“If you erased all the photos, how did they manage to show up on the internet?”
Ethan and Ronnie look at Gavin. He says, “Don’t state it as a fact. Just say what you think might have happened.”
Ethan says, “We only sent the naked photos to one person. Parker Page. To prove we did the dare. I know it sounds stupid now, and I’m not making any excuses for our behavior. But that’s how we justified it at the time. I asked Parker to erase the photos and get a new cell phone and she said she would. But maybe she didn’t. Or maybe she did after posting the photos.”
“How long were you in the room alone with Riley?”
“Two or three minutes each.”
I almost missed the last part of the sentence, because Gavin screamed, “Don’t answer that!” at the very moment Ethan was, in fact, answering. And had it not been such a startling event, I might have missed the importance of his final word.
He said, “Each.”
As in, they each spent two or three minutes alone with Riley.
Since Gavin was, and is still clearly upset by the answer, I take a moment to consider the full implication. And come up with this: the boys stripped Riley, took pictures of her, then split up. One must have guarded the door while the other…
I decide to go all in.
“You said you each spent two or three minutes alone with Riley?”
Ethan and Gavin say nothing. They’re locked in a stare down, and Ethan’s losing.
“Ronnie?” I say.
“I didn’t!” he says.
Gavin says, “What Ethan meant to say is they spent two or three minutes alone in the room with her.”
“He said each.”
“It was a word he used casually, one he wouldn’t repeat in a courtroom, where every word of testimony is parsed. But I’ve heard this story numerous times, so let me clear things up. They each spent that much time alone with her, while together. In other words, neither of them left the room without the other. That’s my understanding. Ethan? Ronnie? If I’m not completely accurate in making that statement, please correct me now.”
They say nothing.
“So I’ve got the story right? You were both there at all times?”
They nod.
Vigorously.
Gavin went to a lot of trouble to make that clear, as he had to. But it’s obvious the boys took turns with Riley. I shudder to think what that means.
Gavin allows his facial features to soften. Then shows me a practiced, lawyerly smile.
“Dani,” he says, “we came here tonight for several reasons. Cross-examination isn’t one of them. My son misspoke. He’s nervous. Who wouldn’t be?”
I decide to let it go.
For now.
But all I can think is how different things would be if Kelli and Riley could have found and preserved the video. What do they call it in the NFL? Conclusive video evidence? That tape would have given us…everything. It would have started the moment Parker left the room and turned on the lights.
I end the uncomfortable silence in the room by saying, “You’re laying an awful lot of this on Parker.”
Gavin says, “Quite true. That’s why I asked if you’d spoken to her yet.”
“I have not. Have you?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She admitted everything.”
YOU ARE READING
Promise You Won't Tell?
Teen Fiction"I think something might have happened to me Saturday night. Something bad." Private Investigator Dani Ripper's client list is nuttier than the Looney Tunes conga line, but she diligently solves one crazy case after another, waiting for a game-chang...
