against the bookshelf. He looked kind of like a skinnier version of Paul Rudd. When I opened the door and stepped in, the first thing I noticed was his badge, shining like it got a fresh rub of polish every day. Then my eyes traveled down to his navy slacks, which were so snug around the groin that I wondered about a dress-code violation. He had dark hair that he’d slicked up in the front, and his thick eyebrows raised when he gestured to one of the chairs in the office and said, “Have a seat. I guess you’re Palmetto’s Princess, Natalie Hargrove.”
“Good news travels fast,” I said. “I guess you’re Officer Parker.”
I took a seat, eyeing him to see whether he was sleazy enough to lean forward and watch as I sat down in my short gray-blue pleated skirt and crossed my legs. So he was that kind of guy.
“I saw your picture in the paper,” Officer Parker explained. “I’ve been reading up on your school, trying to get a feel for things. You might have guessed that they hired me to get to the bottom of what happened last weekend.”
I shrugged. “I hadn’t given it much thought.”
O.P. scratched his prominent chin. “Was Justin Balmer a friend of yours?”
“Not really,” I said. “He played football with my boyfriend.”
“So I hear.” He looked down at his legal pad, then up at me. “And how long have you been with your boyfriend?”
“I’m not sure what that has to do with your interrogation,” I said, holding his gaze. There was something both hot and cold about his hazel eyes, like driving with the windows down and the heat on in the winter.
Officer Parker came around to the other side of the desk. I could smell the musky aftershave on his face. He gave me a thin smile.
“I’m just going to get down to it, Princess,” he said. “This one stinks of something fishier than a drunk kid missing a dose of pills. You may have heard that we’ve got a suspect linked to a movie filmed that night.”
I shook my head but stiffened my grip on the armrest. This was good: The police were already using Baxter’s tape as evidence.
“Of course,” he continued, “that evidence alone doesn’t make the case airtight. And there’s one small problem with it.” He licked his lips. “Any guess what that problem might be?”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” I said, uncrossing and re-crossing my legs.
Officer Parker looked down at them. “You seem like a nice girl. And Baxter Quinn wasn’t much of a cameraman, anyway.” He chuckled, a wheezy, sleazy sound. “A few zesty indiscretions caught on film shouldn’t be held against you.”
I bit my lip. Oh. Shit. In all the time I’d spent brooding over Baxter and the tape, I’d managed to overlook the scintillating scene he had shot of Mike and me earlier in the night. Of course, using that tape to bring down Baxter was too good to be true. I couldn’t believe that this sleazebag cop, with the all-too-knowing twinkle in his eye, had something on me now, too.
“I just wouldn’t want to see your reputation go to hell so soon after you got what you wanted,” O.P. said finally.
“What I wanted?” I asked. Well. How much
“The crown,” he said simply.
I exhaled.
“Look,” Officer Parker said. He was close enough that I could feel his breath on my cheek. “No one’s using the word blackmail. Personally, I don’t even see a need to use an amateur sex tape in a court of law. Unless. .”
His hand was on my leg. I looked around. Why wasn’t anyone walking by the fishbowl right now to see what a first-class sleaze this guy was?
“What do you want from me?” I hissed.
“You’re in touch with the kids at Palmetto,” he said, removing his hand to cross his arms over his chest. “Point me toward some other evidence to close the case, and we can pretend this footage never even existed.”
“What about Baxter? What about when he comes back?”
Officer Parker held out his hands in a grand shrug. “His word against mine? This flick’s official police evidence now, Princess,” he said. “Some punk kid with a drug problem won’t be able to do a thing about it.”
He extended his hand, and when I put mine out to shake it, he brought it to his lips. “We’ll be in touch, I’m sure.”
I left the office wanting a shower. What if there was more on that DVD that he wasn’t letting onto? What if he was just trying to see how far he’d have to go to make me crack? And what had happened when he talked to Mike?
A small snore to my left made me jump. It was Darla, the Double D, dozing on the couch outside the principal’s office. She must have sensed me standing over her because she shook awake and immediately wiped some drool from the corner of her mouth. She was sporting a Palmetto sweatshirt, almost identical to the one I’d been wearing yesterday, except in baby blue.
“Did you just get interviewed?” she stammered. “I’m supposed to go in now. I was racking my brain to jot down everything I ever knew about J.B. I want to help — I guess I dozed off.”
“Ever heard the saying about letting sleeping dogs lie?” I said under my breath.
Darla’s face changed. Her eyes grew cold. Before I could apologize, she sat up in her chair.
“You might be older and more popular,” she said with more venom than I knew she had in her, “but I’ve got bigger boobs and more money.”
I laughed and cocked my head at Darla.
“And I’m supposed to be jealous of you?”
Darla shrugged. “You know, there’s another saying. This one’s about the apple not falling far from the tree.” She swiveled her head like a contestant on a seedy talk show. “You are your mother’s daughter.”
“Darla Duke.” A secretary’s head popped out of the office. “Officer Parker will see you now.”
Darla stood up, but before she entered Magnum Sleaze’s den, she looked over her shoulder at me.
“We can be sisters,” she said, quietly enough that the secretary wouldn’t hear. “Or I can treat you like the sponge you were raised to be. Your choice.”
Then she was gone. If these walls weren’t so transparent, I might have grabbed Darla by the hood of that sweatshirt.
But then I spotted Mike further down the hall. As I rushed toward him, I tried hard to regain my composure. He was talking to the football team, laughing and banging his helmet on the lockers. Maybe he didn’t know we were on the cusp of being blackmailed and arrested. By the time I reached him, I was furious.
He took one look at my face and turned to the guys. “I’ll catch up with you in the locker room, okay?” He put his arm around my waist and pulled me in. “What’s up?”
“You met Sergeant Sleaze this morning. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What are you talking about?” Mike looked at me blankly.
“He’s got the DVD,” I said slowly.
“I know,” Mike said, actually grinning. “The guys were talking about it during practice this morning. I’ve been dying to see you in person all day so I could tell you.” He wrapped his hand around the back of my head and whispered, “It’s only a matter of time before we’re off the hook.”
“Are you crazy?” I swatted him away. “Didn’t Officer Parker jog your memory about what else is on there?”
Mike’s brow furrowed and he shook his head.
“That’s great,” I unzipped my backpack for a piece of gum. “He didn’t mention anything. So it’s only me he’s blackmailing.”
Now Mike’s face darkened, and he clenched his teeth. He curled his hand into a fist. “What did he say to you?”
“Let’s just say he’s more than a little bit interested in how much of my flesh Baxter captured.” I chewed. I tried to push him away, but his grip was too strong for me. “Why didn’t you think of that, Mike? You should have done something about the DVD. That was your end of the deal.”
Now Mike dropped his hands from my waist.
