I Have Some Questions for You

In a brief chapter, Bodie realizes that Beth’s flask on set explains the alcohol in Thalia’s system. She then understands that the death happened soon after the performance. She wonders who would believe that theory and who could testify to it.

Bodie continues to ponder the significance of Beth’s vodka flask and wonders how it might alter the timeline of Thalia’s murder. Remembering her own interview in the aftermath, Bodie takes responsibility for spreading the accusation that Omar had been supplying drugs to Thalia. She wonders how many people at Granby had a hand in Thalia’s murder.

Goaded into macabre imaginings by her intense focus on the case, Bodie almost whimsically imagines herself in the role of murder suspect and envisions how she might have killed Thalia if she were indeed the murderer. She imagines her younger self leading Thalia to the gym, where they might have swum together. Bodie acknowledges that this vision is driven by fever and fatigue, and she casts doubts on her own memories, tying them to dreams.

Bodie then has a Facetime conversation with Jerome and admits that she made the Wilde situation worse by defending him. He tells her that she shouldn’t have responded and asks her rhetorically if the people accusing him believe in the same forgiveness and justice they always espouse. She talks with her children, Silvie and Leo, and Silvie blames Leo for hurting her and damaging her imaginary mane and tail.

Next Monday, Bodie sees how much snow has fallen and remarks that Omar has recovered from his surgery after being moved from the prison infirmary. As Bodie goes to class, Britt speaks to her in the hallway, asking to change her topic to Barbara Crocker, the Granby Spanish teacher killed in the 1970s, because another student has criticized Britt for her podcast on Thalia. Alder offers to help Britt with Thalia podcast, convincing her to continue. Britt then tells the class that Vanessa, Thalia’s younger sister, has responded to Britt’s inquiry and shared additional evidence. While Vanessa won’t share the actual material, Bodie still wants to contact her and convince her to allow Britt to examine the files. Bodie explains how the presence of the vodka flask might change the timeline. Lola tells Britt that she can ask Mike, Lola’s uncle, about the flask.

After Britt and Alder ask to speak to more of Thalia’s peers, Bodie suggests her friend Geoff, who seems to agree by sending Bodie a gif of a monkey eating popcorn. After lunch, Fran and Bodie hike on the trail in the snow, and they discuss how attractive Geoff has become and the attractiveness of his previous partners. Fran tells Bodie that Geoff had crushes on Bodie and their friend Carlotta while they were at Granby. Fran apologizes for her previous anger and skepticism about the Thalia podcast and asks Bodie about Starlet Fever and Jerome. As Bodie tells Fran about her tweets defending Jerome, she tells Fran she will quit the podcast and write a book about early female Hollywood screenwriters, who are pushed out by men after the 1920s.

Bodie reminisces about Geoff, remembering that she once listened in on a conversation between him and his mother on the gym lobby phone. Geoff’s mother complained about possums, and Bodie alludes to possums after they break into the athletic equipment shed to smoke. Shocked by Bodie’s revelations about possums, Geoff mentions déjà vu, explaining it to Bodie, until three first-year students interrupt them. They tease each other, and Bodie imagines kissing Geoff in a different reality. In this reality, Bodie declares she would have seen past Mike Stiles or Kurt Cobain and embraced her attraction to Geoff.

In the film class, Bodie shows the students two different versions of Scarface in the theater where they performed Camelot. She warns her students not to use their phones. Bodie then uses her own phone to email Vanessa Keith, asking to see the evidence she has about her sister’s murder. Vanessa responds with a Dropbox link, and Bodie begins to read through the evidence, more than 400 pages of it. In their interview transcripts, Beth and Puja both mention Omar. Reading Detective Boudreau’s questions to Omar, Bodie prays that someone else has mentioned drugs other than herself. Bodie sends Alder and Britt the link, and then Mike texts Bodie, asking to talk before he discusses Thalia with the students.

Later that night, Bodie reads through all the evidence, including her own transcript, admitting she was the only one to mention drugs in the first interviews and noting that she told investigators Thalia appeared disoriented by the dumpsters. The interviews change after investigators meet with students a second time, and their answers point to Omar and drugs. After reading all the files Vanessa sent her, Bodie pulls up Dane Rubra’s YouTube channel and watches videos in which he mentions Barbara Crocker and Robbie and alleges that usually the boyfriend is the guilty party. Bodie corrects his statement as she watches and thinks about Bloch’s interview. It is short, and he repeats that Thalia was a “‘good kid” again and again (241). In the video, Rubra alleges a money-driven conspiracy that hides the truth about murder at Granby.

Bodie then imagines Ari Hutson, the ex-boyfriend and murderer of Crocker, as Thalia’s murderer. Having served time for the 1970s murder, Hutson was released from of prison in 1989. In her imagination, Bodie sees Thalia waiting to meet Bloch, when Hutson grabs her. The rest of the vision focuses on Bloch, whom Bodie imagines returning to his wife and children and hiding any knowledge about the encounter.

Having slept very little, Bodie awakens and sends Yahav the link to the Free Omar website and the Dropbox evidence. Her thoughts turn to Thalia’s planner and its other markings. Thalia’s family had published the pages around her murder, and Fran tells Bodie about additional markings that included a number of X’s in different colors. Bodie emails Vanessa again, explaining that she can decode the Thalia’s notations. Later, as Britt walks into class, Bodie tells her that she’s invested in decoding the planner.

