The Nowhere Girls(83)

“Stop being so reasonable.”

Rosina grimaces as she looks at her phone. “Here goes,” she says, and she answers.

Melissa can hear Rosina’s mom screaming. The words are unintelligible, but the anger behind them is clear. Rosina holds the phone away from her ear and winces. “She’s threatening to throw me out if I skip work anymore,” Rosina says.

“I’m sure she doesn’t mean it,” Melissa says.

“Oh yes she does,” Rosina says. “She’s been trying to get rid of me for years.”

“Don’t say that.”

Rosina’s eyes are suddenly shinier than usual. It’s almost like they’re wet. It’s almost like there are tears forming.

“Mami,” she says into the phone, her voice breaking slightly. “I’m sorry. It’s an emergency. Please trust me.” Then she hangs up.

Melissa reaches for Rosina’s hand. They don’t speak, but their fingers stay entwined, their shoulders pressed together, for the next five long minutes, until Police Chief Delaney comes bursting through the door.

“Jesus,” he grumbles at the mass of girls blocking his way to the front desk. “Is it a full moon or something?”

“Chief Delaney,” Grace calls. “We’re ready to make a statement, sir.”

“Are you the leader of this?”

“No,” Grace says. “We don’t have a leader. I’m just helping to organize things a little.”

“Well, isn’t that noble of you,” he mutters. “So you want to talk to me? Who else? I’m not taking all of you back into my office.”

“It’ll be me, Lisa, Abby, Juna, Lizzy, and Jesse.”

“Jesse?” the police chief says. “Jesse Camp? Aren’t you one of Prescott High’s linebackers?”

“Not anymore, sir,” Jesse says. “I quit the team.”

“Might as well,” he says. “This year’s gone to shit anyway.” He looks at his watch. “I’m missing the kickoff for this, you know? Seahawks versus the Patriots. You’d better make it quick.”

Grace and the five others follow Chief Delaney to his office. Everyone else waits.

It is only twelve minutes before they come back out.

Chief Delaney makes it out the door before the waiting room full of girls has a chance to register that he’s leaving. Grace, Jesse, and the handful of Spencer’s victims emerge from behind the front desk. Tears are falling down Lisa Sutter’s cheeks. Abby Steward’s face is red with fury.

“What happened?” Elise asks.

“Nothing,” Abby spits. “I knew this was a waste of time. I can’t believe I let you talk me into this, Lisa. I fucking sat there telling him what Spencer did to me, and he wasn’t even listening. He was reading Spencer’s blog. He was fucking laughing.”

“He said there isn’t sufficient proof that the website belongs to Spencer,” Grace says flatly. “And even if there was, there’s nothing on there that’s prosecutable.”

“That’s bullshit,” Elise says.

“I told him I’ve heard Spencer talking about some of these girls,” Jesse says. “But Delaney said it’s just gossip. He said he couldn’t arrest people based on rumors and the word of a bunch of disgruntled ex-girlfriends.”

“?‘Disgruntled ex-girlfriends,’?” Lisa sobs. “Like that’s all we are. Like that makes everything we say useless.”

The room is silent, seething. The air is made of teeth.

“He didn’t even take a statement,” Grace says in disbelief. “He said it wasn’t worth it. He said it wasn’t worth his time.”

“So what now?” Rosina says. “He’s just going to wait to do something until those bastards rape again? Or maybe someone has to die before he gives a shit.”

“He’s just trying to save his own ass,” Melissa says. “If the police start looking back into what happened last year, they’ll find proof that Delaney totally screwed up the case, maybe even on purpose. He’d be ruined.”

“Fuck, you’re right,” Rosina says. “He’s never going to be on our side.”

The cop behind the front desk has mysteriously disappeared. There is no one with any authority anywhere to be seen. Just a roomful of outraged girls and one boy. They are teenagers. They’re just kids. They are not worthy of being listened to.

“Fuck it,” Abby says. “No one cares. I don’t care.” And she walks out the door.

“I have to get home before my parents suspect anything,” Elise says. She hugs Grace. “This isn’t over. I’m not giving up.”

Within minutes, the station is empty. Everyone is on their way home, where they will have to pretend today was any other day, where they will have to decide if it’s worth it to keep fighting, where they will sit through dinner wondering what you’re supposed to do when the person you ask for help says no.

Melissa drives Grace and Rosina home. “You did a really great job today,” Melissa says as she pulls up in front of Grace’s house.

“Not good enough, though,” Grace says.

“That wasn’t your fault,” Rosina says. “That asshole made a decision to not help us before he ever set foot in the station.”