People Like Us(3)

Jenny looks a little miffed, but she waves to her partner, who reluctantly takes the EMT by the arm. They escort him up the bank, shooting daggers at the townie cops.

The woman officer, the one who called off the rescue mission, looks at us suddenly. She has a sharp chin, beady eyes, and over-plucked eyebrows that make her look sort of like a half-drawn Intro-to-Art exercise. “You’re the girls who found the body.”

She doesn’t wait for a response. She leads us over to the water’s edge as more officers arrive to rope off the area. Brie and I exchange questioning glances and I try to catch Jenny’s eye, but she’s busy securing the scene. Students are beginning to filter out of the dorms. Even housemothers—the adults in charge of each dorm—have drifted out and to the edges of the newly erected safety barriers and lines of police tape. The tall cop flashes a tight-lipped smile. “I’m Detective Bernadette Morgan. Which one of you girls made that phone call?”

Maddy raises her hand.

Detective Morgan whips a cell phone out of her pocket and shows the video screen to us. “I’ve got a terrible memory, girls, do you mind if I record this?”

“Sure,” Maddy says, then darts her eyes to me with an apologetic expression. Detective Morgan seems to note this with interest and flashes me a crooked smile before turning back to Maddy. “You don’t need your friend’s permission.”

Tai glances down at the cell phone. “Oh my God, is that an iPhone 4? I didn’t know they still made those. Or that it was legal to record minors making statements on them.”

The detective’s smile brightens. “Witness statements. Do I have your permission, or shall we go to the station and call your parents in?”

“Go for it,” Tai says, hugging herself and shivering.

The others nod, but I hesitate for just a nanosecond. Jenny is one thing, but I don’t have much faith in cops otherwise. I spent half of eighth grade talking to various police officers and it was a hellish experience. On the other hand, I would go to extraordinary lengths to avoid involving my parents.

“Fine,” I say.

Detective Morgan laughs. The sound is nasal and abrasive. “Are you sure?”

The cold is beginning to wear on me and I can’t help impatience and annoyance from saturating my voice. “Yeah. Go ahead, Maddy.”

But Bernadette’s not finished with me. She points to Maddy’s soaked, balled-up cape in my hands. “Did you remove that from the water?”

“Yes. But it wasn’t there when we got here.”

“How did it get there?”

I feel my face growing warm despite the cold of the night. “I threw it in.”

The detective sucks her cheek into her mouth and nods. “As one does. I’ll need to take it.”

Shit. This is how it starts. Little things like that. I extend the cape to her, but she calls over her shoulder and a short man wearing blue nitrite gloves appears and places it in a plastic bag.

She turns back to Maddy. “From the beginning.”

“We came out here to go swimming. Brie ran ahead. I heard her scream and—”

“Who’s Brie?” Detective Morgan points the cell phone camera at us one by one. Brie raises her hand.

“—and we found a body floating in the water next to her. Then Kay told me to call Dr. Klein before the police,” Maddy finishes.

“No I didn’t.” My voice comes out hard and shivery. “Brie did.”

Detective Morgan turns to me and runs the camera over me slowly from head to foot, scanning carefully over my scratched-up skin. “You’re Kay,” she says, with an odd smile.

“Yes. But actually, Brie said to call Dr. Klein.”

“Why does it matter?”

That catches me off guard. “Doesn’t it?”

“You tell me.”

I press my lips together tightly. I know from experience how police can take statements and then twist the words into something you didn’t mean to say. “Sorry. Are we in trouble?”

“Did any of you recognize the body?”

I glance around at the others, but no one jumps in. Maddy is stiffly rocking from side to side, her arms still folded up inside her dress. Cori is watching the police down at the edge of the lake with an odd expression of fascination. Tricia’s eyes are downcast and her bare shoulders are trembling. Tai just watches me blankly, and Brie nods for me to continue.

“No. Are we in trouble?”

“I hope not.” Detective Morgan makes a signal over our heads to another officer, and I glance at Brie. She actually looks worried and I wonder if I should be. She makes a lock-and-key gesture over her lips and I nod very slightly and raise my eyebrows at the others. Tai nods evenly and Tricia and Cori link pinkie fingers, but Maddy looks seriously spooked.

Just then, I see Dr. Klein cutting a path through the crowd, a short but formidable woman, somehow impeccably dressed and composed even at this hour and under these circumstances. She brushes aside a police officer with a tiny wave of her hand and marches straight up to us.

“Not another word,” she says, laying one hand on my shoulder and one on Cori’s. “These girls are in my care. In their parents’ absentia, I am their guardian. You may not question them outside of my presence. Is that understood?”

Detective Morgan opens her mouth to protest, but it’s no use arguing when Dr. Klein has gone full headmistress.