quizzical look.
“Naomi. Is everything okay?” he asked.
Ethan, sitting in one of the chairs out front, looked up from his phone and got to his feet. I shrugged at Cody. “I think so. I was just leaving. What are you doing back in town?”
“I’m here for the funeral. Bishop said she needed to talk to me, so I agreed to come down a day early. You?”
“Pretty much the same,” I said.
“What did she want to know?” he asked.
“It wasn’t her asking questions. There’s some guy from the FBI. Agent Sawant.”
Ethan stood an awkward distance back. At this, his brows raised. “The FBI is interested in Liv’s death?”
“More interested in the possible connection to the Stahl case,” I said. Ethan’s expression grew worried. Cody just looked more confused.
“What connection could there possibly be?” Cody said.
“I’m sure he’ll tell you,” I said. I paused. “He’s asking about Oscar.”
Cody sighed. “That explains why he thinks I have anything relevant to add. In a town this size you don’t exactly have a lot of choices for friends your age. Even so, I can’t believe I did such a colossally shitty job of choosing mine.”
“You used to hang out quite a bit, didn’t you?” Ethan asked.
Cody rounded on him, a dangerous glint in his eye. “I think you’ve harassed Naomi enough already, don’t you?”
“Cody.” I touched his arm. “It’s okay. Ethan’s … I’m helping him out. With his podcast.”
“We got off on the wrong foot,” Ethan said. “Entirely my fault. I promise you I’m not pushing Naomi into anything she doesn’t want to do.”
“And I promise I’m perfectly capable of telling him off if he does,” I added, lest this turn any more paternalistic than it already was. Having two guys square off with each other in the name of my honor should have been flattering, but it turned out to just be irritating.