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Nods all around.

Don’t hold your breath, Ellery thought.

“Tosh, I’m going to start with you.”

Tosh lifted her chin, nodded, and led the way to the kitchen. Jack followed.

As their footsteps faded down the hall, Flip looked at Ellery. “Another game of Clue, Professor Plum?”

Ellery glanced at Freddie. Freddie’s chest peacefully rose and fell. “Clue it is.”

Freddie woke while Jack was finishing up his interview with Lenny.

Lifting his head, Freddie licked his lips and blinked at Nora and Kingston, now seated across from him. He frowned. Wiped his eyes. Shook his head. Peered doubtfully at Nora and Kingston again.

“Welcome back,” Ellery said.

Freddie turned his head to stare at him. He lifted his wrists and studied the handcuffs. “I guess Jack’s home?”

“Yep. He’s interviewing everybody. You’re next.”

Freddie sighed, settled back in the chair. “It doesn’t matter. What was I going to do? Killallof my friends? It’s not like I could get away with it.”

A shocked silence followed.

“Nice,” Flip said.

“We don’t understand why you killed any of them,” Ellery said.

Freddie ignored him, gazing at Tosh. “Really, Tosh?Youdrugged me?”

Tosh stared back stonily. “Really, Freddie?”

Freddie made a face, glanced at Ellery. “For the record, I never wanted to kill anyone.”

“And yet, you did.”

Freddie did not deny it. He stared out the window. Snow was melting from the roof in great wet dollops.

He said finally, “It feels like such a long time ago.”

“Not to Noah’s parents, I bet. It won’t to Chelsea’s.”

Freddie exhaled a long, weary breath. “Yeah. Well, I didn’t plan any of this.”

“Why?” Tosh burst out. “Why, Freddie?”

Freddie shook his head. “I don’t know. That’s the truth.”

“How can it be the truth? Youkilledtwo people!”

Freddie said slowly, “Noah, that reallywasan accident. I was driving home that night; I saw him crossing the street... He’d told me the day before that he knew I’d been stealing money and stuff when we all lived on campus. I hadn’t taken anything since, but he had it in his head that I needed to pay everybody back. I mean, Icouldn’t. I didn’thaveit. And if he’dgone to the dean or something, I’d have beenout. I’d have beenruined.”

“So, you ran him down?” Ellery said. It was not a question. “You murdered him. Because your career was more important than his life?”

Freddie looked at him in protest. “It didn’t feel like that. It wasn’t a conscious thought. It was weird. I was thinking about him and then he was right in front of me. I suddenly saw how easy it would be. And it was. In fact, it was like it was supposed to happen, because he hit my windshield and cracked it, but it alreadyhada crack, so I just took it into the shop as planned.” He shrugged. “That was that.”

It was deathly quiet. As if everyone held their breath.