The Sixes

decided to drive to the Baltimore area then.

Only in learning more about the Sixes would she have a chance of understanding what Lily had been referring to. Was there something awful she’d discovered about the group only after she’d joined?

Of course, Phoebe realized, Lily’s need for a fresh start might have nothing to do with the Sixes. Maybe the mess was a romantic one—she’d hooked up with the wrong guy, for instance, after her boyfriend Trevor disappeared. It might be the guy she’d hinted to her roommate Amanda about. And her death might be linked to the romance.

She felt unsettled suddenly, almost claustrophobic. I’m letting those stupid apples still get to me, she thought. She headed upstairs, hoping a shower would relax her.

Later Phoebe returned to her study and gladly diverted her attention to grading the last few reports for class the next day. At one point her eyes drifted over to the folder at the back of the table, the one stuffed with clippings that were supposed to inspire her next book idea. The sight of it triggered a brief wave of anxiety. I’ve got to come up with something, she told herself. But not today. There was just too much going on.

As the day continued, Phoebe still couldn’t shake her unease. She decided she would go back to Berta’s before the seven o’clock memorial service and treat herself to a light dinner there. Before leaving the house, she remembered to call the locksmith Hutch had recommended and arranged for her lock to be changed after her second class tomorrow.

She cut through campus on her way to Berta’s. The sun was already low in the sky, mostly hidden by swaths of sooty gray clouds. Students hurried down pathways and across the grass, shouting to each other in order to be heard over the wind. Halfway across the quad, Phoebe decided on a detour. She headed over toward the plaza in front of the student union, where the memorial would be held. She was curious to see what the setup was.

When she arrived, she saw that a platform and podium were already in place, as well as a hundred or so folding chairs. Nearby, a few boys tossed a small football back and forth, though the wind played havoc with their fun. A huge gust suddenly tore through campus, making the podium rock back and forth. Phoebe caught sight of the pathway that ran from the plaza toward Arthur Hall, the one whose puddles she had leaped over with Lily that day.

“Professor Hall?”

Phoebe didn’t use “Professor” as a title because she wasn’t one, but occasionally students made the mistake. She turned around.

She’d never met the girl who was standing before her. Phoebe would have remembered. She had long brown hair, which was glossy and smooth, even in the wind. Her eyes were a striking khaki color, set slightly far apart, and they glistened now, as if she had just blinked back tears. There was a pretty flush to her cheeks, and her full lips were naturally outlined in a rosy shade just a bit darker than the rest. Not a classic beauty in any way, Phoebe thought, but the kind of face you couldn’t take your eyes off.

“Yes?” Phoebe said.

“I’m Blair Usher,” the girl replied.

Phoebe had to fight to hide her surprise. So no need to stalk her after all, she thought.

“Ah,” Phoebe said. “Nice to meet you.” She wondered if she was standing face to face with someone who’d snuck into her home.

“You keep leaving me messages,” the girl said, almost petulantly. “Can I help you with something?”

“Yes, you can,” Phoebe said. “I’m part of a team doing an internal investigation into Lily Mack’s death, and I’d like to ask you a few questions. Actually, I was going to grab a bite before the memorial. Can I treat you to a burger or a salad?”

“I have plans right now,” Blair said. “Sorry.” She didn’t sound very sorry.

“Which way are you headed?” Phoebe asked.

“Why?” Blair demanded. She seemed wary but at the same time utterly confident. Certain animals in the wild are like that, Phoebe thought. Big cats, for instance.

“Just wondering,” Phoebe said.

“That way,” Blair said, pointing east with her chin. “Off campus.”

“Me too,” Phoebe said. “I’ll walk with you for a bit, then.”

Blair hesitated for a moment, and Phoebe was sure the girl was about to say she’d misspoken, that she was really headed north or west or anyplace other than where Phoebe was going. But Blair finally shrugged a shoulder. “Whatever,” she said.

As they started to walk, Phoebe studied Blair from the side. She had to be one of the most attractive girls on campus, and she dressed as if she knew it. She was wearing skintight jeans, knee-high black suede boots, and a black coat nipped in at the waist with a flared skirt. Wrapped twice around her neck was a pink cashmere scarf. An It girl, just as Stockton had said. To her right Phoebe saw some of the touch football players pause and look, staring right through Phoebe at Blair.

“I’m sure the police have already asked you,” Phoebe said. “But do you have any thoughts on what might have happened to Lily?”

“None whatsoever,” Blair said. “I hadn’t spent any time with her lately.”

“But there was a chance you were going to see her that night, right? Her roommate said Lily had told her she might stay at your place.”

“No,” Blair said firmly, “Lily was never going to stay at my place that night. At the very beginning of the term she used to stay over sometimes. She’d gotten totally screwed in her living situation when her boyfriend took off, so we’d let her crash on our couch. But that was weeks ago.”

So either Lily had lied to her roommate or Blair was lying now, Phoebe thought.

“Why do you think she told her roommate that, then?” Phoebe asked.

Blair paused on the cement path and turned to face Phoebe. “Maybe,” she said softly, in a fake conspiratorial tone, “she didn’t want her roommate to know what she was really planning to do that night.”

“When you were seeing more of Lily, was she ever blue or depressed?”

“If she was, she never let on to me. Of course, I’m sure she wasn’t pleased when her boyfriend bolted. He left without even saying good-bye.” There was a hint of glee in the last statement, as if she thought Lily had gotten what she deserved. Phoebe told herself not to react.

“Had you heard whether she was dating someone new lately?”

“Dating someone?”

Oh, that’s right, Phoebe thought. No one in college dated anymore.

“I mean seeing someone. Or hooking up. Her roommate mentioned that she thought Lily had started to see a new guy. Any ideas who that could be?”

A look crossed Blair’s face, and then it was gone almost instantly, like the ripple made by a breeze across a puddle of water. But Phoebe had caught it: a micro expression of disapproval, perhaps even anger. Have I pricked a nerve? Phoebe wondered.

“Nope,” Blair said. “No clue.”

They were getting close to the eastern gate, and Phoebe guessed she only had a minute or two more.

“So you and Lily had drifted apart,” Phoebe said. “Did you two have some kind of falling out?”

“Why would you think that?” Blair asked.

“Because that’s often the case when people stop being friends.”

Blair stopped and turned to Phoebe, holding her eyes. “I guess as a famous biographer, you know all about what makes people tick,” she said smugly.

Phoebe smiled at her. “Sometimes it’s just common sense,” she said.

“Well, to be perfectly honest, Lily turned out to be someone who wasn’t trustworthy. I decided it was better to keep my distance.”

“What did she do that upset you?”

“I probably shouldn’t say. It wouldn’t be nice—with her being dead and everything.”

They had just passed through the east gate, and Blair stopped on the sidewalk. She would make certain, of course, that she went the opposite way that Phoebe did.

Phoebe decided to go for broke. “Lily didn’t join the Sixes, did she?” she asked. “Is that what upset you?”