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“Where did it happen?”

“A few streets from the apartment we were renting after we all moved from Third Avenue North. Noah was walking back from Tisch. He had a night class.”

“We being...?”

“Flip, Noah, Brandon—off and on—and I were sharing an apartment in Manhattan. Not far from where Tosh and Freddie were living. Chelsea and Lenny briefly moved in together; they were in Greenpoint. Oscar was living on his own, but after Noah died, he moved in with Flip and me.”

Jack asked, “No security cameras?”

“There was footage from one camera, but it was so dark and grainy, you couldn’t even make out the model of car, let alone the color. The only other camera with a view of the street had been damaged in an electrical storm the day before.”

Jack grunted. “That’s bad luck.”

“The worst,” Ellery agreed.

After a moment, Jack asked, “Did anyone in your group have a beef with Noah? Were there any issues there?”

“Abeef?” Ellery echoed. He drew back, stared at Jack in alarm. “Noah’s death was an accident. There was never any doubt about that. Nobody had any problems with Noah.”

Even as he said it, he recognized the irony. He was the one usually seeing mysteries everywhere, often to Jack’s frustration. Now he was reacting like everyone else usually did when he started speculating.

“Would everyone agree with that?” Jack asked.

“Yes. I’m certain of it. Noah was one of the nicest people I ever met. Super easygoing. I don’t think he ever squabbled with anyone.” Ellery added quickly, “Also, he did jaywalk everywhere. All the time. He’s the only person I ever met who actually managed to get ticketed for jaywalking. So, he...”

To Ellery’s astonishment—and alarm—Jack smoothed his hand up and down his back, in an absently soothing gesture, as if he understood how upsetting this was.

But it shouldn’t be upsetting. Because it reallyhadbeen an accident. No one had ever questioned that.

Ellery said firmly, “No, but really, Jack. What started you thinking—” he swallowed on the rest of it in a little distressed gulp.

Jack reassured, “I don’t have any reason to suspect anything. But I can’t help noticing that any time Noah’s name comes up, there’s always tension, always a pause, like none of you know what to say.”

“Well, because it’s painful. It was a huge shock to all of us. Honestly, it’s one of the most shocking things that ever happened to me.” Ellery amended, “I mean, until I moved here and started stumbling over bodies left and right.”

Jack grimaced in acknowledgement.

“And I know that’s true of all of us.”

“Of course it was. You were all very young.”

Granted, Jack was only a few years older and at that time would probably have been starting his police training.

And, as much as he hated to admit it, Ellery too had noticed that uncomfortable undercurrent when Noah’s name came up. It was almost as if they were all waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But there had never been another shoe!

Or, rather, there had never been any reason to believe that Noah’s accident had been anything but that. The police had asked questions, naturally, but it had all been informal and cursory. The case was closed in a day, the conclusion foregone: Noah Tandy had died in a tragic accident.

The kind of thing that happened all too often.

“Was alcohol involved?”

“No. He was at class, Jack. He wasn’t coming home from the pub!”

But Jack, following his own thoughts, said, “Chelsea said Flip and Noah were especially close?”

Ellery felt another of those unwarranted flashes of concern. “Yes. They shared a room when we all still lived on campus that first couple of years.”