“Well, if you think it’s him, I need more of a name than just John.”

“If you lay off, it’ll come to me. Can I get dressed?”

“Fine with us,” McAdams said. “I’m sure you can talk and get dressed at the same time.”

Decker said, “So why do you think John’s a freak and that he did it?”

“I mean . . . who else?”

“What did Angeline tell you about him?”

“Can I go?” Lucy asked.

“Not yet,” Decker said. “This is a murder investigation. Would you two be willing to come down to the station and talk to us there? No sense making everyone in the dorm curious.”

“Of course I’ll go down,” Terry said. “This is horrible!”

Lucy was biting her thumb. “I barely knew her.”

“But I’m sure you want to help.” Decker’s eyes were on her face. “Right?”

“I’ve got a midterm.”

“It’s two weeks into the semester,” McAdams said.

“Fine!” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll go!”

“Don’t do that,” Decker scolded her. “Angeline was murdered. It was a brutal killing. This isn’t a joke.”

The girl had paled. Tears burst from her eyes. “Sorry.”

“No problem. Thank you both for your cooperation.” Decker said to McAdams, “Call up Captain Radar and tell him we have a couple of people who knew Angeline and are willing to help us out. I’ll get us a car. In the meantime, can you please escort Ms. Ramon back to her room? She’ll need a coat.”

McAdams took out his phone and punched in Radar’s cell number. “Where do you live, Lucy?”

“I go to Morse McKinley, about a ten-minute walk past Kneed Loft.” She teared up. “Let’s just get this over with.” She stomped out of the room. McAdams had to do a two-step to keep up with her.

Decker turned to Terry who had sunk into the chair. It seemed to sag under all his muscle. “You went with Angeline for a while.”

“Two years.” He slipped on a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans with Uggs on his feet. “The breakup was mutual.”

Decker wasn’t sure about that. “What happened?”

“Different interests.” His eyes seemed far away. “We drifted apart.”

“What was she like? Angeline.”

His eyes focused on Decker’s face. “How can you sum up a person in a few lines?”

“Tell me why you liked her.”

“She was very sexy . . . she loved sex. She was adventurous . . . try just about anything once.” A pause. “She was really smart . . . funny . . . sometimes over-the-top sarcastic. She could cut you with a few chosen words.”

Decker’s phone beeped. He read the text. “Our car will be here in a minute. We should wait downstairs.”

Terry looked at his watch. “How long do you think this is going to take?”

“I don’t know. Grab a coat. It’s cold outside.”

DECKER SPLIT THE kids up, choosing to interview the girl first, making the guy wait and more anxious. Nervous people talk even more freely. He told Tyler to take copious notes, then he opened the door to the first of two interview rooms that the station had. There were no other places for private conversation other than the jail.

“Thanks again for coming down.” He handed Lucy a bottle of water.

“Do you have hot water?” she asked. “It’s freezing in here.”

“I’ll get it,” McAdams said.

The kid was learning. Decker said, “I know it’s late. I’ll try to make this quick. What did you know about Angeline Moreau?”

She shrugged. “Like I said, I barely knew her.”

“I’m sure Lance told you things about her.”

She tried to cross her arms. Awkward because she still had her bulky coat on. “If you want to know about what Lance thought of her, ask him.”

“Right now I’m asking you.” Decker pulled his chair closer to her. “This is just fact finding, Lucy. I’m not trying to box anyone into a corner. And whatever you thought about Angeline, no one deserves to be snuffed out like that. Help me out.”

Her eyes watered again. “Honestly, she was full of herself. She was pretentious . . . an artsy, fartsy opinion on everything. I don’t know how Lance put up with it for so long. He’s kinda . . . basic.”

“Why do you think he liked her?”

“Probably the sex was hot.” She shrugged. “Isn’t that usually the reason guys put up with crazy girls?”

McAdams came in with the hot water for her and two cups of coffee for them. “I don’t know how you take it so I put in some sugar and milk.”

