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cool.”
    “Yup.”
    “Okay,”
I said. “Kristal followed you and then what happened?”
    “We
went to the park and smoked and had some beer.”
    “All
of you.”
    “Yup.”
    “Where’d
you get the beer?”
    His
eyes half closed. Suddenly wary. “We had it.”
    “You
had it with you at the mall?”
    “From
before.”
    “Where’d
you keep it?”
    “At
the park.”
    “Where
at the park?”
    Hesitation.
“Behind a tree.”
    “Hidden.”
    “Yup.”
    “So you
drank and smoked. All three of you.”
    “Yup.”
    “Kristal
drank and smoked.”
    “She
tried to. She wasn’t no good at it.”
    “Kristal
had trouble drinking and smoking,” I said.
    “It
made her cough.”
    “So
what’d you do?”
    “Kept
trying.”
    “To
make Kristal smoke?”
    “To help
her.”
    “How’d
that go?”
    “Not
so good.”
    “What
happened?”
    “She
coughed some more.”
    “Anything
else?”
    “She
threw up.”
    “Where?”
    “On
my shirt.” Now the eyes were slits.
    “You
didn’t like that,” I said.
    “It
smelled shit— smelled bad.”
    “Kind
of gross.”
    “Yup.”
    “What’d
you do about that?”
    “About
what?”
    “Being
barfed on.”
    “Pushed
her away.”
    “Where’d
you push Kristal?”
    He
placed his hands on his chest.
    “Where
did she land?” I said.
    “On
the floor.”
    “The
floor of the park.”
    “The
grass.”
    “She
land hard?”
    “It
was grass.”
    “Soft.”
    “Yup.”
    “Did
you push her pretty hard?”
    No
answer.
    “Troy?”
    “I
didn’t do nothing serious,” he said. “She sat on her butt and started crying
real loud. Rand gave her some beer.”
    “Why?”
    Shrug.
“I guess to keep her quiet.”
    “Rand’s
idea.”
    “Yup.”
    The
coroner’s report had found traces of Budweiser in Kristal’s tiny stomach. Her
lungs, too— the child had aspirated beer.
    I
said, “It was Rand’s idea to give Kristal beer.”
    “I
said that.”
    “Why
do you think Rand had that idea?”
    “He’s
stupid.”
    “Rand
is.”
    “Yup.”
    “You
hang out with him a lot.”
    “He
hangs out with me. ” Flint had come into his voice. He realized it.
Smiled. “Most of the time, he’s okay.”
    “What
happens when he’s not okay?”
    “He
does stupid things. Like that.”
    “That?”
    “Giving
the baby beer.”
    “How’d
Kristal like the beer?”
    “Not
too good.”
    “She
throw up some more?”
    “She
made puffy noises.” His cheeks inflated and he exhaled noisily. “Stuff started
coming out of her nose. Then she started yelling.”
    “Yelling
loud?”
    “Kind
of.”
    “Pretty
annoying.”
    His
eyes were hyphens. “It wasn’t cool.”
    “What’d
you do about that?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Kristal
threw up on you and yelled loud and annoyed you but you didn’t do anything at
all?”
    “Didn’t
have to,” he said. A tiny smirk skipped across his lips. Lasted for less than a
second before his features settled into childish innocence. If I’d been writing
notes, I would’ve missed the whole thing.
    “Why
didn’t you have to do anything, Troy?”
    “Rand
did.”
    “Rand
solved the problem.”
    “Yup.”
    “How?”
    “Shook
her and hit her and put his hand on her neck.”
    “Rand
put his hand on Kristal’s neck.”
    “He
choked her.”
    “Show
me how Rand choked Kristal.”
    He
hesitated.
    I
said, “You were there, Troy.”
    “Like
this,” he said, grazing his own neck with a limp hand. Pressing ineffectually
with the back of the hand, then releasing.
    “That’s
how,” he said.
    “Then
what happened?”
    “The
baby blooped over.” He tilted to one side, in demonstration, lowered himself in
slow motion to the cot. Sat up again. “Like that.”
    “Kristal
fell over after Rand choked her.”
    “Yup.”
    “How’d
you feel when you saw that?”
    “Bad,”
he said, too quickly. “Very bad. Sir.”
    “Why’d
you feel bad, Troy?”
    “She
wasn’t moving.” Fluttering eyelashes. “I shoulda stopped it.”
    “You
should’ve stopped