The girl looked up. She looked interested for the first time since Gregor came upon her and Howard. The boy who had been sick in the grass started back toward them. The closer he came, the more familiar he looked, and Gregor finally realized it was Kenny Morton.
The girl looked at Kenny Morton and said, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I put you through all this. You were just giving me a ride—”
“Don’t be stupid,” Kenny Morton said. “You can’t think I’m going to be mad at you over this.”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” the girl said. “They drank too much and they went out and partied but they didn’t—they didn’t—”
“Haydee Michaelman,” Howard Androcoelho said firmly. “Gregor Demarkian.”
“I know,” Gregor said.
Haydee Michaelman looked up and straight at him, and Gregor reached out a hand to pull her a little farther from the scene. The forensics people were still working. Gregor doubted if they were competent. It was the stimulus package mobile crime unit at work again. It didn’t matter. He didn’t want the girl standing right there when they brought out the body bags.
“She’s in shock,” Gregor said to Howard Androcoelho. “She needs something—”
“It’s supposed to be brandy, isn’t it?” Kenny Morton said. “I can go get some brandy. There’s a liquor store right up the road.”
“Let’s not go bringing liquor into this,” Howard Androcoelho said.
“Why not?” Kenny Morton said. “I’m over twenty-one. And you can’t say she can’t have brandy if she’s in shock. Mr. Demarkian said she was in shock.”
“I was just comng home,” Haydee said. “I had a class, and Kenny was driving me home, because it’s a long walk, and I don’t have a car. And we pulled in and Kenny was about to drop me off, because I didn’t want to ask him in. The trailer is always a mess. They leave clothes and garbage everywhere. So I didn’t want to ask him in, but he was walking me down there, and then Krystal Holder came out and said—said that—that they were here—that they were dead—”
“I’m going to go get brandy,” Kenny Morton said.
He didn’t actually move to go. Everybody else ignored him.
“Didn’t you notice that they hadn’t come home last night?” Gregor asked. “I’m assuming you lived with your mother, and with—”
“With Mike?” Haydee said. “I do. More or less. I sleep there. I spend most of my time at school or at work or somewhere. I just can’t stand the whole thing there. It’s not just that eveything’s a mess, you know, or that kind of thing. It’s the whole attitude. The whole ‘there’s no use doing nothing about nothing.’ Anything about anything. It’s just the way they were, you know. Just the way they wanted to be.”
“And you didn’t notice that they hadn’t come home last night?” Gregor asked again.
Haydee shook her head. “I didn’t go home myself last night. I stayed with Desiree, my friend. Desiree Skarm. She lives way in the back of the park. They were really crazy, yesterday. They had money, I don’t know where they got it—”
“I thought it must have been yours,” Howard Androcoelho said. “You know, like last time.”
“Oh, no,” Haydee said. “I put my money in the credit union . Well, I did that yesterday. Before that I had it hidden. But Kenny,” she looked over at Kenny, still standing half-poised to go for brandy, “Kenny told me about the credit union . Where there aren’t fees or anything for keeping your money in the bank So he took me there and I put my money in. For my car. You know. I want to buy a car.”
“She should have a car,” Kenny said.
“Anyway,” Haydee said. “I didn’t want to be around it. Mike can be really crazy when he drinks. Especially when he drinks for serious, and they had some serious stuff. A bottle of, I don’t remember what it was called. Johnnie Walker. That was it. They had that and they were really working themselves up. And they were going out, and I knew it was only going to get worse.”
“Did you know where they were going?” Gregor asked.
Haydee looked up and nodded in the direction of the main road and the dam. “There’s a place down there. It’s supposed to be a biker bar, but it isn’t really. It’s just a lot of pathetic people pretending they’re some kind of hip. Older people, mostly. Kids go into Mattatuck to the clubs. They’re pathetic, too.”