“Why else would I be here?”
She looks flustered. “Oh, well, I just thought that with Ben back in town … you know about him, don’t you?”
My stomach dips to my feet at the mention of the smug podcaster. I take a swift glance around, like he might be lurking.
“Yeah, my mom told me he was around.”
Nina chews on her lip, and then looks relieved to move her cart forward again. She leans around the rows of snacks and lip balm. “Let’s get together soon, okay? I’ll call the house. You have to come by, see the kids.”
There’s no way she actually wants me to see her kids. I am not child appropriate. She really is just being polite this time. “Sure.”
She smiles. “I’ll talk to you soon, Lucy.”
Listen for the Lie Podcast with Ben Owens EPISODE TWO—“SHE WOULD NOT HESITATE TO CUT A BITCH”
I spoke to many of Lucy’s former friends and people she grew up with, and a theme emerged in our talks.
Jill:????????????????Lucy had a temper. She would not hesitate to cut a bitch.
That’s Jill Lopez. It was actually her wedding that Lucy and Savannah attended the night of the murder, a fact that she doesn’t appreciate me bringing up.
Jill:????????????????Yes, it was my wedding. And yes, I’m pissed at Lucy for ruining that memory for me forever. I didn’t even know her all that well. I shouldn’t have invited her, but my mom wanted to invite like, all of Plumpton.
Ben:???????????????But you knew Lucy well enough to know that “she would not hesitate to cut a bitch”？
Jill:????????????????Everyone knew that.
Ross Ayers, a high school classmate, personally got a taste of Lucy’s temper.
Ross:??????????????See that? Right there?
Ben:???????????????Your nose?
Ross:??????????????That bump? That’s Lucy. She broke it senior year.
Ben:???????????????She broke your nose?
Ross:??????????????Yep. I wish I could have testified at a trial, tell everyone how crazy she was. I wasn’t even the first guy she hit! She decked a dude at the CVS a few months earlier.
Ben:???????????????What happened? When Lucy hit you, I mean.
Ross:??????????????We were in the parking lot after school—me and some friends—just hanging around, waiting for our rides, when Lucy comes out. Lucy sees me and she just totally freaks out. This chick has murder in her eyes. Some guys nearby had just come from playing basketball, and she snatches the ball out of their hands and chucks it at me. From like only a few feet away. Hits me right in the nose. Then she screamed something—I don’t even remember what she said—punches me, and leaves. Well, no, she didn’t leave. A friend dragged her away.
Ben:???????????????Why did she do that? Had you two interacted before?
Ross:??????????????Barely! Some in class and stuff, but I don’t think we’d ever even had a conversation. She just lost it. I don’t know why.
I then spoke to Emmett Chapman. Emmett was one of Lucy’s closest friends in high school.
Emmett:????????Lucy and I were friends … forever? I can’t actually remember school without Lucy. Back in elementary school our teachers would make us line up alphabetically, and Lucy was always right behind me. Chapman and Chase. And she started sticking up for me all the time, so we became friends.
Ben:???????????????Sticking up for you?
Emmett:????????Yeah, I was bullied a lot in elementary school. I was tiny and just an easy target in general, so I dealt with a lot of shit. But Lucy was always kind to me. She wasn’t afraid to be loud. I was such a shy kid. She yelled at people for me.
Ben:???????????????So, she had a temper? I’m hearing that a lot from people.
Emmett:????????Um, I don’t know if I’d say that. No, I wouldn’t say that.
Ben:???????????????Did you guys stay in touch after high school?
Emmett:????????Yeah. We both went to UT, but we didn’t hang out as much after freshman year. We just fell in with different crowds and did our own thing. But we both came back to Plumpton after graduation, and we became good friends again. I actually hung out with Matt and Lucy all the time, with the woman I was dating back then. They were our couple friends.
Ben:???????????????Were you friends with Savannah too?
Emmett:????????Yeah, definitely. Not in high school, but later, when we all moved back, yeah.
Ben:???????????????Were you two close?
Emmett:????????No, I was better friends with Matt and Lucy. But Savvy was always really nice to me. Savvy was nice to everyone.
Ben:???????????????How would you describe Lucy and Savannah’s relationship?