Lena pointed out, "She was friends with Lacey Patterson."

The girls exchanged a look.

"What?" Lena asked.

They shrugged in unison. The boys were either comatose or not interested.

Lena sighed, sitting back in her chair. "We'll sit here all night until you tell me what I need to know."

They seemed to believe her, even though Lena wanted nothing more than to leave this school.

Brittany spoke first. "Lacey was only friends with her because of Mark."

"Mark Patterson, Lacey's brother?"

"Okay," Shanna said, holding out her hand palm up, her voice excited, as if she'd just been cracked by Lena's tough interrogation and was now giddy to tell them all they needed to know. "She was a whore."

"Shanna," Heather gawked.

"You know it's true," Shanna countered. "She slept around, and not just with Mark."

Brad stirred in his seat, looking as uncomfortable as Lena had ever seen him, which was saying a lot.

"Who did she sleep with?" Lena asked, looking at the boys. None of them would meet her eye.

"I don't know for sure, other than Mark," Shanna said, as if she were talking with one of her girlfriends over the lunch table. "But there were all kinds of rumors that she'd blow guys-"

"Jeesh," Heather interrupted. "She's dead, okay? Why do you have to say all this?"

"Because it's the truth!" Shanna countered, her voice high and excited.

Heather seemed angry. "It was just rumors. Nobody knows if they were true or not."

Lena asked, "What were the rumors?"

Shanna was more than happy to supply this. "She was having sex with some of the guys behind the gym after fifth period."

"Intercourse or blow jobs?" Lena asked, still watching the guys.

Shanna shrugged, giving Heather a sideways glance. "I wasn't there."

"Heather was?"

"Heather doesn't like boys," Shanna provided.

"Shut up!" Heather ordered, alarmed.

Lena wondered if she looked just as shocked as Brad. It was like having their very own Jerry Springer show right here in the school library.

"Okay," Lena said, holding up her hands, trying to rein this in. "What proof do you have that Jenny was sleeping around?"

The girls were silent, looking back and forth at each other.

"Nothing, right?" Lena asked. "You can't tell me any of the boys she was with?"

Carson stirred in his chair, but he didn't volunteer anything.

"Mark," Shanna said, shrugging. "But Mark was with, like, everybody."

"No kidding," Brittany muttered, with something like regret in her tone.

Lena sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She was getting the kind of headache that would probably last for the rest of the day. "Okay, then who started the rumor?"

They all shrugged. This seemed to be the universal teenage response to any question. Lena wondered if they would later have rotator cuff problems.

"Pansy Davis told me," said Shanna.

"She told me she slept with Ron Wilson Thursday night," Brittany countered. "And you know Ron was at Frank's house that night."

"Frank said he sneaked out!" Shanna squealed.

"Stop, stop," Lena said, holding up her hands. It was like being nibbled to death by ducks. "None of y'all remembers where you heard the rumor?"

"It was just a known thing," Heather told Lena. "I mean, I don't remember who told me, but Jenny just acted weird, okay? She would go off with boys she didn't know. Boys, like, in twelfth grade."

"And you don't know their names?"

Heather shook her head. "They're seniors."

"Not popular seniors?" Lena asked.

"Some of them were skanky," Brittany provided. "Not seniors I would know. Not popular, okay? Sort of like Jenny."

"Did she ride the bus home with them?"

"They had cars," Heather said. "Seniors are allowed to drive."

"Do you remember any of the cars?"

Heather shook her head no, but Brittany snapped her fingers. "There's one I remember." She turned to Shanna. "Do you remember that cool black Thunderbird?"

"A new one or an old one?" Lena asked.

"The older kind that's really big in the back," Shanna said. "It was really loud, like something was wrong with the engine or something."

"Did the driver go to this school?"

They exchanged glances again. "Maybe," Brittany said.

"I don't think so," Shanna added.

Heather shrugged. "I don't pay attention to cars. It doesn't sound familiar."

Lena looked at the boys. "Do any of y'all recognize the car?"

They all shrugged or shook their heads.

Lena tried another line of questioning. "Do y'all have any idea why Jenny wanted to kill Mark?"

The girls were silent, then Brittany finally said, "We've all wanted to at least once."

Lena sat back, crossing her arms. She stared at the boys, guessing why they were being silent. "Okay," she said, and they all started to stand, but she stopped them. "Carson, Cory, Roper-"

"Rory and Cooper," Brad corrected.

"Right," Lena said. "Whatever. You guys stay. The girls can leave." She turned to Brad. "Why don't you get their phone numbers and addresses?"

Brad nodded. He knew she was getting rid of him, but didn't seem to mind.

Lena sat at the table across from the boys, silent until they started to squirm in their chairs.

"Well?" she said.

Carson spoke first. "Yeah, she was doing it."

The other boys nodded.

"All of you slept with her?"

They did not answer.

"Blow jobs? Hand jobs?" Lena asked.

"Sex," Carson clarified.

Lena felt her cheeks flush, but not from embarrassment. "When was this?"

"Mark brought her over to my house one time. We were all partying."

"I thought you said Jenny didn't party."

"No, she didn't," Carson said. "Not usually, but Mark told her to have something to take the edge off." He snorted a laugh. "She did whatever Mark told her to do."

"So," Lena said, trying to get all of this straight, "it was Mark, Jenny, and you three?"

They all nodded.

Carson said, "She got a little drunk and started coming on to us."

Lena pressed her lips together so she would not say anything.

"Mark said she'd do anything we wanted."

One of the boys smiled. "She sure did."

"You all had sex with her?" Lena asked.

Carson shrugged, smirking. "She was pretty drunk."

Lena looked down at the table, trying to compose her-self. "So, she got drunk and you all had sex with her, Mark included?"

"Mark just watched," one of the boys said. "She let us do anything we wanted." His anger sparked like a brush fire. "She was a whore, okay? Why do you even care?"

Lena was startled by the hatred in his voice, as if it was Jenny's fault entirely that they had done this. She asked, "What was your name?"

He looked down, mumbling, "Rory."

"All right, Rory," Lena said. "Did she have sex with any of you on the retreat?"

"Fuck no." Carson crossed his arms angrily. "That was the thing. Why the fuck else would we go on that stupid retreat?"

"You were having sex with her then?" Lena asked.

"No," he said, still angry. "She wouldn't go near us. She was fine at the party. Couldn't get enough of it." He grabbed himself, as if Lena needed the visual aid. "But over Christmas she was tight as a drum. Wouldn't even talk to us." His lip curled. "The bitch."

Lena bit her tongue.

"She was a cock tease," Carson said. "She would've fucked a dog if Mark asked her to, but on the retreat it was like she was better than us."

"What do you think changed this?" Lena asked.

He shrugged. "Who the fuck cares?"

"Did you approach her on the retreat, or did she just ignore you?"

His lip curled. "It was this way, all right? We offered her a little something to help her relax, told her we all wanted to party, and she froze up."

"Exactly," Rory said. "It was like we weren't good enough for her all the sudden."