“Ew,” I said.
Gia turned to Ridley. “You never posted about that.”
“’Cause he was litigious,” Ridley protested. “When he stepped down from ABS, he claimed it was grief over Alden.” He shook hishead. “But word on the street was he exited the network because some scandalous information was about to drop, and they forced him out. We all speculated about what it could’ve been, but then he filed for divorce and stepped out with a girl he’d known since she was in diapers, and that answered that.”
“How disgusting.” I pictured Emmy. Before our recent run-in with Dakota, it had been a long time since I’d allowed myself to remember her, or Easton, or anyone from those days. “Also, what kind of girl would do that to her best friend?” I shivered. “To herself?”
Ridley snapped his fingers. “You know who you should talk to? Lila Baumgarten. She replaced Easton at ABS. She’s retired now, but back then there were rumors she was part of the coup that took him down.”
“Now that woman is a piece of work,” Gia said, shaking her head.
“Huge ballbuster,” Ridley agreed. “One of those old-school power-hungry backstabbing types. Big shoulder-pad energy. I’m afraid I love her.”
I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye: Scout pitching forward, as if something had just occurred to her that socked her in the stomach. In her lap, she clutched her hands together, knuckles turning white.
“You know what, guys, this has been really helpful.” I slid out of the booth and grabbed Scout by the arm. “We’ll definitely talk to Lila.”
“You’re not staying for lunch?” Ridley asked. “You dragged us all the way downtown and you’re not even going to buy us greasy pizza we’ll have to throw up later?”
Scout was bending toward the ground now, as if physically weighed down by her thoughts. Something very bad was happening in her head. I needed to get her alone. I reached into my wallet and threw two hundred-dollar bills on the table. “Lunch is on us. Go crazy.”
Without another word, I shoved Scout toward the exit, stopping only to drop another crisp hundred-dollar bill into our waiter’s hand. “For your trouble,” I said, then kept moving.
It happened as soon as we burst out the door, into the fading light of the afternoon. Scout’s entire body collapsed on itself. I barely caught her as she crumpled to the sidewalk. “Scout—”
“He didn’t do it.”
I didn’t have to ask. Her body shook violently, too much for me to contain. I sank with her to my knees, the grit of the concrete biting my skin. “Please get up,” I whispered into her hair. “We can’t let anyone see us.”
“He didn’t kill her.”
I tried to shush her, drag her upright—anything to protect her, to keep what was happening from prying eyes. But she reared back, tears on her cheeks, her voice choked and ruined. “We were wrong, what we did to him. All this time, Iz, it wasus. We were the monsters.”
“Shh—no, don’t—”
“It wasus.”
Chapter 28Juliet, the Model
PRESENT DAY
Luca Clearwater bounded across the stage at the Hollywood Bowl to a shouting, whooping, whistling crowd, taking her place in a patch of sun, like God himself had provided the spotlight for this event. Summer had dawned bright and early in the Hollywood Hills, and the iconic arched bandshell of the Bowl reflected both the sounds of the audience and the music of the surrounding trees, as if it were all one symphony.
Juliet squeezed Miranda’s hand so she didn’t faint.
“This is crazy!” Miranda’s shout was barely discernible above the cheering. “I’d never even heard of this woman, and she filled the Bowl.”
“Yeah, well, we don’t exactly run in the CNN crowd.” Cybele’s arms were crossed.
Luca seized the microphone and waved for quiet. It had taken Juliet days of begging to get the girls to come with her to this event—but even if they hadn’t, she would’ve come alone, because Luca had personally invited her. It had been a thrill to see Luca’s name pop up in her inbox mere hours after Juliet had messaged her in the gym, telling her she would be in LA soon, and the two of them should meet.
“She’s not just a talking head,” Juliet promised. “Have you seen her résumé? She’s incredibly impressive.” Luca was a Harvard Law grad, a Fulbright Scholar,andthe founder of the Green Lions, and she was only in her early thirties. Juliet had recently received her GED certificate in the mail. To be taken seriously by this woman felt better than when Scout had looked at her across the Serpent Room dance floor and waved her past the velvet rope.
When the audience settled into anticipatory silence, Luca began. “Do you know,” she said, in the deep voice that had enraptured Juliet on the news, “that this venue where we stand used to be a community center? The Hollywood Bowl was originally built for the people of Los Angeles, and it had a mandate to keep its ticket prices low so everyone could attend. Decades ago, it was used for political rallies. Celebrities have been arrested here, back when they were willing to take those kinds of risks.”
Even as far back as Juliet was standing, she could see Luca’s eyes sweep the crowd. “I chose to come here tonight because I thought it was time to bring back a little of that old ethos to the Bowl. What do you say?”
The crowd cheered, including Miranda and Cara. Only Cybele remained watchful.
