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his job. Do you see what I’m getting at?”
    He started to give a tentative nod.
    â€œI’m not a detective, Luke. This shouldn’t have happened to me.”
    He brought both hands to his cheeks and dropped his elbows onto the table. “I’m sorry. I’m still processing this, but I swear, I didn’t think anything like this was even possible. Do you believe me?”
    I nodded. “Yeah, I believe you.”
    â€œGood. I’d be really sad if you didn’t. Are you okay?”
    â€œMy head feels pretty abused, and truthfully, I’m a little shaken. But I guess I’m as okay as I can be.” I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. “I’m glad they left me near your house.”
    We sat for a few minutes, absorbing the changes in the air.
    Luke spoke first. “Do you think we should call the police?”
    It took me a few seconds to register the question. “I hadn’t thought of it, to be honest.”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œYeah. I think I’ve been thinking a lot more about private eyes than police since I woke up. Strange how fast you can disconnect from the real world.”
    â€œWell, what do you think?”
    â€œAbout the cops? I don’t know. Should I? What do I tell them?”
    â€œThat you were attacked, I guess. And…” He lowered his voice. “Do you think this happened because of my dad?”
    â€œI don’t know, Luke.”
    â€œIt would kill me if he was part of this.”
    â€œHonestly, I have no idea. I will say something untoward could be up with Lori. You were probably right about that. Whether your dad is what’s untoward, I can’t say.”
    He found a pen on the table and twirled it between two fingers. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. I want to know whether my dad’s cheating, not whether he can be put in jail.”
    â€œLook, I don’t feel like talking to cops right now anyway. They’d brush me off. I really don’t have much to give them.”
    He nodded. “So what now then?”
    â€œI guess first thing, I need my car. Can you drive me?”
    â€œYeah, of course.” He hesitated but he didn’t say anything. I assumed it had to do with the passed-out drunk on his sofa and the nameless Cinderella in his bedroom. I took a split second to consider being considerate, and pretended not to notice.
    â€œGreat. Can I borrow your bathroom first? And some toothpaste? And some Advil?”
    â€œGo for it. Toothpaste is on the sink. Advil’s in the medicine cabinet.”
    I shuffled across the room and through a short hallway to the bathroom, noting the closed bedroom door before shutting myself in and switching on the light. I locked my elbows, gripped the hard, white sides of the sink, and stared at my reflection.
    I did look a mess. My teen admirer must have been missing his glasses. Wisps of hair stood in waves and lumps on top of my head where my ponytail had come loose. My bangs were no longer swept to the side but hung sadly in a greasy black curtain over the rightmost two-thirds of my forehead, leaving the last third bare. My eyes were rimmed in smudged charcoal a full centimeter around, giving me more the look of a gaunt, overworked hooker than of a panda bear. Blackened gobs of sleep gathered in the inner corners of my eyes. I was missing an earring.
    I washed my hands with a pump of soap, pushed a finger into each eye in turn, and coaxed my contacts out from where they stuck to my irises, shifting them slowly up and down and side to side. I blinked hard and my eyes watered. I found Luke’s toothpaste and squeezed a tricolored dollop onto my right index finger. I loosed a thin stream from the faucet and wet the paste, then shoved it this way and that into my mouth, across my teeth, over my gums, down my tongue. It failed to foam, but the mint tasted clean. I gargled and spit, gargled and spit. I rinsed my hands and splashed my