by Marie Force
She hesitated before she stepped aside. “Come in.” A hushed silence hung over the interior of the house, which smelled of apples and cinnamon. They were shown to the living room. “Please have a seat. I’ll get them.”
Sam and Freddie sat next to each other on the sofa, which faced a wall of photos of what had apparently been their only child.
“God,” Freddie muttered as he took in the array of photos that spanned from youth through high school football.
When the Brantleys came into the room, Sam stood and introduced herself and Freddie. “We’re so sorry for your loss and for disturbing you at such a difficult time.”
“I’m Adam Brantley, and this is my wife, Sarah.” He was tall and imposing with gray hair and blue eyes. His wife was tiny next to him. Her dark curly hair was messy and unkempt, and her dark brown eyes unfocused.
When they were settled on opposing sofas, Sam noted the way Adam kept an arm firmly around his wife, as if he was actually holding her up rather than offering comfort.
“We’re trying to find out who else might’ve been at the Springer home on the night in question. If you could tell us about any other close friends of Todd’s, including girlfriends, it would be very helpful.”
“Most of Todd’s close friends were there,” Adam said flatly. “They’re all dead.”
Tears rolled down Sarah’s face, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Is there anyone who wasn’t there who might’ve had a beef with Todd or any of the other kids who were killed?”
“I’ve gone over it and over it in my mind,” Adam said. “I can’t think of anyone who didn’t like them, let alone hated them enough to kill them.”
“No one at all?” Sam asked. “No rivals from other high school teams or kids they might’ve grappled with at the movie theater or someone who was owed money? In my experience, when something like this happens among young people, the motive is almost never proportionate to the crime.”
Adam shook his head. “I haven’t been able to think of anything that would bring about this kind of result. I assume you’re talking to the other parents?”
“All of them. Yes.”
Adam fixated on a photo of his handsome son, who was smiling widely. “He was our whole world. We adopted him out of foster care when he was twelve. We’d been unable to have kids of our own, and when he came along, we knew he was meant for us.” He fixed his gaze on Sam. “We don’t know how to go on without him.”
Sarah broke down, wailing in her grief.
Her husband put both arms around her, holding her close as tears wet his face. “I’m sorry we can’t do more to help.”
Freddie put his business card on the coffee table. “If you think of anything, no matter how insignificant, please call.”
“We will.”
Sam couldn’t seem to get air to her lungs after hearing Todd had been adopted at twelve. Her feet didn’t want to work the way they were supposed to, and she felt like she had traveled outside herself and was watching the scene play out as a spectator rather than a participant.
Tuning in to her distress, Freddie took her arm and steered her toward the front door. He guided her down the stairs and the walk to the sidewalk. “Take a breath.”
Sam forced air into her lungs as she combatted an overpowering sense of panic. What if the same thing happened to them someday? The boy she loved like her own, who’d come into their lives so unexpectedly and changed everything...
“Breathe, Sam.”
She bent in half, rested her hands on her knees and tried to get air past the enormous lump in her throat. Closing her eyes tight against the burn of tears, she fought for every breath.
“Do you want me to call Nick?”
“No.”
“What can I do?”
“Just give me a minute.”
He gave her ten minutes and stood by her side until her heart rate slowed and she was able to stand upright.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. The parallels were hard to miss.”
“I can’t even imagine what they’re going through. I can’t go there.”
“You don’t have to. Scotty is fine. He’s with Nick, and everything is fine.”
“He’s lived with us for only a few months and already, if something ever happened to him, I know I’d never survive it. How will they survive it?”
“I don’t know, but somehow they will. Somehow they always do, even when it seems impossible.”
“Maybe this is why I’ve been unable to have kids of my own. Because someone up there knows I’m not cut out for this shit.”
“Don’t think that way, Sam. Who’s cut out for what they’re going through?”
“Still...” She ran her hands over the hair she’d clipped up for work. “Sorry to freak out. I appreciate you getting me out of there.”
“It was no problem. I could tell the part about them adopting Todd hit you hard.” He held out his hand. “Want me to drive?”
Since her hands were still trembling, Sam handed over the keys. “Sure. Thanks.”
“Another thing to keep in mind,” Freddie said when they were on the road, “is that Todd Brantley was participating in illegal activities at the time of his death. I can’t see Scotty doing that—ever.”
Sam stared out the window, watching the world whiz by. “I bet the Brantleys would’ve said the same thing about Todd when he was twelve. No one ever thinks it’s going to be their kid. Tracy never thought it would be Brooke.”
“It’s just that Scotty has such a rigid sense of right and wrong. I can’t see him ever losing that quality.”
“That’s true. He’s the best person I’ve ever known. What if we do everything right, and he still goes wrong?”
“With you keeping tabs on him, he’ll be too afraid to go wrong. I know I’d be if I were your kid.”
Sam couldn’t contain the burst of laughter that escaped through her tightly clenched lips.
“You’ll keep him on the straight and narrow. I have no doubt about that.”
“Thanks. I appreciate you talking me off the ledge. I feel so bad for those parents. For all of them. No matter what their kids were doing, none of them deserved what happened to them.”
“No, they didn’t.”
Sam reached for her phone and placed a call to Lindsey McNamara. The instant she heard the doctor’s voice on the other end of the line, Sam realized she shouldn’t be making the call when Gonzo was running the case.
