Easy Innocence

Chapter 10

THE PUNGENT smell of pizza from someone’s apartment wafted through the air vents, making Georgia realize she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. She finished her notes, went into the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator. Nothing but mayo, wilted lettuce, eggs, and a hunk of muenster cheese. She got out her one good Cutco knife, sliced a piece off the cheese, and wolfed it down.

Her first full day on the case, but it wasn’t very productive. First she’d played telephone tag with Cam Jordan’s social worker. It was just a courtesy—she figured the social worker would echo what Ruth Jordan said. Still, the call had to be made. Paul Kelly might be able to use the information in his defense, particularly if it turned out Cam had never been known to be violent. But the woman was either in a meeting or out of the office, and when she called back, Georgia was at the gym. She dutifully left her number on the woman’s voice mail again.

She did manage to question Claire Tennenbaum, one of Sara Long’s friends, before school. She hadn’t found out much that wasn’t in the police reports—just that Sara had been taken away from the game “to teach her a lesson,” the girl said. When Georgia asked why, she admitted Sara was a busybody. “Sara had to know what everyone was doing. She’d read people’s notes. Diaries, too.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. She wasn’t always that way.”

“So this—behavior just started recently?”

Claire looked uncomfortable, as if she’d said too much. “I guess. Maybe.”

The most interesting piece of information she’d picked up was the name of one of the seniors who’d been at the Forest Preserve. Monica Ramsey.

Now, she went back into the living room and turned on the news. She was startled to see a photo of Sara Long behind the shoulder of the anchor woman. She turned up the volume.

“... a high school hazing was taking place during the powder puff football game at which Sara Long was killed last month,” the newscaster said. “According to sources, the victim was taken to another part of the forest where she was subjected to taunting and a series of practical jokes. As you recall, hazing is not a new activity on the North Shore...”

File footage from someone’s video camera two years ago flashed across the screen, including shots of girls on the ground covered in what Georgia knew were feces, urine, paint, pig intestines, and fish guts. More video showed girls being punched, kicked, and pummeled with buckets.

The story cut to Police Chief Eric Olson, Georgia’s former boss, who said while the hazing was regrettable, it would not change the course of justice. In a statement that sounded scripted, Olson maintained they had apprehended the offender and had solid evidence to back up their case. They would, however, continue to conduct a thorough investigation into every aspect of this heinous crime. Robby Parker, tall, blond, and smug, stood at Olson’s side, hands clasped behind his back.

So much for keeping the hazing under wraps. Now that it was out, the question of why it had been kept quiet in the first place would undoubtedly surface. Who would take the heat, Georgia wondered? Would school officials claim something about an internal investigation and wanting to be sure before they went public? Would parents admit pressuring the authorities to keep it quiet? Or would the cops and the State’s Attorney’s Office offer some half-assed explanation?