“We found a shattered vase over in the den. Looks expensive. Do you know what happened to it?” Annie asked.

Brianna lifted her head and looked at Annie, tracking her with bleary eyes. “Yeah, one of those bonehead kids crashed into it at the party. It was my stepmom’s fave too,” she said.

“All right, an accident, then . . .” Annie said. “Were there any other accidents or fights I should know about?”

“Don’t think so,” Brianna replied.

No drama at a teen kegger? Not likely, Annie thought but said, “Well, we’re just about done up there. Now I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Tell me how you found Olivia. Be as descriptive as possible. If you’re up to it, it would be even better if you showed me.”

“Showed you?” Brianna asked.

Annie nodded. “It would be extremely helpful in our investigation.”

“Like . . . acting out what happened?”

“Not really acting it out, but pointing out where you were standing, how you found her, what you did.”

The three of them headed to the staircase just as Birdy’s team made its way down. As the teens hung back, Olivia’s shrouded body was rolled onto a folding gurney at the top of the stairs. Bonner and another deputy carried her down the steps.

“Bye, Olivia,” Brianna said and then skipped up the stairs, two at a time.

Moonlight poured all over the floor and onto Brianna Connors’s bed. The bare branches of the maple outside the window made a spiderweb pattern on the mattress. Her Felix the Cat wall clock indicated it was after four in the morning.

The police chief studied the teenager. Like many girls with divorced parents, Brianna had learned how to command attention in any circumstance. With Drew hanging in the background, Brianna put her hand on her hip and surveyed her bedroom from the doorway. Her eyes landed on the bloody spot on the floor where Olivia had bled out.

“You guys are going to clean up this mess, aren’t you?” she asked.

Annie shook her head. “Sorry. We don’t offer that service.”

“Don’t you have a housekeeper?” Drew asked Brianna.

“Yeah, but she only comes three times a week. And she won’t be here tomorrow. She said her mom or someone in her family is sick. I doubt it, though. She’s a little liar.”

“Brianna,” Annie started to explain, “this is a crime scene. You won’t be able to have your room back until we’ve done all of our work here.”

Brianna made a face. “Oh, crap,” she said, pulling the robe tighter around her thin frame. “That’s just perfect. What am I supposed to do? This isn’t fair. This is my room. Can I at least get some jeans and a new top?”

Annie nodded at the deputy.

“These okay?” he asked, grabbing a white sweater and a pair of brown-dyed Mek jeans from underneath a white ghost costume strewn over a chair on the other side of the room.

“Not those! I wore those yesterday.”

“It will have to do for now,” he said. “We can’t compromise the scene.”

“Can’t I just get something from over there?” Brianna said, pointing to the dresser across the room.

“I’m afraid not. Maybe a little later. Let’s zero in on what’s important. Tell me what happened,” Annie said, this time with an edge to her voice. “When did you come upstairs?”

Brianna thought for a second. “I came up to my room three times. The first time was early in the party—to ditch my mail-order bride costume and put on regular clothes. The bride dress was totally itchy—covered in all these scratchy little sequins, plus all the guys kept trying to put postage stamps all over me. The second time I came up to find Olivia. She was in my bed, and I thought I could hear her snoring. I called her name, but she didn’t answer. Anyway, she looked okay to me, so I put on a different costume and went back downstairs. When everyone had left, I came up to make sure Olivia was okay, and that’s when I found her on the floor.”

“Do you know if anyone else came up here?” Annie asked.

“How would I know? I was the hostess. I barely had time to pee,” she said. “Let me think a sec. No, I don’t know if anyone else came up. Maybe Beth Lee. She and Olivia had a fight earlier in the night.”

“Do you know what it was about?” Annie asked.

Brianna handed the jeans and sweater to Drew. “About my friendship with Olivia. About Drew picking up Olivia for the party. About whatever. Beth was jealous of us. It doesn’t faze me. I’m used to it.”

Annie nodded. I’m sure you are.

“Everyone’s jealous of Bree,” Drew said, tucking the clothes under his arm, and looking like he’d rather be just about anywhere else right then. A safe bet for sure.

“You said you kicked Olivia to see if she was asleep,” Annie said to Brianna.”Was that the first or second time you came up?”

“The second time,” Brianna said.

Annie positioned her body between the bed and Brianna. “Did you kick her hard?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Why did you kick her? Why not just tap her on the shoulder?”

Brianna held up her left hand. Her glossy nails gleamed with an icy-blue hue. “Because I’d just done these, that’s why.”

Annie looked at Brianna’s hand and nodded. Who does their nails at two in the morning?

“What about you, Drew?”

“Like I said before,” Drew answered, “I wasn’t here. I went home with everyone else. I didn’t find anybody dead. That’s all on Bree.”

Chapter 4

THE PORT GAMBLE S’KLALLAM TRIBAL Police Department had been housed in the same building for more than forty years. It was in the basement of what the locals called “the old post office,” a large wood-framed structure that at one time or another accommodated not only the post office but also the morgue, the town’s first hospital, and even the community theater. Annie Garnett’s office was one of three dedicated to law and order in the historic town. The other two belonged to her deputy, a part-timer named Stephen Shields, and an office administrator and records clerk named Tatiana Jones.

Chief Garnett had driven Brianna and Drew to the police department so they could provide full statements while the events were fresh—and hopefully before anyone had a chance to change a story or make up a new one. Neither teen had liked being in the back of her police car, and their separate interrogation rooms weren’t giving them the warm fuzzies either.

Annie started with Brianna and offered her a soda, but she declined.

“I’m tired, and this whole thing has been a total nightmare,” Brianna said. “Like, I just want to get this over with. This wasn’t how I wanted my party to end, you know?”

Annie ignored the comment. No one wants a party to end in a bloody stabbing. She placed a yellow legal pad on the table at the exact moment Brianna’s phone buzzed.

“Is it your mother?” she asked.

Brianna scrolled through her text messages. She made a face. “No surprise. She missed the boat. She’ll have to take the next ferry.”

“Do you want to wait for her?” Annie asked.

“No,” she said. “I want to go to bed. But not my bed. My entire room needs to be taken to a landfill.” She put down her phone. “I was ready for a change anyway.”

“Is there anyone else I can call for you, Brianna?” the police chief asked. Her concern for the girl was genuine. Besides her work in law enforcement, Annie had given her time to coaching, mentoring, and speaking at conferences on behalf of young people whenever she could.

Brianna shook her head. “No. Dad’s off with dumb-dumb and my mom will get here as soon as she can. I just want this night to end.”

“I know this has been a terrible ordeal for you.”

“It has been the worst. The worst ever. The party was so fun and then this happens. It just isn’t fair.”

“Murder is never fair, Brianna.”

“I don’t need a lecture. Don’t misconstrue what I’m saying here, officer.”

“Chief, please,” Annie said, gently.