I fight the urge to grab her by the throat and push her into the jewellery rack.
‘You must be upset about what happened to Ms Ryan. Your reading the other day was very moving.’
She seems to think about this for a moment. ‘I was very sad to hear what had happened. Obviously. Murder is so … full on. It’s pretty crazy, really. And I did like her, even though she was a bit flaky. Nicholson asked me to say a few words at the thing, and Rodney really wanted to, so I agreed. I like the opportunity to get up in front of a large crowd. It was an interesting event to speak at.’
My mouth drops open and I quickly close it again. ‘It was hardly an “event”.’
She blinks at me. ‘Well, what would you call it?’
I shake my head, suddenly lost for words.
‘Anyway,’ she says. ‘I’ve told you all this already.’ Her lips purse and she shakes her head in a way that makes me feel old.
‘Sometimes people remember things that they forgot to tell us the first time round,’ I snap.
A soft smile plays on her lips. ‘I don’t remember anything new. Like I said, the play was great. So amazing. We were all on such a high. Ms Ryan too. She was so excited about how it went. I saw her afterwards holding bunches of flowers. She even had a champagne at the interval. She was smiling heaps and seemed really happy.’
I try to calm my breathing. ‘You said you didn’t speak to her after. Is that true?’
‘Uh-huh. Just saw her in the crowd. There were heaps of people around, like outside the school hall and in the main room, but all of us from the play just wanted to get to the party.’
‘At Jamie Klein’s?’
‘Yep. Jamie has a great party house and her parents were away so it was a big deal.’
‘Most of you went, right? From the play.’
Maggie waves two girls towards the change rooms and glances at her phone again. ‘Ah, yeah. Most of us. And some of the younger grades too. Even some kids that finished school last year. There’s always a couple who don’t come. Like the kids really into sport or whatever. Miles didn’t come; he’d had some fight with Sal or something. And Rodney wasn’t going to come because he had basketball the next day, but then it was cancelled so he ended up coming. But it was massive. Maybe a hundred kids.’
‘When did Rodney turn up?’ I press.
‘I don’t know. I don’t, like, keep track of him. I saw him around twelve-thirty maybe, but I’d been outside so he was probably there for ages before I saw him.’
‘What about Kai?’
‘Um …’ She twirls the ends of her hair. ‘I think I saw him when I got there. Eleven, maybe?’
I sigh inwardly. Timelines are a nightmare to map out at the best of times without having to rely on the memories of drunk teenagers.
‘Neither of them did anything to her, if that’s what you’re getting at.’
‘Really?’ I’m struggling to stay calm around the tilt of her chin. ‘And you would know, would you?’
‘Sure. They’re just not real men. Know what I mean? There’s just no way. They’re kids.’
I take in her waxed, tan, buxom stance, the jut of her hip, the world-weariness in her stare, and feel an unexpected tug of sadness.
‘Okay. Well, where were you when you found out about what had happened to Ms Ryan?’
She shrugs. ‘Mum told me. I stayed at Jamie’s, heaps of us did, and she called me around lunchtime and told me. I was so hungover it totally didn’t seem real. We were all really freaked out. Jamie’s house is only like maybe five hundred metres from the lake so that seemed weird too. We weren’t sure if the play would still happen that night or whatever. It was just really weird.’
She wipes her fingers under her eyes, pushing away some dark smudges. ‘We stayed there talking about it for ages.’
‘Who else stayed there?’
She looks at me wearily. ‘Heaps of us. I don’t know. Amy, Jess … Jamie, obviously.’
‘Kai?’
‘Yep. Kai, Jono, Joel. A few guys were in tents out the back so I’m not sure exactly.’
‘Rodney?’
‘Nah, I think he went home.’
She suddenly springs away from me and goes to the counter to put through a sale, beaming at the customer. Then she makes her way back to me.
‘Look, I have to start cleaning up. Are we—’
‘Yep. We’re done.’ I turn to go and then spin around again. ‘Actually, just one more thing. Was anyone upset about what happened to Ms Ryan? Like, more upset than you thought was normal?’
‘Mm.’ She taps her fingers against her jaw. ‘That’s kind of hard to say, isn’t it? Everyone is so different. Joel Perkins cried, which was a bit weird, but his grandma had died the day before so it was probably more about that. All the girls were upset, of course. And Rodney. When I saw him at school he was upset. He’s very emotional though. Like super sensitive. Probably because of his brother.’
She smiles at me prettily and I yank my eyes away from hers and talk to the small patch of skin in between them instead.
‘Aren’t you emotional, Maggie, being an actress? I thought you would be all about feelings.’
She leans towards me conspiratorially. ‘I am. I feel things really hard, but I mean, I have to be honest. This thing with Ms Ryan, it’s super sad, of course, but it’s also the most exciting thing that’s happened around here in, like, forever.’
Chapter Thirty-six
Saturday, 19 December, 8.45 pm
Fee looks like she’s the lead in a low-grade porn flick. Her breasts bob dangerously as if trying to escape her fluffy Mrs Claus costume, and I hold the drinks we brought in front of me to avoid an awkward embrace.
‘Scotty!’ Fee grabs Scott and mashes her chest against him instead. ‘Yay, you’re here!’ She gives me a half-hearted wave. ‘Hey, Gem.’
‘Hi, Fee. Merry Christmas.’ I hold out the drinks, giving us both something to focus on.
‘Oh great, thanks for bringing those. Now let me think … There’s an esky out the back, it’s probably best to put them in there. The fridge inside is chockers.’
I leave Scott talking to Fee and some other girl who is dressed as a Christmas pudding. I look down at my own costume: brown boots, red stockings and a forest green velvet dress that was my mother’s. I wove some ivy from the back fence into an old headband. Put on red lipstick. I look like a Christmas lunch table setting. Or maybe an enthusiastic kindergarten teacher.