In class later, Bodie receives a text from Yahav, asking her to call about the case. The students discuss their second episodes, and Britt and Alder read from a transcript of Sonya, Omar’s white ex-girlfriend. She alleges that Omar’s temper frightened her, and that he could be physically intimidating, even locking her out of their house once in the cold. The students disagree about the statement, with Lola arguing that Sonya’s viewpoint could be influenced by racism. Bodie encourages their questions, announcing it will make a better podcast.

After class, Bodie talks to Mike, who worries about the wider effect of the students’ podcast and appears concerned about his part in Omar’s conviction. Memory, Mike argues, can be faulty, and many Granby students, including him, had copies of keys to buildings and rooms. His research centers on “amnesty and human rights,” a dissonance he notices between his youthful statements and his current beliefs (252). Bodie asks Mike about Camelot and if he remembers drinking onstage. He demurs, explaining that his memory now is weaker, and that he often doesn’t have faith in his recollection of present events. Mike worries about the project, and Bodie assures him that it’s not a professional podcast. He agrees to speak to Britt and Alder. Bodie gets a text from Carlotta and believes that it must be about Twitter and Starlet Fever.

Bodie’s thoughts wander from Lance and her podcast to Twitter and her various emails. She wonders how Jerome fares back in LA and what leaving the podcast might mean for her financial independence. She considers Yahav, Rita Hayworth, and the continuing eruption of #MeToo accusations. Weighed down by her thoughts, Bodie thinks about her podcast and Rita Hayworth’s life and background, particularly about Hayworth’s father, a dancer who abused her, and about Orson Welles, one of Hayworth’s husbands, who let the actress dance alone as a way of dealing with the trauma.

Bodie hosts a conference call with Yahav, Britt, Alder, and the rest of the class. He stresses irregularities and problems with the case and that overturning Omar’s conviction will be next to impossible. He discusses advances in DNA and the problems with drug charges and confessions. Britt tries to ask a question, but Yahav continues discussing the case and his representation. Britt talks about the expensive lawyer from Boston who represents Omar and does a poor job. As Yahav declines any further involvement, he warns Bodie and the students of the difficulties ahead. Bodie finally confesses to herself that Omar is innocent.

Bodie discusses Granby and her memories with Oliver, who continues to notice the many ways in which Granby differs from most schools. Bodie characterizes Granby as “a very special school for perfectly average kids” (261), as she realizes he’s falling in love with Granby. Bodie urges Oliver to be honest with Amber about his feelings for her.

She admits to feeling drawn back to campus, cycling through her memories of the 1990s and the students from Granby who died young: Thalia; Puja’s death by suicide at Sarah Lawrence; Tim Busse and Graham Waite’s fatal car crash. Imagining these deaths her senior year and soon after, Bodie recalls saying goodbye to Bloch at graduation and seeing Dorian Culler, who said sexually inappropriate things to Bodie in front of the Robesons, who did not respond.

On Thursday, Bodie checks her email, as the podcast students are leaving class. Apart from the angry emails about Jerome and Bodie and the Wilde accusations, Bodie finds an email from Vanessa, who offers to meet Bodie and allow her to see the planner. Bodie offers to drive to Lowell, Massachusetts to have coffee with Vanessa.

In this very short interlude, Bodie suggests that Bloch’s wife could have killed Thalia.

Fran allows Bodie to borrow her car for the trip, even though she isn’t happy about Bodie’s continuing involvement. At the meeting, Vanessa explains her reluctance to speak with Bodie but shows her the planner. Bodie explains that the red dots are Thalia’s period, but the different colored X’s seem to indicate times when Thalia had sex. Vanessa, shocked at her older sister’s recklessness, remarks how much sex the marks represent. Bodie speculates who Thalia’s partners might have been, admitting to Vanessa that Thalia may have slept with Denny Bloch, then in his thirties and married. Bodie acknowledges that Thalia’s friends created a common narrative about Omar and his guilt. Vanessa confesses that she’s in contact with Omar, and that he’s been attacked and is hospitalized. Swearing Bodie to secrecy, Vanessa tells Bodie she’s worried about Omar.

After meeting with Vanessa, Bodie tries to reconstruct how Denny Bloch would have killed Thalia. She imagines a scene in which Bloch, worried that Thalia might tell about their relationship, tries to break things off with her after Camelot. Before he leaves the house after the performance, he begins to print a large document, thinking the noise will give him an alibi. Bloch meets Thalia at the gym, tries to reason with her, and when she will not accept the end of the relationship, he attacks her. Returning home, he showers and returns to his bed.

Returning to class late, Bodie decides to tell the story about an incident of sexual harassment from her school days, in which Dorian and a boy nicknamed Peewee grabbed her and Carlotta’s breasts, leaving bruises. The incident escalated into minor violence as the girls struggled to free themselves. During Parents’ Weekend, Carlotta and Bodie initially argued about their differing responses to Peewee and Dorian’s abuse, and Carlotta castigated Bodie for her weakness. Back in the present day, Bodie links her past abuses with recollections that actor Loretta Young didn’t initially recognize Clark Gable’s sexual assault on her when it occurred.

Fran’s wife drives Bodie to the airport and explains that Fran reacted negatively to the podcast out of loyalty to Granby. Bodie thinks that Fran, the daughter of faculty, must know Granby better than most. As she listens to Anne, Bodie remembers the athletic equipment shed and suggests to Alder that they investigate it.