Chapter 12: Where Were You

At nine o'clock the six of us stood in a line in front of the Wall.

Nobody had eaten dinner, and nobody had sat in a chair all day.

"In order," Garson Langan said. "One."

One stepped forward and tugged the brim of his cap.

"I was at the party in the whale's villa," he said. "Twenty-nine oh one. Business. We had a casino deal riding on him that winter."

"I left at quarter to two and went down to my room on twenty-six. I was asleep by two. I heard about the girl on the news the next day."

Garson Langan looked down at something we couldn't see.

"Room 2614," he said. "Key card at 1:52."

The bell didn't ring, and One's number stayed lit.

He stepped back into the line, his shoulders coming down.

"Three."

Three stepped up with his hands jammed in his jersey pockets.

"She came into the bar at 1:25," he said. "She was shaking so bad she spilled a tray."

"She said a man upstairs had asked for her by name, and the pit boss said she had to go."

"She asked me, 'Is it bad if I don't want to go?'"

His voice cracked on it.

"I told her everybody gets nervous. I poured her two shots of tequila, for courage. I didn't even charge her."

Garson Langan looked down.

"Bar 3 register," he said. "Two shots, comped, 1:26."

"Five."

Five walked up with her chin high, holding her reading glasses in her fist.

"I walked her to the villa elevator at 1:30," she said. "Everybody heard me tell it this morning."

"Here's what I didn't tell. At five after two that elevator came back down to the casino floor, and she was in it alone, crying."