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"Yes"

"It’s ’bout ti about Beth That bastard ain’t never paid You wanna knoho killed Beth? I’ll tell you Jack fucking Barrett killed Beth Jack Barrett killed Beth and everyone in town knows it Only no one in the fucking town cares They didn’t care at the ti sports hero and they don’t care now cuz he’s the governor and they didn’t care in between cuzwho the fuck knows? Cuz they let hiet aith murder which makes ’em what? Accomplices? Ah, it don’t et hiet him cuz of what he did to Beth?"

I smiled my most conspiratorial smile and said, "Tell me what you know"

Lynn brushed the debris fro her vodka between her hands

"People say there’s no proof that Jack killed Beth But there is proof What you call irrefutable proof"

"Tell me"

"The locket The locket Beth alore What waswhen they found her body"

"What locket?"

"The one he gave her Beth wore a little silver locket in the shape of a heart You open it up and there’s this tiny picture of Jack on one side and a tiny picture of Beth on the other side Jack gave it to Beth when they were juniors and Beth never, ever took it off Even when she took a shower she wore it She earing it at the party I saw it Only it was gone when they found her"

"There could be a lot of reasons for that"

Lynn shook her head vigorously

"Jack took it," she said "He killed her and took the locket The fucking governor of the state of Minnesota He did it"

"Why? What motive did he have?"

"Because, becauseJust because Look, the night of the party Beth had a fight with Jack Barrett"

"Do you knohat it was about?"

"Jack was cheating on her"

"He was?"

"Yeppers"

"With who?"

"Beth didn’t know That’s what the fight was about"

"If she didn’t knoho he was cheating with, how could she be sure?"