Page 27 of Degradation
She sits down, not looking at us. ‘After I left the house, it’s a little hazy for a while. They...made me drink something and I felt like I did before, after that first party.’
I nod and hide my clenched fists, so she doesn’t notice them. I want her to keep talking.
‘I think I hurt my ankle around then,’ she continues after a moment, ‘but I don’t remember. I spent some time outside Lu’s dorm in the bushes because it was locked. I don’t know how long though. When I got to her room, she wasn’t there, but Mich and Travis were on their way out and saw me in the hall. They took me into their room to wait for Lu since she didn’t answer when they called her.’
Shade and I share a look.
‘Did they...Were they nice to you?’ Shade asks.
I frown at Shade, and he averts his gaze a little sheepishly.
‘Nice to me?’ Daisy asks. ‘Um, well Mich was okay. He was trying to be helpful. He made Travis get me something to drink, I think I fell asleep on his bed for a little while.’
‘Did either of them do anything?’ I ask, wondering how to put it so she’ll understand what we’re asking.
She looks up at me and then at Shade with a confused look on her face. ‘Well, they were talking to each other.’
I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes on a sigh. ‘He means did they touch you...like Marcus and the others, sweetheart.’
‘Oh!’
She shakes her head, looking away again and then clenching her eyes shut.
‘No, Mich was trying to help me. He was afraid I was concussed, or something, I think. But his roommate wasn’t very nice. Travis. He wanted to send me back outside, but Mich vetoed, so he called the campus police and told them I was drunk and wouldn’t leave their room.’
Shade’s eyes lock with mine and I nod. I haven’t done anything about Travis yet because I wanted the full story, but he’ll be gone by the start of the week, just like the rent-a-cops. When I’m done with him, he’ll be out of Richmond, and probably on his way to jail. In fact, I’ll make sure of it.
‘And what happened after the officers got there?’
‘They thought I was drunk too, and then Travis told them my name and they cuffed me.’
‘Your name?’ Shade asks.
‘Yeah, he said it was Daisy Novelle and they knew it, of course. One of them threw me on the bed and put his knee in the middle of my back. It hurt, and then he pulled my arms behind me and cuffed me.’
I side-eye Shade. Simply making sure those two officers get fired definitely isn’t enough. I can see he agrees by the way the vein in his neck pulses. Good thing I’ve started wrecking their credit, and had the bank begin foreclosure on their homes. By the time I’m finished, they’ll be living out of boxes and lucky to get work as bus boys.
‘They took me down the stairs and put me in the back of the car,’ Daisy continues. ‘The seats were hard plastic, and I kept sliding around.’
My eyes narrow, remembering the time or two that I was picked up as a teen. ‘Did they seem like they were swerving around a lot, stopping suddenly?’
She nods, looking at me in clear surprise. ‘I was in the car for a while. I was surprised when the office was so near the science building and KIP. I thought we’d gone further. I think most of the bruises came from the car. I couldn’t hold onto anything because my hands were cuffed behind me.’
Shade and I share another speaking glance.
‘And after that?’ Shade urges.
‘They told me they were calling Richmond PD to come get me, but they were going to make sure I was lost in the system for a while. They had me write my name, but it isn’t Daisy Novelle. I’m enrolled here as Marguerite Evans.’
‘Evans?’ I ask.
‘My dad’s last name. My real dad.’
‘Where’s he?’ I can’t help but ask, wondering if he’s a deadbeat, life-ruining, motherfucker like mine.
‘He’s dead. A fire.’
‘I’m sorry.’
