Promise You Won't Tell? (17 page)

He starts with, “Ms. Ripper, first of all I’d like to apologize for my behavior earlier this week. I was showing off, trying to act cool. When you put me in my place, I felt humiliated. I lashed out. When you handled that, I pouted. That’s what spoiled, rich kids—who are full of themselves—tend to do. I wish I could claim this was atypical behavior on my part, but that wouldn’t be true. I hope to become a better person. This situation will probably help me in that regard.”

No doubt about it, the kid’s got style. It’s going to make him an effective serial rapist someday. I can’t help but think what an extremely credible witness he’d be, if not for the fact he’s the perpetrator.

I say, “You don’t owe me an apology, Ethan. Just tell me what you came to say.”

“Off the record?”

“It’s just us here. I’m not involved in the case.”

He looks at his dad. Gavin nods.

“Kelli and I texted each other all afternoon. This was last Saturday. She kept telling me the girls were coming to her house for a sleepover, and I should stop by with some friends after her mom fell asleep. I was worried her mom would be pissed, but Kelli said her mom’s been drinking lately, and taking sleeping pills at night. She said by eleven or so her mom would be practically catatonic.

“That night a bunch of us were riding around, showing off, when Kelli texted me that her mom was completely zonked. She said they were drinking and had the house to themselves. She told me which girls were there, and that Parker would be leaving at midnight.”

I interrupt. “What time was that?”

“Shortly after eleven.”

“And what time did you enter Kelli’s home?”

“About ten minutes later.”

That’s earlier than Riley reported, but Riley admitted she was woozy at the time.

“Go on,” I say.

“Kelli asked if we could bring some liquor, because she was afraid if we stole some from the liquor cabinet her mom would find out. So we brought a case of beer. When we got to Kelli’s, she took us to the basement, and we all drank and kidded around. I asked where Riley was, and they all started in on me about how I’ve always had a crush on her. Around that time Parker went upstairs for a few minutes. I figured she went to get Riley to come join the party. When she came back down alone, she got my attention from the stairwell, and motioned for me to come over. I did, and Ronnie followed. She took us upstairs and said, “Your girlfriend’s upstairs in Kelli’s room, passed out.”

“No way!” I said, because we all knew Riley doesn’t drink.

“Ever?”

“Ever.”

“I asked if she was okay, and she said, ‘Come see.’”

“She led us up the back stairs and opened the door. We couldn’t see much, because it was dark. She called Riley’s name, but Riley didn’t answer. Then she walked in the room and said, ‘Check this out.’

“She used the flashlight app on her cell phone and led us to the bed. Then she slapped Riley’s face lightly, then a little harder, and said, ‘Riley, wake up!’”

I frown.

“Go on,” I say.

“Parker said, ‘This girl is bombed. You could do anything to her and she’d never know.’ Then she laughed and said, ‘Want to know a secret?’ We said sure. She said, ‘Promise you won’t tell?’ We promised. She said as a joke she pulled Riley’s pants down and stuck a strawberry sticker on her twat.”

He notices the look on my face and says, “Sorry for the language. Those were her words, not mine.” Then he says, “We didn’t believe her, so she said, ‘Check this out.’ She handed me her cell phone and told me to hold the light on Riley. Then she lifted Riley’s shirt up and showed us her boobs. We freaked out. She let us look for a few seconds, then pulled her shirt back down. Then she said, ‘Truth or dare.’ I said, “Dare.” She said, ‘Walk me out.’

“We walked out of the room with her, and she said, ‘My mom will be here in fifteen minutes. Have fun with Sleeping Beauty.’ I said, ‘What’s the dare?’ She said, ‘I dare you to take a picture of the sticker. But be quick. I can only keep the others busy till my mom gets here.’

“I said, ‘What are you going to tell the others we’re doing?’ She said, ‘I’ll tell them you went out to the cars to look for more beer.’

“Then she turned the light on and walked away.”

I say, “Then what?”

He says, “You know the rest.”

I look at Gavin. He says, “What’s your take?”

