it together, man. They're just legs. Attached to Mariah.
"I don't know. I'm going to talk to Trent tomorrow. I didn't have a chance tonight."
"He may not tell you the truth."
"I like to think that I know when someone is lying."
Her brow quirked up. "You have that superpower? Lucky you."
"People have tells when they lie."
"Can you tell if I'm lying?"
Chuckling, Ryan nodded. "Yes, you rub your earlobe when you're telling a fib."
"That's not true," she said with a scowl. "I don't do that. And when have I ever lied to you?"
"I said a fib, not a lie. Remember when my sister was dating that guy from Stanford that I couldn't stand? Shit, I can't even remember his name now but he was a jerk. She went out on a date with him and you told me she was out with her friends. She didn't want me to know because she knew I'd give her a hard time about it. You covered for her."
"Of course I did, she's my best friend."
"And you rubbed your earlobe when you did it."
Her expression was scandalized as her hand flew up to her ear. "So you knew I was lying?"
"Not then, but later when I was being trained, I thought back to that. You've done it more than a few times. Like when you told me that you liked camping and the show ‘Lost’."
"I was trying to impress you. I never thought we would actually go camping, and I didn't think you'd make such a big deal about a television show."
"It was one of my favorites."
"We both liked ‘The Sopranos’."
"You liked ‘American Idol’. Admit it."
"Millions of people liked ‘American Idol’. I won't apologize for it, Ryan. Here we go again. Even your taste in television shows has to be superior to everyone else's. Get over yourself."
"I'm just saying that some shows and movies are better than others."
Rolling her eyes, she walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out two water bottles, handing one to him.
"I'm saying that I don't care what other people watch or read or sing or do. It's none of my business."
To be perfectly honest, Ryan wasn't sure why he cared what Mariah watched or liked. Maybe because he'd found her so fascinating back then, or perhaps because he'd wanted her to like the same things he did. Her approval had been important to him when he was younger.
"According to Carl, Brad was sleeping with Isla."
Mariah's mouth fell open in shock. "Wait...what? Brad and Isla? How does Carl know? And how didn't you know?"
"Brad and I weren't that close, and personally, I didn't want to hear about his sexual exploits, most of which I assumed were lies. Carl swears it's true, though, and that Brad told him."
"I'm not sure that I believe it."
"Why not?"
"You said it. Brad lied about stuff. I can see him lying about Isla."
Sitting down on the couch, Ryan re-ran Carl's words through his head one more time.
"Carl seemed pretty convinced it was true. I didn't question it but I probably should have. I'm going to have to ask Isla."
Mariah held up her hand in a stop motion. "Why would you ask her? What does it matter?"
"For the same reason it matters that Caroline was sleeping with Trent."
She was shaking her head before he'd finished answering. "No, it matters because Brad would have been jealous if he knew and that might be why they argued."
"Caroline could be jealous, too."
"She might but she knew that Brad ran around all the time. She'd never killed him over it. Past performance is the best predictor of future behavior. If she didn't kill him before, why would she do it now?"
"Maybe Isla was the straw that broke the camel’s back? He was fishing in our friend group pond, so to speak, and she was angry."
"Except that she was sleeping with Trent," Mariah reminded him. "So why would she be mad? She was getting her revenge. She didn't need to kill him."
He'd been thinking about the whole situation. In fact, that was pretty much all he was doing.
When he wasn't thinking about Mariah, that is.
"What if it was a tragic accident? They argued. Things got heated. Maybe Brad took a swing at Caro and she was defending herself? Or he was arguing with Trent and it got physical? It doesn't have to be premeditated cold-blooded murder."
"So you do have theories?"
"I have theories and hardly any evidence, so they don't mean much. At this point I'm just running scenarios through my head to see if they