Page 66 of Nash
"That's what I saw."
Candace opens her mouth. Closes it. Opens it again. The look on her face is the one she wears when she's deciding how much to say, weighing loyalty against truth, measuring what will help and what will shatter.
"I think you should talk to East," she says.
"East? Why East?"
"Because East knows things about Nash that Nash won't tell you himself. And because I love you too much to let you build a case on evidence you don't have all of."
"Candace—"
"Talk to East. Before you close the file."
She picks up the ice bucket and walks back to the couches. I stand in the kitchen, my thumb pressing a crack in an ice cube, Candace's voice in my head.
Evidence you don't have all of.
The sound of laughter carries from the main room. I follow it.
By nine, the girls' night has been infiltrated.
It starts with Kyle. He crosses from the bar side with a plate of nachos and a look of complete innocence.
"I come in peace," he says. "And with cheese."
"This is a girls' night, Kyle," I say.
"I'm aware. I'm here as a neutral party delivering provisions. Think of me as the Red Cross." He sets the nachos on the coffee table. His eyes find Amelia. "Hey."
"Hey." Amelia tucks her hair behind her ear.
Kyle hovers approximately four seconds too long before Candace clears her throat and he retreats to the bar side.
Ten minutes later, East appears around the half wall.
"Darla. You need anything?"
"I need you to leave. This is girls' night."
"I know. I respect that. Just checking." He doesn't leave. He leans against the frame. "The nachos look good."
"Kyle brought them."
"Kyle got to come in?"
"Kyle brought cheese. What did you bring?"
East disappears. Returns with a bowl of Maggie's banana pudding.
"That's bribery," Sloane says.
"That's strategy," East says, settling onto the floor beside Darla's end of the couch. Darla rolls her eyes, but her hand finds the back of his neck.
Knox appears next, leaning against the half wall with his arms crossed, watching Sloane laugh at something Darla said. He doesn't come over. He just watches. Sloane catches him.
"You can come over if you stop looking like a bouncer."
"I'm not looking like a bouncer."