I look at Ronnie. “That’s how you remember it?”

He nods.

“You’re telling me her best friend set her up?”

Ronnie says, “It’s not a good excuse. Parker didn’t make us do anything. But yeah, she got us all hot and bothered, and we’d been drinking. Parker was Riley’s best friend. We knew it wasn’t right, but Parker made it seem almost okay to fool around with Riley, since she already stripped her and found the sticker.”

“So you did.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“So the first time the light went on is after all three of you walked out of the room?”

Ethan says, “Yes, ma’am.”

“So you and Ronnie walked in, left the lights on, and closed the door?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you turn off the lights?”

“We thought the whole thing might be a joke. We went in, looked in the closet and under the bed to see if anyone was hiding there. At first it was like one of those What Would You Do? situations. Plus, we wanted to see if we could catch Riley faking it. So we tried tickling her nose, and pushing her around on the bed. We said, ‘Come on, Riley, quit faking. Open your eyes!’ But she didn’t. We pulled and pushed her some more and then it was almost like, ‘Well,
this
will prove she’s faking!’ and we touched her inappropriately over her clothes. When she didn’t respond, it was just so easy to look for the sticker Parker told us about. We took some pictures.”

“Where are the pictures now?”

“We sent one to our friends, and erased the others.”

Ethan notes the skeptical look on my face and says, “You don’t believe me?”

“I’m still making up my mind. But I heard there’s an app that would show any picture ever taken from your cell phone, even if you erased it. If the police downloaded that app on your phone, I should be able to find those photos, right?”

“I don’t know,” he says. “But these aren’t the phones we used that night. After we sobered up we realized we could be in a shitload of trouble if Parker told anyone what happened. Ronnie and I erased all the texts and photos. The next day we bought new cell phones and had all our contacts and photos transferred to the new ones, except for the texts or photos from Saturday night. Then we smashed the old phones and threw the pieces in dumpsters.”

This would explain why Riley’s photos didn’t show up on Ethan and Ronnie’s cell phones. It would also prove Gavin didn’t tamper with the cell phone evidence, although he probably directed them to destroy the old phones and purchase new ones.

I decide it’s time to ask the obvious question.

“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.”

If I live to be a hundred, I doubt I’ll ever be more surprised than I am this very moment. I hope I never hear anything that disgusts me more.

But I know better.

I’m in a sleazy business.

“How’d you get Parker to confess?” I ask.

Gavin says, “I put the fear of God in her.”

I try to think of something to say, but my mind’s going in a hundred directions at once. I think about the details Ethan provided. He liked Riley. That’s something I didn’t know. And since he liked her, it’s natural he’d wonder where she was. He didn’t get up and roam through the house looking for her, but it makes sense her best friend, Parker, would go fetch Riley back to the party. So he was looking for them to return. Which is why it makes sense he’d notice Parker returning alone. Of course he’d sneak over to the stairwell when Parker motioned him to come. She obviously had news she didn’t want to share with the group. And it makes sense Ronnie followed him, because that’s what Ronnie does.

He follows Ethan.

Not only do these details make sense, they fit the general timeline Riley provided.

Ethan’s account answers some of the questions that have nagged me from the start. One, if Parker went looking for Riley before her mom came to get her, why wouldn’t she check Kelli’s bedroom? (She did). Two, what gave Ethan and Ronnie the courage to stay in the room with Riley all that time while more than a dozen kids were in the house? (Parker was running interference for them). Three, why didn’t the rest of the group, especially Kelli, notice Ethan and Ronnie were missing the whole time they were gone? (Parker told them they were outside, searching the cars for more beer).

It all fits.

If Ethan’s story is true, Parker’s in it up to her eyeballs. According to him, Parker committed all the same crimes. Except there’s no evidence of that. Parker didn’t take any photos. Whatever she did wasn’t witnessed by anyone else. Even if we had the video, it wouldn’t show Parker’s involvement, because according to Ethan, the lights in the room were off until just before the boys entered the room. Either Parker’s the luckiest girl in the world, or…