David laughed with disbelief. “You can’t call it being given a chance if you didn’t even know what you were being offered! Kid, be serious.”
“I’m being serious. I know the past is in the past, and I can’t fix my mistakes now, but if I have a chance to at least bring Savannah’s murderer to justice, I should take it, right?”
“But whyyou?” David asked.
“I don’t know, because I know things!” Amie waved her hands, gesturing at the vague “things” she referred to. “I lived the day of the murder over seven hundred times. If anyone’s qualified to figure out who did it, it’s me.”
“But how much of the day are you familiar with, really?” David asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Imean, you went to the park every day to help a woman find her missing ring. You weren’t exactly exploring every nook and cranny of the town.”
“I didn’t goeveryday,” Amie mumbled.
“Were you ever even near the bookstore when Savannah died?” David asked pointedly.
Amie was silent.
Sighing, David said, “I’m not trying to be harsh. I’m just saying—”
“Shh.” Amie held up a finger, her memory kicking into high gear.
“I’m just saying that—”
“No, seriously, shh. Please. Just—give me a second.” Amie buried her head in her arms, her hippocampus straining to separate individual memories from the blurry mess in her brain.
Through the self-imposed darkness, she heard David let out another sigh. “If it’s really that important to you … fine. I’ll help. There’s no need to get upset.”
Amie popped back up. “I’m not upset. I’m just trying to concentrate.” She hesitated, then added, “I … I feel like my memory’s gotten worse since leaving the time loop.”
“Hm.” David nodded. “That makes sense. You were barely absorbing any new information during that time. Now everything is new again, and it’s a struggle to hold on to it all.”
“I guess,” Amie said, less concerned withwhythis was happening and more with how to improve it. “Remembering stuff from the time loop is a mixed bag, too. A lot of things are crystal clear, but pinpointing specific individual moments … agh, it’s hard to explain. Anyway, I accept your help, no take backsies. I just need a couple minutes of silence.” She returned to her arms, David muttering something about being manipulated again before obligingly falling silent.
After a full minute of thinking, Amie popped back up, her eyes still closed as she struggled to retain her thoughts.
“Okay,” she said. “Hallie From The Park is also Benny’s ex-girlfriend Hallie.”
Receiving no response, she opened her eyes. David was absent from his chair, leaving behind only a bare cake pop stick to indicate he’d ever been there. Amie twisted in her seat to see him at the cash register, purchasing a muffin.
He looked defensive as he returned with the muffin, Amie’s expression apparently giving away her impatience. “You said I had a couple minutes. That cake thing was too sweet for me.”
“You ate the whole thing.”
“I wasn’t going to waste it.” David settled back into his chair and took a bite of the muffin. “Go ahead.”
Amie spoke quickly, concerned she’d lose her grip on a crucial memory if she didn’t get her thoughts out fast enough. “Hallie From The Park is also Benny’s ex-girlfriend Hallie. Correct?”
“You tell me,” David said. “You know better than I do.”
“All right. Hallie From The Park is also Benny’s ex-girlfriend Hallie. We know she caught him cheating and broke up with himon Monday, sometime after when she’d leave the park and before I talked to Benny outside of our building that one time. So between four fifty-ish and eight-ish.”
“I would’ve thought living the day so many times would mean your timings would be a bit more accurate than ‘ish,’ ” David commented drily.
“Well—” Amie huffed. “Hallie didn’t always leave at the same exact time, depending on how fast I ‘found’ her ring. But I never let it go on for more than, like, five minutes. So at the latest, she was leaving at … four fifty-two. And I only talked to Benny that one time, so I can’t get more exact about that timing. May I continue?”
“Please.”
