Page 19 of Reckless At Raleigh High
SILVER
“Wait. You’re supposed to be a woman. My mom said you cut some sort of deal in court when Alex was released.” The man on the front doorstep spreads his hands out in front of him, palm-up, and shrugs.
“Maybe your mom wasn’t actually there. Maybe she just read the court transcript. There’s…therewasanother Detective Lowell. My sister. Clerks mix us up all the time when they type up their reports.”
Sounds like a lie, but I just inspected his ID and it looked perfectly legit. “This won’t take a minute,” the detective says. “We have everything we need for our case. There are a few small details I’d like to go over before submittingmyreport. That okay with you?” He’s tall and clean-cut, wearing a North Face puffer jacket. The hair on the sides of his head has been shaved to a tight, fashionable fade. He’s dressed casually but there’s something militaristic and severe about him. He doesn’t give off the impression that I could decline to answer his questions. His authoritative, no-nonsense tone makes it clear that I don’t really have a choice in the matter, which sucks because I could really do without this shit right now.
“I’ve gone over my statement at least six times already. This weekend’s been really shitty, Agent Lowell. Can’t this wait until next week or something?”
The guy smiles tightly, not meaning it. “Call me Jamie. And unfortunately, no. I have to present the information I’ve gathered to my boss tomorrow. If there are discrepancies, we won’t be presenting our strongest case to the judge when the time comes. And I’m just guessing here, but I’m pretty sure you don’t want Weaving let off with a caution and some community service for the shit he pulled in that gymnasium, right?”
Weaving.
Nausea rolls through me in a never-ending wave. Hearing that name said out loud makes me flinch. “Oh, no. I’d love it if he got off with a caution,Jamie. I think it’d be great if he gets released and then tries to murder me again. Hopefully he’ll be successful next time.”
Agent Lowell grimaces, rocking on the balls of his feet. It’s freezing cold out. The rain turned to snow a couple of hours ago, and the wind is howling across the porch. I probably should have invited him inside, but so what? Fucking sue me. I’m exhausted. My manners have taken a sabbatical.
“Listen, Silver. I know this is all really overwhelming. Talking about what happened must bring up a lot of bad memories, but I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important. What if Jake gets out and it isn’tyouhe comes after? What if he hurts someone else, and another assault could have been prevented if—”
Rolling my eyes, I head back into the house, leaving the door open behind me. “Stop. You’ve made your point.” I just want this whole fiasco to be over. Sending Agent Lowell away only to have to deal with him another time is tantamount to putting off the inevitable; I might as well just get it out of the way.
In the kitchen, I pour coffee into a filter, dump it inside the machine, slam the lid closed, and hit the brew button. In the corner, lying in his bed by pantry door, Nipper bares his teeth and growls at the stranger in his house. Agent Lowell—doesn’t look anything like a Jamie to me—curls a lip up at the dog, then leans across the kitchen island, resting on his forearms. He’s in his mid-twenties, probably. With his dirty blond hair, neat stubble, and his ice blue eyes, he’s good-looking and he knows it. Confidence oozes out of him like he’s been nailed by buckshot and he just can’t stop the flow. Women of all ages melt when he turns that roguish, half-apologetic smile on them, I’ll bet. Jake was good looking too, though. I’ve learned that good looks don’t make you a good person. Your appearance doesn’t mean shit if your soul’s as black as tar. I lean back against the oven, folding my arms across my chest.
Agent Lowell doesn’t seem to know what to do with my blank stare. “Like I said. There were a few things I wanted to clarify….” He trails off.
“Go ahead.”
“You told the officer who interviewed you at the hospital that Jacob Weaving raped you earlier this year. I’m a little confused. If you were sexually assaulted by Jacob, why was there no report on file?”
My nerve endings prickle, a thousand tiny fire ants biting the flesh between my shoulder blades and down the backs of my arms. Seriously? He’s gonna pullthisshit? “I didn’t file a report. I was too scared of what would happen if I did. Girls get judged when the use the wordrape. In my experience, that word makes a lot of men uncomfortable. I’d already been violated enough by then. I couldn’t have handled the endless questioning and probing. I told one person and he downplayed the whole thing. Tried to make out like nothing unusual happened. Yes, I’ve come forward now, and, no, I don’t think that it’s convenient timing, when Jake’s locked up for other crimes. I don’t think any of it isconvenient. I did what I had to in order to make it through one day, and then the next. And then the next. That’s all there is to it.”
