The Night Shift(59)

“That’s just it. I don’t know. We had pizza and soda, and it was all fine. I just thought he wanted to work with only me since he said I was the best reporter we had on the paper. And he was fascinated with the Blockbuster case. The next thing I know, it’s midnight and I’ve been out cold.”

Ella swallows. “He drugged you?”

“I honestly don’t know. He said I fell asleep and I didn’t think anything had happened to me, you know, down there.” She looks at her pelvis. “I thought it was weird, but then again, it was late and I was tired.”

Ella’s heart is breaking. Next to her at the table, Julia is stiff, tense, like she’s trying not to react.

“Then Mr. Parke’s fiancée sent some pictures—photos of me—to the school. She found them on his phone. Right away, the school and lawyers and counselors and everybody starts asking me questions like I did something wrong.”

“And Madison found out about it?”

“She was on Snapchat with some girl from my old school. There were all kinds of rumors about me and Mr. Parke when he was put on leave. Madison started telling people I transferred to Union High because I’d seduced a teacher and made a porn video with him. Her friends started calling me ‘porn queen.’ I just wanted it to stop. I was mad when I sent the texts, but I didn’t hurt Madison or her sister. I just wanted it to stop.” Jesse is crying now. The first real emotion Ella has seen from her.

Julia reaches across the table for Jesse’s hand, and Jesse doesn’t pull away.

“Madison wouldn’t answer my DMs, so I went to her work. I just wanted to talk.” Jesse’s chest shudders. “But when I got there, I chickened out. I went into the bathroom. And when I came out…” Her breath is ragged now.

“It’s okay, take deep breaths,” Ella says. “I’m proud of you for sharing this, Jesse.”

When Jesse stops crying, Ella asks, “Did you tell anyone at the school what was happening?”

Jesse nods. “I told my counselor. She said they’d look into it.”

Ella makes a note. They need to talk to the counselor. The cyberbullying could help Jesse’s case since it makes her sympathetic. But it also provides a motive to kill.

No one says anything for a long time.

Finally, Julia speaks. She still has a hand on Jesse’s. “I need to talk about why you were researching the Blockbuster case. The prosecutors think you were doing so to make the ice cream store crime look like—”

“That’s bullshit!” Jesse shouts, ripping her hand away from Julia’s.

Julia appears taken aback. Ella certainly is. Jesse has gone from devastation to fury in an instant, like flipping a switch.

Julia keeps her voice calm, steady. “I’m not saying that, Jesse. But it’s what we think the prosecution is going to say.”

Jesse looks at the table, as if she’s deciding what to share. “What is it you want to know?”

“Why were you researching the case?” Julia asks.

“I want to be a journalist. The prior reporting was crap and I wanted to find out … everything.”

In a measured tone, Julia says, “Here’s the thing. It’s kind of a big coincidence, don’t you agree?” She looks at Jesse. “That you were researching that case and then happened to be involved in a similar attack.”

“So you think I—You believe that I—”

Julia pauses. “No, but what I think or believe doesn’t matter.”

Ella doesn’t want to pile on, but there’s something gnawing at her that she needs to ask. “Did you know who I was—at the hospital?” That Jesse had been researching the Blockbuster case was already a coincidence, as Julia pointed out. But what were the odds that Ella would be called in to help Jesse at the hospital after the attack? It’s a bridge too far.

“Did you know who I was?” Ella says again.

Jesse looks at the table, nods. Quietly, she says, “I asked for you.”

Ella doesn’t know what to say. She’d assumed it was Mr. Steadman’s idea to call her in. “Jesse, you need to explain what’s going on.”

Resignation, or something similar, flits across Jesse’s face. “Can you get me my phone? I can show you. I hid it in your car under the—”

“I know. I found it.”

“We have it,” says Julia. “We’re going to have to turn it over to the prosecutors soon.”

Jesse looks distressed at that. “Why?”

“Because it might be evidence,” Julia says.

“It is evidence,” Jesse says.

Julia looks at the teen curiously.

“Evidence of what?” Ella asks.

Jesse stares deep into Ella’s eyes. “Evidence that Vince Whitaker may be innocent.”





CHAPTER 53





Henry Robinson stares across the table at Jesse. He’s returned to the interview room and is removing a cell phone from a clear plastic bag. He speaks in a fatherly tone. “We’ve got to be careful with this device.”

Ella sits next to him, nodding in agreement. Julia is recording everything on her phone to preserve the chain of evidence, including proving that the defense team and their client didn’t tamper with the phone.