Stevie brought up a photo of Greg.
“。 . . Sabrina wasn’t the only one in that cabana. Greg was there too. This wasn’t a problem that could be partially solved. They all had to go. What did you say when your father told you your boyfriend had to die? Were you sad, or were you glad to get him back for cheating?”
Patty put her head down, and Stevie knew she had hit the bull’s-eye with this one.
“I was in the hospital last night, after you chased us through the woods with a gun. You ran Nate and me off Point 23, which is why my arm’s in this. . . .”
She held up her cast.
“I was kind of out of it last night. I kept trying to sleep, but there was this reflection of a flashing light that kept me up. It was really distracting. It got me thinking again about something you told me, Susan. What did you tell me you saw that night at the football field when all the students gathered?”
“The memorial night?” Susan asked.
Stevie nodded.
“I saw Patty crying at the end of the school driveway, and then I saw the crash up ahead.”
“No,” Stevie said. “That’s not exactly what you saw.”
“Well, no. I saw a flash of light as he crashed. He crashed around the bend.”
“Why would you see a flash of light when Greg crashed?”
“His headlight, I guess? As the bike spun around? I don’t know, actually.”
“How bright was it?”
“Very bright,” Susan said thoughtfully. “Enough that it’s most of what I remember. I suppose that would have been too bright for a headlight. Maybe it was something else.”
Stevie turned to Janelle.
“Can you bring it out now?” she asked.
Janelle nodded and tugged on Nate’s arm. They went into one of the side rooms and emerged a minute later with a large platform covered in cardboard and crafting materials. A box represented the high school. There was a curving road of fabric, glued down to the pasteboard. Some lumps of modeling clay represented the rocks at the turn of the road, and there were trees made of pipe cleaners and some kind of fluffy, moss-like substance. The Liberty High sign had been re-created with cardboard.
“I didn’t have a lot of time to make it look great,” Janelle said. “But the proportions are right. And here . . .”
She handed Stevie a few saltshakers, each filled with a different color of craft sand.
“Okay,” Stevie said, placing a saltshaker full of pink sand at the end of the driveway. “Here’s Patty Horne. And here . . .” She set a shaker full of green sand on the road next to Patty. “。 . . this is you. Is this about where you were when you saw the light?”
“Yes,” Susan said. “I was about to turn into the driveway.”
“And what was Patty doing?”
“She was crying,” Susan said.
“But what else was she doing? What did you tell me?”
Susan paused for a moment, cocking her head in thought, puzzled by the question.
“Crying,” she said. “Screaming. Really upset. Waving a flashlight around.”
Stevie pointed at her, indicating this was the thing she had been waiting for.
“Waving a flashlight around,” she said.
“But that’s not the light I’m talking about,” Susan said quickly. “I saw something in the distance.”
“Oh, I know you did,” Stevie said, reminding herself not to smile.