Lowell pouts, his mouth pulling down at both corners. It’s a ‘sure. Maybe I can see that being true’face. I want to make this fucker bleed. “Okay. After the incident, you said you went shopping for some items from the pharmacy?”
The expression slides off my face. Shopping? Fuckingshopping? “I went to get the morning after pill, because I didn’t want to end up pregnant after three different guys forced their dicks inside me. I wasn’t stocking up on lip gloss and hair products.”
“Logical,” he says, chewing the inside of his cheek. “Very logical. I’ve dealt with a lot of rape cases. Most girls don’t show that level of forethought. They’re usually too distraught to think that clearly—”
The coffee maker pings, noisily bubbling away as it begins to pour the brewed coffee into the carafe. Meanwhile, a stunned calm has fallen over me. “Why are you really here,Jamie? What do you gain from questioning me like this? Zen was attacked. You’ve seen those photos, right? They don’t leave much room for conjecture. She’s given her statement, too. Jake’s already locked up for his involvement in his dad’s smuggling ring, not to mention breaking most of my ribs and trying to hang me in the school gym. Like I said, I gain nothing from reporting the attack now. Jake’s gonna rot behind bars for a very long time…”
Agent Lowell smiles broadly, looking down at the covered plate of cookies by the fruit bowl to his right. “Precisely.” He shrugs. “Apart from the fact that people are fawning over your friend. They’re very sympathetic toward her. Her hospital room looks like a high-end florists. But you…” He makes a show of looking around, hunting for the flowers that Ihaven’tbeen sent. “They’re less sympathetic to your story, Silver. People seem to think you might have had reason to target Jake. Some sort of high school vendetta. You used to have a crush on him, didn’t you?”
A high-pitched, endless tone rings in my ears, muting my thoughts. I can’t…he can’t really be…fuckingserious? I scramble to form words, to refute the implications that he’s making, but I can’t even remember how to speak.
Thankfully, I don’t have to. “You’d better have a damn good reason for being in my kitchen, questioning my underage daughter without an adult present, Detective.”
I didn’t hear Dad pull up in the driveway. Didn’t hear the front door open, either. My father charges into the kitchen like a thunderstorm, exuding a dark fury that has Lowell pushing away from the kitchen island, the smug look on his face morphing into a mask of professionalism.
“Mr. Parisi. Silver agreed to talk with me. She’s a smart girl. She knows that if she’s got nothing to hide, she—”
Nipped launches out of his bed, hackles raised, barking loudly as he darts back and forth in front of the detective, showing him his teeth. Dad doesn’t say a word to call him off. I’d say I’ve never seen my father look so angry, but I’ve seen him riled like this too many times of late. He grabs Lowell by the shoulder, fisting his jacket, shoving him toward the hallway. “Nothing she just said to you is admissible. You donothave my permission to be in this house. Get the fuck out before I accidentally shoot you for trespassing.” He pushes Lowell, and the detective staggers back, nearly tripping over his own Nikes. He runs his tongue over his teeth, straightening out his jacket as he backs away toward the door.
“Not smart to threaten a DEA agent, Mr. Parisi. But not to worry. I won’t take it personally. I can only imagine how stressful it is, trying to raise a problem teenager on your own.”
Dad takes off his glasses, setting them down on the countertop. “I don’t give a shit who you are or who you work for. I swear to god, if you’re not out of my house in the next three seconds, you and I are gonna have issues.”
Lowell’s arrogant sneer doesn’t slip. Not even for a second. Glancing over Dad’s shoulder, he locks eyes with me and winks. “We’re not done, Silver. Next time, I’ll be asking these questions in an interview room, and there’ll be cameras pointed in your face. I’m sure the truth will come out then. Meantime, you two make sure you enjoy the rest of your weekend, okay?”
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