“What’s a ‘thing’?” Jeffrey asked. “That mean you slept with him some, maybe got high together?”

She kept her focus on Buddy, as if she wanted to punish him. “Something like that.”

“Do you know Rebecca Bennett?”

“Who?”

“What about Abigail Bennett?”

She gave a disgusted snort that made her nostrils flair. “She’s a Jesus freak from over at that farm.”

“Did Chip have a relationship with her?”

She shrugged, the handcuff around her wrist banging into the metal ring on the table.

Jeffrey repeated, “Did Chip have a relationship with her?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she kept tapping the handcuff against the ring.

Jeffrey sat back with a sigh, like he didn’t want to do what he was about to have to do. Buddy obviously recognized the play, and though he braced himself, he didn’t do anything to stop it.

“Recognize Chip?” Jeffrey asked, dropping a Polaroid on the table.

Lena craned her neck, trying to see which of the crime scene photos from Chip Donner’s room he had led with. They were all bad, but this one in particular- the close-up of the face showing where the lips had been practically ripped off- was horrendous.

O’Ryan smirked at Jeffrey. “That’s not Chip.”

He tossed down another photo. “Is this him?”

She glanced down, then looked away. Lena saw Buddy was staring at the only door in the room, probably wishing he could hop the hell out of here.

“How about this one?” Jeffrey asked, tossing down another.

O’Ryan was beginning to understand. Lena saw her bottom lip start to tremble. The girl had cried plenty of times since being taken into custody, but this was the first time Lena thought her tears were real.

Her body had stilled. She whispered, “What happened?”

“Obviously,” Jeffrey began, dropping the rest of the Polaroids on the table, “he pissed somebody off.”

She pulled up her legs on the chair, holding them against her chest. “Chip,” she whispered, rocking back and forth. Lena had seen suspects do this often. It was a way they had of soothing themselves, as if over the years they had realized no one was going to do it for them, so they had to adapt.

Jeffrey asked, “Was somebody after him?”

She shook her head. “Everybody liked Chip.”

“I’d guess from these pictures there’s somebody out there who wouldn’t agree with you.” Jeffrey let that sink in. “Who would do this to him, Patty?”

“He was trying to do better,” she said, her voice still low. “He was trying to clean up.”

“He wanted to get off drugs?”

She was staring at the Polaroids, not touching them, and Jeffrey stacked them together, putting them back in his pocket. “Talk to me, Patty.”

Her body gave a great shudder. “They met on the farm.”

“The soy farm in Catoogah?” Jeffrey clarified. “Chip was there?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Everybody knows you can hang there for a couple of weeks if you need to. You go to church on Sundays, pick a couple of beans, and they give you food, give you a place to sleep. You pretend to pray and shit and they give you a safe place to stay.”

“Did Chip need a safe place to stay?”

She shook her head.

Jeffrey’s tone was conciliatory. “Tell me about Abby.”

“He met her on the farm. She was a kid. He thought she was funny. Next thing you know, he’s busted for holding. Goes up a few years. When he comes back, Abby’s all grown.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “She was just this goody-two-shoes bitch, and he fell for it. Fell for all of it.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“She’d come to the Kitty. Can you believe that?” She laughed at the absurdity. “She’d be in her ugly, plain clothes and Mary Janes and she’d say, ‘Come on, Chip, come on to church with me. Come pray with me.’ And he’d go right with her without even telling me good-bye.”

“Were they sexually involved?”

She snorted a laugh. “There’s not a crowbar been invented could pull those knees apart.”

“She was pregnant.”

O’Ryan’s head snapped up.

“Do you think Chip was the father?”

She didn’t even hear the question. Lena could see the anger building in her like a kettle about to boil over. She was like Cole Connolly in that they shared the same quick temper, but for some reason, Lena felt more of a threat from the girl being out of control than the older man.

“Stupid bitch,” she hissed through her teeth. She was clanging the handcuff against the metal ring again, rapping out noise like a snare drum. “He probably took her to the fucking woods. That was our fucking spot.”

“The woods over in Heartsdale? The forest?”

“Stupid cunt,” she spat, oblivious to the connection he was trying to make. “We used to go there and get high when we were in school.”

“You went to school with Chip?”

She indicated Buddy. “Till that fucker kicked me out,” she said. “Threw me on the streets. I had to fend for myself.” Buddy didn’t stir. “I told Chip to stay away from her. That whole fucking family is crazy.”

“What family?”

“The Wards,” she said. “Don’t think she’s the only one’a them been to the Kitty.”

“Who else has been?”

“All of them. All the brothers.”

“Which ones?”

“All of them!” she screamed, slamming her fist into the table so hard that Buddy’s crutch clattered to the floor.

Lena uncrossed her arms, ready to respond if O’Ryan tried to do something stupid.

“They pretend to be so high and mighty, but they’re just as disgusting as the rest of them.” Again, she snorted, this time sounding more like a pig. “That one had an itty-bitty cock, too. He’d come in about three seconds, then start to fucking cry like a girl.” She used a whiney tone: “‘Oh, Lord, I’m going to hell, oh, Lord, I’m gonna burn with Satan.’ Fucking made me sick. Bastard didn’t care about hell when he was grabbing my head, forcing me to swallow it.”

Buddy paled, his jaw slack.

Jeffrey asked, “Which brother, Patty?”

“The short one,” she said, scratching her arm so hard she left red streaks. “The one with the spiked-up hair.”

Lena tried to think which one she meant. Both Paul and Lev had been as tall as Jeffrey, both with a full head of hair.

O’Ryan kept scratching her arm. Soon, she would draw blood. “He’d give Chip whatever he wanted. Smack, coke, weed.”

“He was dealing?”

“He was giving it away.”

“He was giving away drugs?”

“Not to me,” she snapped angrily. She looked down at her arm, tracing the red streaks. Her leg started bobbing under the table again, and Lena guessed the girl was going to lose her shit if she didn’t get a needle in her arm soon.

O’Ryan said, “Just to Chip. He’d never give anything to me. I even offered him cash, but he told me to fuck off. Like his shit don’t smell.”

“Do you remember his name?”

“No,” she said. “He was always up there, though. Sometimes he’d just sit at the end of the bar and watch Chip. Probably wanted to fuck him.”

“Did he have red hair?”

“No,” she answered, like he was stupid.

“Did he have dark hair?”

“I don’t remember the color, okay?” Her eyes flashed, more like an animal needing to feed. “I’m done talking.” She told Buddy, “Get me out of here.”

Jeffrey said, “Hold on there.”

“I’ve got a job interview.”

“Right,” Jeffrey said.

“Get me out of here!” she yelled, leaning over the table as far as she could to get into Buddy’s face. “Now, goddammit!”

Buddy’s mouth smacked when he opened it. “I don’t think you’re done answering questions.’”

She mimicked him like a petulant three-year-old. “‘I don’t think you’re done answering questions.’”

“Settle down,” Buddy warned.

“You settle down, you one-legged piece of shit,” she screamed back. Her body was shaking again, vibrating from the need. “Get me the fuck out of here. Now!”

Buddy picked up his crutch off the floor. He wisely waited until he got to the door to say, “Chief, do whatever you want with her. I’m washing my hands.”