Riley was pleased with what she was hearing. The “good cop”tactic was paying off, and Brad was starting to let out some genuine feelings.
It’s time to start leaning in a little more, she thought.
She thumbed through the file until she came to the notorious listwith “FOR TERMINATION” written across the top. She pointed to where the viceprincipal’s name was written under the scrawled skull and crossbones.
“Why did you put her name on this list?” Riley asked.
Brad rolled his eyes.
“Come on,” he said. “You’re not going lay this on me again, areyou? I was still a kid. I got pissed off with some people. I wrote this list tolet off steam. I didn’t mean anything by it. And I sure as hell didn’t expectanyone else to go reading it.”
Riley ran her finger down the page until she got to the name “Ally.”
She said, “‘Ally’ is a girl’s name, right?”
Brad said nothing, but his face looked pained and sad.
Riley added, “And you were pissed off with her too, right? That’swhy you put her name on the list, right?”
Brad actually started trembling a little.
Riley felt a sharp tingle of expectation.
“Just who is ‘Ally,’ Brad?” she said.
He opened his mouth to say something, then stopped.
I’ve hit a nerve, she thought.
She spoke again in a gentle voice. “I think you’d better tell usabout Ally.”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
It was obvious to Riley that Brad was struggling to keep hisemotions under control. She just waited to see how that worked out, but herexpectations were rising by the second.
If he breaks down now, everything might come out, shethought.
In a choked voice, Brad said, “I never meant Ally any harm.”
Ann Marie leaned toward him and asked, “Just who was Ally?”
Brad didn’t reply. He was fighting back his tears.
“Ally is—was—Allison Hillis,” Riley said. “Am I right?”
Brad nodded.
Riley said, “If you didn’t mean her any harm, why did you put heron this list?”
“I’m sorry about what happened to her,” Brad said. “It wasterrible what happened to her.”
Riley studied his face closely. She wondered—what was he feelingat the moment?
Guilt?
Grief?
Both?
She was pretty sure that she and her partner were about to findout. She thought the boy was reaching a point where he wanted to tellthem about Allison. He probably needed to let out some long-pent-up feelings.
Ann Marie asked, “You and Allison went to different schools,right?”
Brad nodded again.
“So how did you know each other?” Ann Marie asked.
“We met at a basketball game,” Brad said. “Our schools wereplaying against each other. We caught each other’s eyes in the stands acrossthe court from each other. Through the whole game, she kept smiling at me, andI kept smiling at her. It was like we … already knew each other.”
He sighed at the memory.
“It was like … well, I can’t tell you what it was like. The girlsat my school weren’t interested in me at all. I never knew why. And here wasthis pretty, sweet girl across the basketball court smiling at me like we’dalways been lifelong friends. It was magical.”
Ann Marie asked, “Then what happened?”
“After the game, she got away from her friends and we managed tofind each other. We walked and talked for an hour or so. We had so much to sayto each other. I had a car, so I drove her home—she lived over in AuroraGroves. And when I walked her to the door, we kissed. It was …”
He shook his head as if unable to find the words for how he’dfelt.
“Well, I couldn’t sleep at all that night. I kept worrying that I’dwake up and it would turn out to be a dream. But in the morning I texted her,and she texted me back, and she seemed as happy as I was to get in touch. Shetold me she’d had trouble sleeping too.”
He seemed to slip away into memory for a moment. When Ann Marieopened her mouth to ask a question, Riley gave her glance that signaled not to.They’d reached a point in this interrogation that was familiar to Riley. Rightnow it was important to let the suspect speak on his own.
He continued, “We communicated a lot during the next fewdays—text messages, emails, video chats, phone calls. But it wasn’t enough—forme, at least. I kept suggesting we get together for a real date. She sort ofkept avoiding the idea. Finally I just got her on the phone and asked her whatthe problem was.”
His jaw clenched tightly.
“She said she was sorry, but her parents would never let her datea guy like me. She hoped I’d understand.”
He drummed his fingers on the table.
“Oh, I understood, all right,” he said. “I felt like an idiot forever thinking I could get anywhere with a rich girl from Aurora Groves—not aguy like me, living in a dump of a house, working at odd jobs to help my drunkof a dad pay the rent, with a police record going all the way back to when Iwas just a kid. No, I just wasn’t in her league.”
Brad’s face twitched.
“I got mad. I told her she should have told me where things stoodbetween us from the start. I accused her of leading me on, getting her kicksfrom slumming with a poor kid from the wrong side of Winneway. She got upsetand hung up. I can’t say I blamed her.”
He shook his head and added, “I guess I got a little crazy afterthat. I kept sending her texts and emails and leaving voicemails, begging herto give me another chance. She didn’t reply to any of them. Well, finally I gotthe message. I know when I’m not wanted, I’m used to it, believe me. But …”
His voice choked again with emotion.
“I sent her one last text, with just one word. ‘Bitch.’”
He raised his manacled hands to his face and wiped away a tear.
“I never heard from her after that, and she never heard from me.And now …”
He
