Page 75 of The New Year's Party

“What happened?” said Ted. Doug climbed out of the car too and rubbed his nose with his index finger.

“Some kind of accident!” She was wringing her hands. “Maybe she fell down the stairs? I don’t know! There’s a lot of blood, you guys. We have to get help! Do you have your phone?”

“Shit,” said Ted, glancing back at Doug. “The coke.”

“We’re gonna need a second,” said Doug, leaning back into the car and opening the glove compartment. They could hide the stuff in there—

“Not there, doofus, that’s the first place they look,” said Ted. His hands were efficiently gathering up the materials on the dashboard. He called out to Allie, “Get Phelps! It’s his house. He can call the ambulance.”

Allie turned back around with a cry of frustration and disappeared into the house.

Cops. Would they show up along with the ambulance?That wasn’t ideal. On the other hand... who cared if they did? Doug hadn’t done anything wrong. These weren’t even his drugs, and they couldn’t arrest you for being high.

“Make yourself useful,” growled Ted. “Go get our car keys from Phelps. Ideally, I’d prefer not to be a sitting duck if law enforcement arrives.”

“Sure, man.” Good idea. Doug should leave too, and on the double.

Doug jogged to the house. The living room was a beehive of activity, like everyone had decided to burst back into existence. Bunny was talking frantically to Will. Olivia was on the couch, her dress covered in blood, weeping. Wait... was it Olivia who was injured? Or Jenn? Bennett, looking wet and dirty, had a hand on Olivia’s back. Allie was messing with her phone... Why hadn’tshecalled the fucking ambulance?... and wherewasJenn? Didn’t matter.

“Dude, I need my keys,” said Doug, going up to Phelps. “Mine and Ted’s. Like, stat. Surrender the keys.”

Phelps laughed with disbelief. “You can’t leave now!”

“The fuck I can’t!” said Doug, blood rushing to his cheeks. “Last I checked, this is a free country!”

“Well, that’s debatable,” said Phelps with heated sarcasm, “but right now there’s a dead woman in my basement, and no one is leaving until the police get here.”

Wait—dead?

Ted was at the front door, gesturing. Doug made a helpless shrug in his direction.

“What?” said Ted, stepping inside.

“So, apparently we can’t leave because Jenn is dead,” said Doug with a laugh of disbelief.

“Fuck,” said Ted, making for the bathroom. The sound of flushing followed.

“What’s he doing?” said Phelps.

“Getting rid of his drugs, man!” said Doug. It made him want to cry, all that good stuff getting flushed into the sewer system.

The sound of a siren came in the distance.

“How are theyherealready?” shouted Ted from the bathroom.

Doug went to the front window and pulled apart the blinds with his fingers. It looked like a fire truck would be first on the scene.

He closed the blinds and turned.

“Well, get your fucking alibis in a row, amigos,” he joked.

“Not funny,” snapped Phelps.

“What?” said Doug, a little aggressively. “I mean, it was an accident, right? Anyway, what happened?”

Phelps’s jaw was clenched. He looked like he wanted to punch Doug.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Phelps. The quiet pressure in his voice could cut through metal. “I wasn’t there. But it sure didn’t look like an accident to me.”