“Thanks, it’s fine.” Decker took a sip. He wasn’t used to the watered-down stuff. He liked his mud without any accoutrements. “We were just talking a little bit about Lance, Terry.” He turned his eyes back to Lucy. “What do you mean when you say Lance is basic?”

“Well . . .” She sipped hot water, which must have warmed her up. She took off her jacket. “Lance plays football for Littleton . . . that’s kinda like saying you’re a caddy for Tiger Woods’s caddy. Our sports teams aren’t in competitive divisions other than tennis and maybe water polo. The football teams play small liberal arts colleges in the area as well as each other.”

“Did Lance come here on a football scholarship?”

“No, his family has money.”

“Where is his family from?” McAdams asked.

“Manhattan. The Upper East Side.”

“Groton?”

“Horace Mann. I’m from Groton. Were you in Groton?”

“Phillips Exeter,” McAdams said. “What’s Lance’s major?”

“Performing arts, acting. That’s where we met.”

“You’re an actress?” Decker asked.

“Actor.”

“Right.” Decker smiled. “Is that how you met Angeline?”

“No, she’s an art history major. I’m an econ major actually. Why else would I be at Morse McKinley. But I find that marketing and acting have a big area of intersection. Anyway, Lance used to bring Angeline to the theater parties. It’s probably how we met, although I don’t remember the specifics.”

McAdams asked, “What was Angeline’s substance of choice?”

“She liked whiskey and bourbon. Jack Daniel’s. I don’t do booze . . . too many calories.”

Decker said, “What else did Lance tell you about Angeline?”

“Just that she was nuts. He didn’t elaborate.” She started chewing on her thumb again. “I know they still talked. Every time she’d call, he’d, like, turn around and talk quietly into the phone, protecting the call like I’d listen in. Finally I told him, ‘Look, if you want a girlfriend, you’ve got to stop behaving stupid. Just cut her out of your life!’ ”

“Did he?”

She blew out air. “I don’t think so.”

McAdams said, “Booty calls?”

“If anyone did the booty calling, it would be her. According to Lance, they used to fuck all the time.” She rolled her eyes. “God, as I’m talking about him, I don’t know why I put up with it.” She shrugged. “I guess I don’t care all that much. I mean, it’s a college fling. And he takes me out to nice dinners when we go into the city.” She checked her watch. “It’s two-thirty in the morning. I need to get some rest.”

Decker said, “Just a couple more questions. Lance mentioned another guy. Someone he called a freak named John. What do you know about that?”

“Nothing.”

“C’mon. Lance must have mentioned him when he was pissed at Angeline.”

“All he said is that she’s seeing some freak.”

“How did he know?”

“Beats me. When he went on his tirades, I barely listened.”

“Did he give the freak a name other than John?”

“No.”

“Did he know where the freak lived?”

“I wouldn’t know.” A pause. “This could be totally wrong, but I got the feeling that the freak wasn’t a student at any of the colleges.”

“Tell me why?”

“Because Lance used to rant about how old he was.”

“How old was he?”

“From the way Lance talked about it, he was around thirty.”

“And he never said where the freak lived?” When she didn’t answer, Decker said, “It’s not a time to be holding back, Lucy. Angeline was murdered and I really need to talk to this guy.”

“I don’t know where he’s from and that’s the God’s honest truth.” A pause. “I don’t know if this is relevant or not, but it sticks in my mind as odd, so I’ll tell you. A few months ago, Lance asked if I wanted to meet him for a Saturday night dinner in the city. It was reading week so I didn’t have classes anymore. I figured why not. I asked him what he was doing in the city. He said he had some family affair earlier in the day and if I could come down on my own, he’d drive me back up. I agreed. I made all these plans to hitch a ride into Manhattan. At the last minute, right before I was ready to go, he called me and said, change of plans. He was in Boston. Could I come up? I was pissed but he offered me a car service to come up and we’d drive down together.”