Shy smile. One part of her brain still gloried in the flattery. “We’re like no way. They’re like we’ll buy you dresses and shoes, four bottles of champagne next time, Leandro’ll be chill.”
“Was he?”
“Nope, he was pissed.”
“So you didn’t go to work. Then what?”
“Selma was already at my house ’cause my dad was gone, Tris and Q picked us up in a car, not the Jag, not the Hummer.”
“What kind of car?”
“GMC Yukon.”
“Color?”
“Black. They’re like the Hummer’s broken, this is a loaner. Except I saw an Avis label on the bumper.”
Milo eyed the one-way glass. “Black Yukon from Avis, sharp eye, Bri. So where’d you guys go?”
“A hotel. They had it set up.”
“Set up for…”
“Partying. Grey Goose, ice bucket, grapefruit juice, orange juice, pomegranate juice—oh, yeah, cookies and cakes… chips and guac, too.”
“Which hotel?”
“Next to Universal Studios.”
“The Sheraton?”
“That’s it.”
“Meth?”
“Mostly weed.” Her eyes darted upward. “Yeah, some of that, too.”
Milo said, “What else?”
“Oh, yeah, pills.”
“What kind of pills?”
“Vitamin R, Trank.”
“Ritalin and some sort of downer,” he said. “Doing the old roller coaster, huh?”
“Head-surfing,” she said. “It’s like exercise, aerobics, you know?”
“R and Trank—aren’t you leaving something out, Bri?”
Whispered answer, too soft to hear.
“What’s that, Bri?”
“Ox.”
“There you go,” said Milo. “Who liked to party with Ox?”
“No one, they never had it before.”
“But Tris and Q brought it that day.”
“For later,” she said. “For… when it’s time to do the bitch.”
“They didn’t use a name, Bri, because you knew who they meant.”
“No,” she said. “They didn’t use a name ’cause we didn’t know a name. It was always ‘the bitch.’”
“But you knew who they were talking about.”
“The teacher,” she said. “They talked about her all the time, we thought they were screwing around.”
“About…”
“You know.”
“I need to hear it from you.”
“Doing her,” she said.
“Killing her.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Why’d they want to kill her?”
“They were… they don’t get mad, they’re always laughing. More like… I dunno, like it was something they had to do.”
“Why’d they have to kill the teacher, Bri?”
“She wanted to do them. Not the same do, do them like get it on.”
“The teacher wanted to have sex with Tris and Q.”
“She was always showing herself.”
“How?”
“Wearing no bra when they came over for lessons. Bending over, you know?”
“Tris and Q decided they had to kill Elise because she flirted with them?”
“They’re like she’s always horny, it’s gross.”
Milo sat back, stretched. Yawned theatrically. “’Scuse me—by the way, Selma told us the real reason Tris and Q wanted to murder Elise. That’s her name, by the way. Elise Freeman.”
“What’d Selma say?”
“Guess.”
“Um, Tris and Q were like we already paid her, now she wants more, the bitch.”
“Keep going, Bri.”
“They’re like we paid her for taking a test—the SAT, that college one, so they could go to Stamford like everyone in their family. She did it for Tris’s brother and Q’s sister and other people, never bugged them but now she wants more, says she knows all the secrets. That pissed them off. It wasn’t fair.”
“I can see their point.”
“Yeah. You pay, you play, except now she wants more, going to Tris and Q, not the parents like before, she’s like you got your own money, take it outta your own money. They’re like that’s for partying. They’re like she thinks we’re vul-rable, we’ll show her who’s fuckin’ vul-rable.”
“How much extra was she asking?”
“They didn’t say.”
“How much did they pay her in the first place?”
“They didn’t say that, either.”
“So they killed her.”
“It was also her being horny,” she said. “Thinking she was hot when she was not. They said maybe we can do her if we close our eyes. Tie her up, DP her.”
“That sounds kinda angry, Bri.”
“No,” she said. “They were laughing.”
Milo rubbed an eye. “So they decided it was time to kill her.”
“Uh-huh.”
“How’d you feel about that?”
“I didn’t know her.”
“Okay… so now it’s time to buy ice. Why?”
“To keep her cold,” said Brianna Blevins, as if explaining to an idiot.
“Why’d they want to keep her cold?”
“They didn’t want her to smell. Like if they had to take her somewhere. Then they said we’ll do her here and use it anyway ’cause she thinks she’s hot, now she’s gonna get real cold. Then they laughed some more.”
“How’d it go down?”
“They followed me back to my house and Selma and me got into Selma’s car. They followed me and Selma to Fashion Square and bought us dresses and shoes and some jewelry from one of those carts. Then we went to Pizza Hut and ate. Then when it was starting to get dark, they followed us to Van Nuys and we cruised around and looked for a Mexican who needed money. We found a guy, he brought the ice to Selma’s car.”
“Then what?”
“That’s it.”
“Bri, if that was it, Elise Freeman would still be alive.”
“Oh, that,” she said. “They drove to her house.”
“You did, too.”
“We had the ice in Selma’s car, they took it out with these gloves they had.”
“Rubber gloves?”
“They said it was from the science class at school.”
“Smart boys,” said Milo.
“Not so smart they could take their own SAT.”
“Good point, Bri.”
“They do it at school, also,” she said. “Cheat off smart kids, get the A’s. Tris says it’s preparing him for what he wants to do.”
“Which is what?”
“Be president.”
“Ah.”
“He could do it, sir. He’s hot, knows how to make good speeches.”
“What about Q?”
“Q just wants to make money. He’s gonna find some way to run like a charity so he looks like he likes poor people. Then he’s gonna take the money.”
“Okay… so now you’re all at Elise’s house—what time is it?”
“Dark,” she said. “Tris calls her on the phone, he’s like we’re bringing all the money, also some Grey Goose—they took the Grey Goose from the hotel—we’ll celebrate you getting the money and us going to Stamford.”
“What’d Elise say?”
“Tris is like she’s totally into it. He’s like her voice is all drunk, already.”
“Then what?”
“Then they go inside her house for… a long time.”
“How long?”
“A long time, I dunno. Selma and me are getting bored. Then they come out laughing, say the bitch is definitely gonna be chill.”
“How’d they actually kill her?”
She licked her lips. “Selma already told you.”