The Perfect Alibi (Robin Lockwood #2)(8)

“Part of that was because I was in the AP classes, and she isn’t that swift. Also, I hung with the athletes and she hung out with the class losers. You know, tattoos, piercings, and pride in their D’s and F’s.”

“If you weren’t attracted to her, why did you make out with her at the party?”

“Like I said, she cleaned up since high school. No piercings or Goth shit. She’s still no knockout, but I was drunk. A lot of women look great when you’re drunk.”

“Why don’t you tell me what happened.”

“Okay, well, we—Oregon—came up to Portland and played Portland State that afternoon. I knew some of the guys on the PSU team from high school, and they invited me and some of the other guys from the team to this frat party.

“We’re a top twenty-five team and PSU isn’t in our class, so we pretty much ran over them, and I had three sacks. I was feeling good and I had too much to drink.”

“Were there any drugs involved?”

Hastings gave a vigorous shake of his head. “There’s a good chance that I’m going to get drafted by an NFL team, so I’m very careful about what I put in my body.”

“Okay, go on.”

“Anyway, sometime after I’d started feeling a buzz, Randi and I got to talking. She’d been drinking, too, and one thing led to another and we ended up in one of the bedrooms.”

“Who initiated the move to the bedroom?”

Hastings thought for a moment. He looked concerned when he answered. “Now that I think about it, I’d say that she was the one who took the initiative.”

“But you went along with her.”

“Like I said, I was a little wasted.”

“Okay, so you’re in the bedroom. Can I assume it’s just the two of you?”

Hastings nodded.

“What happened?”

“We closed the door and we started making out on the bed.”

“How far did that go?”

“When we got on the bed, we started kissing. Then she unzipped my fly.”

“This is very important, Blaine. Did you put your penis inside Miss Stark’s vagina? The State has to prove penetration in a rape case.”

“Look, Mr. Armstrong, I’m not some dumb jock. I’m premed, and I know all about the way babies are made. I didn’t have a condom with me, so there’s no way I was going to risk getting Randi pregnant. But it didn’t matter, because the minute she got my penis out of my pants, she gave me a very fast hand job and I came right away. Then, as soon as I came, Randi yelled at me to get off her.”

“Did you honor her request?”

“Definitely. My folks brought me up to respect women, and I know that ‘no means no.’”

“So that was the end of it?”

“Most definitely. She sat up and yelled something like ‘Get off me.’”

“Did that surprise you?”

“Yeah, it did, because I got up as soon as she asked me.”

“Okay, what happened then?”

“The door opened and her friend, Annie Roche, came in and I left.”

“Did you talk to anyone on the way out?”

“When Annie came in, I might have said something to her, but, like I said, I was a little drunk, so my memory is hazy.”

“What did you do after you left the bedroom?”

“It was getting late and I’d gotten banged up in the game, so I went home.”

Armstrong made some notes. Then he looked up. “So, you’re saying that you never forced yourself on Miss Stark in any way?”

“Absolutely.”

“Your father hinted that you may have been in some trouble before this. He was vague and I didn’t want to push him. Can you tell me what he might have been talking about?”

Hastings looked chagrined. “I have a temper, Mr. Armstrong. I’m not proud of it. It comes out when I play, and I try to keep it under wraps when I’m not on the playing field, but I had a few fights in high school, like the one I told you about. I can take care of myself, and I sent one boy to the hospital.”

“Were you prosecuted?”

“No. I was the victim. I had witnesses. It was a kid from the housing project, and he had it in for me because I’m rich and a jock and I do well in school. Once the school and the police learned the truth about what happened, I wasn’t in any trouble.”

“Let me ask you something else,” Doug said. “Have you ever had problems with women before this? And remember, the prosecutors have investigators. If there’s anything out there, they’ll find it. And there is nothing that leads to a conviction quicker than a surprise at trial.”

“What do you mean by problems?”

“Let me be blunt, Blaine. Are any women going to go to the DA and say you sexually assaulted them?”

Blaine hesitated.

“This is very important,” Armstrong emphasized. “If the DA puts on witnesses who swear you sexually assaulted them, it will have a huge impact on the jury.”

“Okay. There was this one time in eighth grade when this girl—Julie Angstrom—said I forced her to have sex, but it wasn’t true and there were never any charges.”

“Was the situation similar to what allegedly happened at the party: drinking, a bedroom, et cetera?”