Page 119 of Second Chance

“Yeah.”

“The knife was his, wasn’t it?”

“Um, yeah, Sean…he carries that kind of stuff around sometimes when he’s been dealing. He says it can get dangerous, meeting people at night to hook them up with coke or whatever.”

Tony barely restrains himself from scoffing. There’s a simple way to avoid dangers associated with dealing: Not dealing.

“Did he ever use it in front of you?” Taylor asks.

Lily stays silent.

From her jacket, Taylor pulls out the knife in an evidence bag, the blade pointed at the top, flat on the sides. Lily flinches at the sight of it.

“It would take a lot of force to stab someone with this,” Taylor says conversationally. “Especially four times in a row, going through her clothing as well as layers and layers of tissue and muscle to hit organs.”

She’s talking about force someone Lily’s size might be able to work up in a life-threatening situation, but over a grade? Tony studies the knife again. It’s a weird shape for a blade, one he recognizes.

“He’s in custody,” Daniel reminds Lily. “He can’t hurt you here.”

Lily looks up from her lap, hesitant.

“Did he ever use it in front of you?” Taylor repeats.

Lily opens her mouth and then closes it again.

“How did you get the flat tire?”

Everyone in the room turns to Tony.

“When you came into the shop after your accident, Sean said he swerved to avoid a deer and banged up his fender. But that wouldn’t cause a flat tire. It was—”

Taylor elbows him hard. “How did the flat happen?” she asks before he can continue.

“Sean got mad,” Lily says quietly. “After the accident, he was so angry he stabbed the tire. It scared me, but I thought people did stuff like that when they’re high, so I tried to forget about it.”

“By ‘it,’ you mean…” Taylor pushes.

“That he carried it around with him. And used it when he was angry. I swear I didn’t know he had it on him when he went to Professor Lawrence’s office with me. I didn’t know he would hurt—kill Professor Lawrence. I kind of…I lost it. I didn’t know what to do, and I was scared. I didn’t know who would listen to me, and I was scared he would hurt anyone who I talked to, so I left that letter for Professor Rosenbaum.”

“And the knife?” Tony prompts.

“I found it under my bed afterward. I knew I hadn’t touched it, so I thought maybe if someone else handed it in to the police Sean wouldn’t think I…I don’t know. I was high most of the time. It wasn’t really a plan. I just hoped Professor Rosenbaum would try to help me. I didn’t mean for him to get hurt too.”Her eyes track over to Daniel for an instant, but she looks away immediately, ashamed.

She should be.

“Tell us what happened on Thursday.” Taylor studies Lily, expression impassive. “Why did you bring the gun to Professor Rosenbaum’s office?”

“I, um, I didn’t get why nothing happened after I gave him the knife and why our rooms were being searched. I was scared about the drugs getting found, and Sean was getting angry he couldn’t find the knife anywhere. He put all his weapons in my room, and I thought he might… I was scared. Of him, I guess. So, I brought the gun as, like, proof. But then…”

“He followed you to my office, didn’t he?” Daniel smiles at her. How he isn’t nervous or angry to be around her, now she’s clear of mind and knows what she did, is a mystery to Tony.

“Yeah.” Lily looks up at him again and then over to the detective. “He was—he was standing outside the door. I could see him. When Professor Rosenbaum asked if I knew who’d done it… Sean was right there, and I thought if I said anything, he would hurt me or the professor. I thought it was too late to call the police, with Sean watching. So I made Professor Rosenbaum come with me, and Sean did the rest.”

“The rest…” Taylor says.

“He picked the Continuum,” Daniel remembers. “He drove us there and got rid of my phone. My guess is he didn’t have any long-term plan beyond keeping us there.”

The detective writes something down on her pad and then turns back to Lily expectantly.

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