LITMIR.BIZ

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had almost convinced herself of the unreality of the moment when Officer Frisbie led Trudy out of the kitchen. With a sullen expression, Trudy left the common room without so much as a glance at Riley.

      Officer Frisbie nodded at Riley, who got up and obediently followed her into the kitchen.

      This can’t be happening, she kept telling herself.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      Riley sat down at the table in the kitchen, across from Chief Hintz. For a moment the chief just stared across at her, holding his pencil over a notepad. Riley wondered if she was supposed to say something.

      She glanced up and saw that Officer Frisbie had positioned herself off to one side, leaning against a counter. The woman had a rather sour expression on her face, as if she wasn’t very happy with the interviews. Riley wondered if Frisbie was annoyed by the girls’ responses or by the way her boss had been asking questions.

      Finally the chief said, “First of all, did the victim ever give you any reason to think she feared for her safety?”

      Riley was jolted by that word …

      Victim.

      Why couldn’t he just refer to her as Rhea?

      But she needed to answer his question.

      Her mind raced back over recent conversations, but she only remembered innocuous exchanges like the one she and Trudy and Rhea had had earlier tonight about whether Riley was on the pill.

      “No,” Riley said.

      “Did anyone wish her ill? Was anyone angry with her recently?”

      The very idea seemed odd to Riley. Rhea was—had been—so pleasant and amiable that Riley couldn’t imagine anyone being mad at her for more than a few minutes.

      But she wondered …

      Did I miss any signs?

      And had the other girls told Hintz anything Riley herself didn’t know?

      “No,” Riley said. “She got along with pretty much everybody—as far as I knew.”

      Hintz paused for a moment.

      Then he said, “Tell us what happened when you and your friends arrived at the Centaur’s Den.”

      A rush of sensations came back to Riley—Rhea and Trudy physically pushing her through the door into the thick fog of cigarette smoke and the deafening music …

      Did she need to get into all that?

      No, surely Hintz only wanted to hear bare-boned facts.

      She said, “Cassie and Heather and Gina headed straight to the bar. Trudy wanted me to dance with her and Rhea.”

      Hintz was reviewing notes he’d taken from the other girls, who of course had told him what they’d known about Riley’s actions, including the fact that Riley had left them to go downstairs.

      “But you didn’t dance with them,” he said.

      “No,” Riley said.

      “Why not?”

      Riley was startled. Why could her reluctance to dance possibly matter, anyway?

      Then she noticed Officer Frisbie giving her a sympathetic look and shaking her head. It seemed obvious now that the woman thought Hintz was being a bit of an asshole, but there really wasn’t anything she could do about it.

      Riley said slowly and carefully, “I just … well, I wasn’t in much of a party mood. I’d been trying to study, and Rhea and Trudy had pretty much dragged me there. So I bought a glass of wine and headed on downstairs.”

      “Alone?” Hintz asked.

      “Yeah, alone. I sat down in a booth by myself.”

      Hintz thumbed through his notes.

      “So you didn’t talk to anyone else while you were at the Centaur’s Den?”

      Riley thought for a moment, then said, “Well, Harry Rampling came over to my table …”

      Hintz smiled a little at the mention of Harry’s name. Riley realized that, like most of the community, the chief probably thought pretty highly of the school’s quarterback.

      He asked, “Did he sit down with you?”

      “No,” Riley said. “I brushed him off.”

      Hintz frowned with disapproval, apparently annoyed that any girl would have the poor judgment to reject a true hero like Harry Rampling. Riley was starting to feel a little exasperated. Why was her taste in guys any business of Hintz’s, anyway? What did it have to do with what had happened to Rhea?

      Hintz asked, “Did you talk to anyone else?”

      Riley gulped.

      Yes, she had talked to someone else.

      But was she going to get the guy in trouble by talking about him?

      She said, “Um … a law student came over to my booth. He sat down with me and we talked for a while.”

      “And then?” Hintz asked.

      Riley shrugged.

      “He said he had studying to do, and he left.”

      Hintz was jotting down some notes.

      “What was his name?” he asked.

      Riley said, “Look, I don’t see why he’s important. He was just another guy at the Centaur’s Den. There’s no reason for you to think—”

      “Just answer my question.”

      Riley swallowed hard and said, “Ryan Paige.”

      “Had you met him before?”

      “No.”

      “Do you know where he lives?”

      “No.”

      Riley was momentarily glad that Ryan had managed to keep himself so mysterious, without giving her so much as his address or phone number. She saw no reason why she should be answering any questions about him at all, and she sure didn’t want to get him into any trouble. It seemed almost kind of stupid that Hintz was pushing her about it. And Riley could tell by how Officer Frisbie rolled her eyes that she felt the same way.

      Hintz tapped his pencil eraser against the table and asked, “Did you see Rhea Thorson with anybody in particular at the Centaur’s Den? Aside from the friends you went with, I mean?”

      Riley was starting to feel more frustrated than nervous.

      Didn’t Hintz understand anything she’d been saying?

      “No,” she said. “Like I said, I went off by myself. I didn’t see Rhea at all after that.”

      Hintz kept tapping his eraser, looking at his notes.

      He asked, “Does the name Rory Burdon mean anything to you?”

      Riley thought quickly.

      Rory …

      Yes, the first name was familiar, anyway.

      She said, “Rhea seemed to be kind of interested in him, I guess. I saw her dancing with him a few other times at the Centaur’s Den.”

      “But not tonight?”

      Riley fought down a sigh. She wanted to say …

      How many times do I have to tell you, I didn’t see Rhea at all after I got there?

      Instead, she simply said, “No.”

      She figured Rory must have been there tonight as well, and that the other girls had told Hintz they’d seen Rhea hanging on him.

      “What do you know about him?” Hintz asked.

      Riley paused. What little she did know seemed too trivial to mention. Rory was a tall, skinny, awkward guy with thick glasses, and all the girls except Riley had teased Rhea for being interested in him.

      She

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