"And where did you move from?"
"Elkhart." He cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter. "Elkhart, Indiana."
Detective Greiner nodded and smiled easily at the boy. He gave her a half smile before his eyes dropped down to his hands.
"How old are you, Steve?"
"Seventeen."
"So you'll be a senior in high school?"
"Yeah."
"It must have been difficult making a move like that in your junior year, adjusting to a new school, new town."
"Not really."
"Oh? Why is that?"
He shrugged. "People have been pretty cool for the most part," he glanced up at her. "You know."
She nodded. "So where is your house in relation to Enzo Moreno's?"
"Pretty much, like, across the street."
"Are you and Enzo good friends?"
He shrugged again. "He's alright."
The detective waited.
"He's not someone I hang out with regularly, but we get along okay."
"And Serene Hokulani," she stumbled on the last name.
"Hokulani," he repeated with the correct pronunciation.
"Right. Thank you." The detective made a note of this. "And is Serene a good friend of yours?"
Steve made eye contact for the first time. "She's my girlfriend."
"I see. And where does Serene live in relation to you."
"She's across the street and right next door to Enzo."
"Okay. So Enzo had a party the other night. Can you tell me the date and time?"
"It wasn't like that. It wasn't a party. It was just a few of us kicking it at his house. Me, Serene, Kanani, Bets and Taylor." Taylor's name was whispered and his eyes dropped to his hands again.
"And what day was that?"
"Monday, July 15th."
"What time did Enzo have all of you over?"
Steve shook his hair off his face again––it had slid back over his eye. "I don't know. Around eight."
"Where were Enzo's parents?"
"Out of town. I think that's what Enzo said."
"So Enzo's folks were out of town and he had the house to himself and decided to have some friends over."
"Basically, yeah."
"Can you tell me what happened that night, what all of you were doing before you found Taylor?"
"Yeah. We weren't doing much, just talking. Enzo made some dinner."
"Officer Hernadez said you kids had been drinking and marijuana was found."
Steve blushed and his attorney Mike Rollins leaned forward. "You don't have to answer that, Steve."
“Did Enzo supply the beer?" Detective Greiner asked.
Steve stiffened and squirmed slightly.
"Again, my client doesn't need to answer that. Let's stick to the questions that are pertinent to the case."
"If Steve or any of the others at Enzo's dinner party were inebriated or their state of mind altered with drug use, it could have impaired their judgment and recollection of relevant events," Detective Greiner said.
"Let's move on, please," Mike replied.
"What happened after dinner?"
"We just hung around the table talking and stuff. Kanani kind of started giving Taylor a hard time."
"What about?"
Steve blushed and then sighed. "Being stuck up and promiscuous. Taylor laughed it off."
Detective Greiner waited.
"Then Bets, she'd been kind of sulking all night. She told Taylor she saw her flirting with her boyfriend and, um, Taylor had this way of making light of serious stuff that could be infuriating. And that's what she was doing to Bets, mocking her, which really pissed Bets off. Then shit really hit the fan when Serene asked Taylor if she'd slept with her stepdad, Darpan."
"Shit hit the fan. Walk me through that."
Steve swallowed. "Taylor didn't answer Serene right off. Usually, Taylor's pretty quick with comebacks, but it was like… she looked guilty, you know? Enzo lost his temper and he made a grab at her, but I stopped him. Me and Kanani held him back."
"Has Enzo been physically violent with Taylor before?"
Steve bounced his knee. "It was just a spur of the moment thing."
"Have you witnessed Enzo hitting Taylor in the past?"
"No," Steve said after a beat.
"What happened next?"
"Enzo told Taylor to leave, and she did."
"What time did this argument take place?"
"Around ten."
"Did you stay at Enzo's after Taylor left?"
"No. I went home because it was getting late and I didn't want to piss off my dad."
"And how long were you at home before Enzo called you?"
"Well, it wasn't Enzo, it was Bets."
"What time do you think that was?"
"I wasn't home long. I think only twenty minutes when she called."
"So around 10:20?"
Steve gave a curt nod.
"And your dad didn't ask or wonder why you left to go back to Enzo's?"
"He and my mom had already gone to bed."
"So Bets called and said what?"
"That Taylor was there. That she'd come back and it looked like something was wrong with her."
"Why did she call you and not 911?"
"No one was sure what to do. I think they were still trying to decide how serious things were with her."
"And they thought you could provide the answers?"
"You don't have to answer that," Mike said.
Detective Greiner gave Mike Rollins a quick smile. "What did you see when you got there, Steve?"
"Taylor was lying on the sofa and Enzo was kind of hovering over her, and he yelled at me that she wasn't waking up." Steve's face suddenly went white and his bobbing leg stilled.
"How was Taylor lying on the sofa?"
"She was curled up like she was asleep, facing out."
"Facing out toward the room?'
"Yeah."
"What happened then, Steve?"
"I think Serene tried to check for a heartbeat, or, I mean, a pulse. And then Enzo started shaking her, yelling for her to wake up. Finally he called 911."
"And Bets and Kanani, where were they?"
"Just standing there."
"When you went home after Enzo told Taylor to leave, did Bets, Serene and Kanani stay at Enzo's, or did they go back to Serene's?"
He ran his palm over the table for a second time. "I'm pretty sure they stayed. At least they were there when I left."
"Serene said she needed to step outside to get air when you mentioned that you had to go home. Do you remember that?"
Detective Greiner noticed that he made a show of furrowing his brow like he was thinking.
"Yeah. She did say that."
7
Dora - February 2020
