“Yes.”
He shifted her body so that she was facing away from him in the bed, although he kept his arm around her. Closing her eyes, she leaned back against him. But before she could focus any more on what was happening between them, he said, “That dream about the party threw you off balance.”
“Yes,” she answered, knowing that he intended the comment as a way to save face.
“Tell me more about it.”
So there would be no temptation to go back to kissing? She didn’t voice the thought, but he was quick to clarify
“While it’s fresh in your mind.”
“Okay. The party was at Brian Cannon’s house, and Angela wasn’t the only recently deceased person there. Gary Anderson was there and so was Patrick Morris.”
“Gary’s the guy who was found dead in the drainage ditch? And Patrick was the one who was overcome by carbon monoxide in his house?” Max said, apparently to make sure he was getting it right.
“Yes.”
“So what was the party like?”
“It was getting out of control. The football players had won a game that afternoon, and they were guzzling beer and doing shots at the bar in the rec room. They were getting wasted. Other people were making out or going off to the bedrooms. With all the drinking and making out going on, Angela and I decided we were out of our depth. Angela had her car, and we offered Linda a ride.”
“Linda, the one who organized the reunion committee?”
“Yes. Linda Unger.”
“But Brian didn’t want us to leave. He was blocking us from going up the stairs from the rec room to the first floor. Then Troy Masters came over and told him that if we wanted to leave, he and Tommy Larson could take us home.”
“Troy is Mr. Princeton, and Tommy is a local success, too?”
“Right. I was focused on Troy and Brian, and I wasn’t paying attention to the guys at the bar, when suddenly Gary and another guy started fighting.”
“Gary, who’s now dead?”
“Right.”
“Who was he fighting with?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “He was turned away from me. But I know it was one of the football players. He knocked Gary down. And when Gary came up, he had a gun in his hand—and he shot it.”
“Jesus! What happened?”
“My guess? He didn’t really want to kill the guy because he didn’t hit him. But everybody went into a panic. Some people were trying to hide, and others were running to the stairs. I was going to get trampled, and I think Patrick pulled me out of the way.”
“Patrick who’s now dead.”
“Yes.”
“I guess that was when I also heard you screaming in your sleep. You were in the middle of a riot.”
“And I was hitting you. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I understand.” He kept his gaze on her. “I woke you up and cut off the dream. But what happened back then?”
“The football players got the gun away from Gary.”
“And then what?”
She laughed. “Well, Gary’s shooting the gun broke up the party. Maybe everybody realized that they could have gotten into real trouble.”
“And Brian called the cops?”
“Actually, no,” Olivia said.
“Why not?”
“I guess you can think of it as a conspiracy of silence. He didn’t rat out Gary, and nobody who was there told about how the party had ended.”
Max made a dismissive sound. “You’re saying a whole bunch of people kept a secret like that?”
“As far as I know. Maybe because it was such a shock. I mean, today there are a lot of guns around. Back then, not so much. And it was only about a month until graduation. Nobody wanted to get in trouble and face the consequences.”
“Did you find out whose gun it was?”
“I didn’t find out. I’m assuming it belonged to his parents.”
“And how did the shoot-out at the party affect everyone’s relationship with Gary?”
“Well, after the gun incident, they were more cautious around him. You could say they withdrew from him.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet. Did that make him more aggressive?”
“I don’t know. I really did keep away from him after that. I mean, there was no telling what he might do.”
“Right, people knew he had a violent streak. Maybe he went after someone else years later. Which could have been how he ended up dead.”
“Yes.”
“Which might mean his death’s not related to Angela.”
“I guess that’s true.” She shivered again. “What if this is more complicated than I thought? And it’s spooky thinking about the implications. I was there with Angela. She’s dead now, and so is Gary—and Patrick.”