“A little white lie for the greater good. Maybe you did what Corinne says, maybe you didn’t. But you know you’re not innocent.” She looks at her fingernails. “I’m doing society a service.”
I push past her and punch out the front doors before I do something that will totally land me in prison. Because I want to strangle her.
I need to swim. But I also need to be off this campus. Instead of festering in my apartment, I decide to go to the gym a few hours early. I know pounding out reps on the weights won’t do for me what the water does, but it’s something.
I’m halfway through my second set of squats when I look into the wall mirror in front of me and realize someone’s standing behind me. I rack the barbell and turn to find Detective Diaz standing next to a burly cop in full uniform. From the look on her face, and the fact she brought reinforcement this time, I know it’s not a friendly visit.
“I need you to come to the station with us, Marcus,” she says.
I feel like I’ve been sucker punched and it takes me a second to get my breath. “Am I under arrest?”
Her eyebrows go up. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, him for starters,” I say, shrugging a shoulder at the cop. “But you’ve also got a witness. If I remember right, that’s all you needed to send my brother-in-law to jail.”
“The circumstances were different in Caiden’s case. It was statutory rape, and he was caught in the act.”
I toss a hand in the air. “Apparently, so was I.”
“You’re not under arrest,” she says. “But we need to chat, and I’d rather do that at the station, if it’s all the same to you.”
I’ve got the sinking feeling once they get me down there, I might not be leaving. “It’s not ‘all the same.’ I’d rather talk here.”
“Fine.” She nods at the cop who moves to the front door and takes up position. “Is there at least somewhere a little more private we can chat?”
I glance around and find the dozen or so other people on the circuit equipment trying to pretend they’re focused on their lifting. I lead her to the studio out back, which is empty until Brenda comes back at four for classes.
She turns to me. “So let’s go over this again. Tell me about any interaction you had with Corinne Pratt last Friday.”
As long as she asks me specifically about Corinne, the truth is my defense. “When she got to the pool, she reminded me she’d invited me to a party, which I told her it would be inappropriate for me to attend. We had a normal practice, running drills and whatnot. After practice, I sent the team to the locker rooms. She and her friend, Melanie, were the last two out of the locker room. Melanie left through the gate, and Corinne came to me and implied she had a damaging picture of me. She said she wouldn’t take it to the principal if I took her home.”
She’s jotting some things on a pad and looks up at me. “And what was your response?”
“Haven’t we already been over this?” I ask with a roll of my eyes.
“I need to hear it again,” she says, fixing me in a stern gaze.
I blow out a sigh. “I told her I wasn’t having this conversation with her and if she wanted to continue it, to meet me at Principal Monroe’s office before school on Monday morning.”
“What was her reaction?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I didn’t wait around to find out.”
“Can you describe exactly where this conversation took place?” she asks, looking at the notepad.
“In the pool cage.”
“Yes,” she says, “but exactly where within the cage.”
I rub the sweat off the back of my neck as I think about that for a second. “At the end of the bleachers closest to the gate.”
She makes some notes then looks up at me. “Did you have any physical contact with Miss Pratt at that time?”
“No,” I say with a shake of my head.
She gives me a skeptical squint. “You never touched her at all?”
“No.”
“Did she touch you?” she asks, making a note.
I think about that, replaying the scene in my head. “She might have touched my arm…or my chest. She tried to do that a lot, but I was usually able to sidestep her.”
Her glance runs over my exposed arms. “Would you be willing to take off your T-shirt?”
My eyes narrow, wondering what she’s after. “Why?”
“I’m working on a theory, here, Marcus. You are free to say no, but it will save us both a lot of time and effort if you cooperate.”
I roll all the possibilities over in my head and can’t come up with a reason not to do as she asks. I tug my T-shirt off.
“Do you mind?” she asks, pulling a small camera from her bag.
I lift my arms to the side. “Knock yourself out.”
She snaps a few shots from the front, then repeats that process from behind.
“Thank you,” she says, tucking her camera away. “So, after you say you turned down Miss Pratt’s proposition, what happened?”
I tug my shirt back on. “I locked the pool cage and we both left.”
“You didn’t walk with her to the parking lot?”