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More than one girl was sobbing in the halls, surrounded by her girlfriends as she grieved the love of her life. Apparently, a lot of people on the island had friends who went to the other local high schools, and he was a well-liked athlete, known to be a little shy, but a fixture in the party scene. He had also been very,veryattractive.
Just as Lozen had said, there was plenty of talk about other kids that had died and whether or not there was a connection. Other than Ben, there was a football player who died after the school year ended in June, and another girl named Phoebe in late August, right before school started. All three had, indeed, been at a party on the island on the night they died.
“Why do people still go out? If it’s so dangerous, I mean?” Saber asked at lunch, sitting with Lozen, Caroline, and Mallory.
“Because it’sfun?” Lozen suggested, feigning ditziness.
“You know, I heard something weird,” said Caroline.
“What?” Lozen asked, narrowing her eyes.
The subject was clearly something she was a little obsessed with.
“So, you know Maddie Franks?”
“Of course.”
“She said that the girls that go to these parties, like Laurel and Sophie, they fuck rich guys for money.”
Lozen rolled her eyes.
“Duh, yeah, I already knew that,” she said, sounding a little disappointed. “It’s always just a rumor, though. Nobody admits to doing it.”
“Maybe they’re just rich and their parents buy stuff for them,” Saber said.
“Right,” Mallory agreed. “It’s kind of a crazy conclusion to jump to. A rich girl shows up to school with an expensive handbag and we immediately assume she’s a prostitute? Maybe she’s justthatrich.”
“And fucking rich people isn’t usually a lethal pastime,” Lozen said. “So even if that rumoristrue, it doesn’t really explain why Ben Kamden is dead.”
Saber was watching Lozen. She couldn’t help but notice that, privately, Lozen shared some pretty crazy theories, but in casual conversation was her usual pragmatic, rational self.
“But Maddie told me Laurel toldherthough!” Caroline whined, insistent.
“Laurel told Maddie ‘I fucked a rich guy for free sunglasses’?” Lozen asked skeptically.
“No,” Caroline said, looking a little embarrassed. “She said something like ‘I would have sucked his dick for free, but he threw in the sunglasses,’ I don’t know, something like that.”
“Who sucks someone’s dick for a pair of sunglasses?” Saber said, and they all laughed.
“So, a second-hand joke. I still file that under ‘rumor,’” Lozen said, tossing back her cascade of silky hair.
“Who are these apparent rich guys?” Saber asked.
“Tech millionaires, not, like,oldmoney,” Caroline said breathlessly. “Tech millionaire” was some lesser type of rich person.
Saber reflected that her dad was probably pretty close to a millionaire, but she still didn’t think of him as especially rich or privileged.
“Who told you that it was ‘tech people,’ specifically?”
“I don’t remember, but, like, you know what I mean. Tech people arenouveau riche.”
Saber blinked slowly, composing herself, and tried to think of something to say that wasn’t defensive.
“I met this super rich tech CEO when I first moved here. He’s my dad’s boss.”
“Big deal,” said Lozen. “You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a millionaire in Seattle.”
“He was really rich,” Saber said. “It was crazy.”
