“I don’t want to talk about Nina.”
“But she—” Ben starts.
“Can you just give me a day?” I push a hand through my hair. “Surely you have something else we can talk about today.” A text message pops up on my phone, and I angle the screen toward me so I can read it. My stomach drops to my feet. “Fuck.”
“What?” Grandma asks.
“The internet figured out that I’m Eva Knightley.”
Listen for the Lie Podcast with Ben Owens EPISODE 6—“NINA”
When I first reached out to her, Nina Garcia was hesitant to talk to me.
Nina:?????????????Yeah, I don’t know. I felt weird about it.
Ben:???????????????Weird?
Nina:?????????????Yeah, you know … this case has already gotten a lot of attention. Everyone knows that Lucy— Ben:???????????????Everyone knows that Lucy…？
Nina:?????????????Um. Everyone thinks that Lucy did it. But I was talking to Emmett—you know Emmett, right? Me and Lucy and him were all best friends in high school?
Ben:???????????????Yeah, we’ve talked.
Nina:?????????????He thought I should. I just feel bad because I like … I didn’t really even know Savvy.
Ben:???????????????You two went to high school together. In a pretty small town.
Nina:?????????????Sure, but we didn’t like … hang out.
Ben:???????????????Okay. But you knew Lucy well. This podcast is as much about her as it is about Savannah. And I’ve heard you know Matt fairly well?
Nina:?????????????I mean, a little, I guess. We’re friendly.
Ben:???????????????Why don’t we start at the beginning. What was Lucy like— Nina:?????????????I’m sorry, can we stop for a minute?
Ben:???????????????Why?
Nina:?????????????I just … I need a minute.
Nina was frequently nervous in our interviews, which isn’t unusual. Talking about the murder of someone you knew—even just casually—is difficult. I know this.
But when I began going through her interviews, I found some inconsistencies. Here’s Stephanie Gantz again.
Ben:???????????????I found this yearbook photo. Of Nina and Savannah?
Stephanie:?????Oh yeah, that’s junior year, I think?
Ben:???????????????They were on student council together?
Stephanie:?????Yeah.
Ben:???????????????I’ve heard they didn’t really know each other.
Stephanie:?????I wouldn’t say that. They weren’t friends. I think they fought over a boy once, like freshman year? Ugh. I hate that, but we were young. The feminism hadn’t kicked in yet.
Ben:???????????????Sure. So, they didn’t like each other, then?
Stephanie:?????It wasn’t anything dramatic by that point, but no, not really.
Ben:???????????????By that point?
Stephanie:?????There was definitely some drama freshman year.
Ben:???????????????What kind of drama?
Stephanie:?????Just … like I said, there was a boy. I think Savvy … I think she sort of mean-girled Nina a bit. It blew over, and Savvy wasn’t like that at all later, but, you know. We were fourteen.
Ben:???????????????Did Lucy know there was history with Nina and Savannah?
Stephanie:?????She must have. Nina was her best friend back then.
Ben:???????????????Did you think it was weird, when Lucy became such good friends with Savannah later?
Stephanie:?????Nah, we were all adults by that point. If you’re going to hold grudges about things from when you were a kid, you’re gonna spend your whole life angry, you know?
Ben:???????????????Do you know how Nina felt about it?
Stephanie:?????Uh … she might have said something catty about it.
Ben:???????????????So Nina was holding grudges from when she was a kid?
Stephanie:?????Maybe. Yeah.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
LUCY
It only takes a couple of hours for the reviews of all three of my books to be flooded with people calling me a murderer. Now, when you scroll down to read what people think of my fluffy fake-dating rom-com, the first thing you see is “THIS IS WRITTEN BY LUCY CHASE, THE WOMAN WHO MURDERED HER BEST FRIEND.”
So, that’s unfortunate.
Ben gives me a worried look as I leave my grandma’s house after the interview, but I don’t have the energy to deal with his feelings right now. Technically, this is all his fault.
Several times I imagine mowing him down with my car. I feel like I deserve credit for not doing it.
I drive straight to Nina’s house. I’m showing up unannounced, which is a real dick move, especially since she has kids, but I’ve lost all my fucks. I have no more to give.