“Sam?” Lindsey asked after a moment of silence.
“Sorry. I was calling to see if there’s anything new on the DNA, but I totally forgot I’m not in charge of this case. Gonzo is.”
Lindsey snorted with laughter. “You’ll be glad to know he’s one step ahead of you. I just talked to him and gave him what I have.”
“Do you have confirmation of who was with Brooke?”
“Yes,” Lindsey said softly. “I’ve consulted with the FBI lab to run the DNA from her rape kit against the DNA from our victims, and we’ve got three matches with one more profile that wasn’t among our victims.”
Sam fought back the wave of revulsion that made her nauseous when she considered four guys taking turns with Brooke. “I’ll bet the fourth guy is our friend Brody Mitchell, who we just took into custody. He’s the one who posted the video and photos online. I’m going to request a warrant for his DNA. Can we call you when we get the warrant?”
“I’ll be here. I’m really sorry this happened to your niece, Sam.”
“So am I. I’ve got to run. My sister is beeping in. I’ll be in touch.” Sam pushed the send button to take the call from Tracy. “Hey, what’s up?”
“She’s awake.”
“I’ll be right there.” Sam closed her phone and looked over at
Freddie. “I hate to ask you to take the other interview by yourself, but Brooke is awake.”
“No problem. I’ll pick up my car so you can go to the hospital.”
“Thanks.”
“What did Lindsey say?”
“Four guys. Three of them among the murder victims.”
“I’m so sorry, Sam.”
She blew out a deep breath. “What’ll we tell her about what happened?”
“The truth. If she doesn’t hear it from you, she’ll hear it from someone who saw the video. It was up just long enough that it probably made the rounds.”
“Probably,” Sam said as a pervasive sense of dread overtook her. What would become of Brooke once she learned that people had seen her being assaulted? For someone her age, knowing her friends had seen it might be worse than hearing about the actual attack.
“She’s got a great family around her,” Freddie said. “You’ll get her through this.” A short time later, he pulled up to his car on the Mitchells’ street. “Let me know if I can do anything for you or Tracy.”
“Thanks, Freddie. I appreciate that. Keep me posted on what you find out from Kelsey Lewis’s parents.”
“Will do. See you back at HQ later?”
“I’ll be there.” Sam got out of the car and went around to get into the driver’s seat. On the way to the hospital, she thought about how to handle Brooke. She was one of the few people they’d found who’d been at the party and gotten out alive. Whether she remembered anything that could aid the investigation remained to be seen.
When she walked into Brooke’s room a few minutes later, the teen was hysterical and her mother was attempting to calm her down with the help of a nurse.
“Can’t we give her something?” Tracy asked as tears fell from her eyes.
“We need to keep her awake,” the nurse said. “Doctor’s orders.”
“There’s got to be something we can do for her.”
“I’m adjusting her pain meds. Give it time to work.”
Undone by the scene she’d come in on, Sam went around to the far side of the bed and put her arm around Tracy, who turned into her embrace.
“I can’t handle this,” Tracy said.
“Yes, you can.”
“It hurts,” Brooke wailed between sobs.
“I know, honey,” the nurse said. “You should feel better in a few minutes. Try to relax and calm down.”
A couple of minutes later, Brooke looked up at Sam with big blue eyes gone glassy with tears, though she was calmer now that the meds had kicked in. “Sam.”
“I’m here, honey.”
“What happened? Why am I here?”
“I know this is all very upsetting, but I have some questions for you that might help to answer some of yours. Do you feel up to talking?”
Brooke wiped her face and eyes and nodded.
“Do you remember being at a party at Hugo Springer’s house?”
Brooke’s eyes darted between Sam and her mother.
“Hey, Trace,” Sam said. “Why don’t you let me take a turn hanging with Brooke? Go get a coffee and call the kids. I’ll take over for a while.”
Tracy wiped the tears from her face. “Are you sure?”
“Of course. Go on. I’ll be here.”
“I would like to call Abby and Ethan. Thanks, Sam.”
“Sure.” Sam had no doubt that it would be harder on Tracy to hear what Brooke remembered than it would be for Brooke to talk about it. Having her mother out of the room might make Brooke more forthcoming too. “Is it okay if I talk to her about everything?”
Tracy hesitated before she nodded. “Someone has to. It may as well be you.” She bent to kiss Brooke’s cheek. “I’ll be back shortly. Do me a favor—and do yourself a favor—when Sam asks you about what happened the other night, tell her the truth.”
Satisfied that Brooke’s pain had been successfully managed for the moment, the nurse followed Tracy from the room.
“Thank you,” Brooke said in a whisper. “My mom is so upset. I can’t deal with it.”
“She’s worried about you. You’ve been badly hurt.”
“I don’t understand. Tell me what happened, will you please? No one will tell me.”
“What do you remember? Let’s start with that.”
“Hoda came to my school,” she said tentatively. “I know what we did was wrong, but I asked my parents if I could come home on Friday rather than Saturday because I wanted to see my friends. But they had to work so they couldn’t come to get me until Saturday, and I didn’t want to miss the party.” She sniffed and wiped her eyes and nose with a hand that was still hooked to an IV. Her dark hair swirled about her head like a messy halo and her always-pale complexion was positively translucent after her ordeal, except for the bruises on the left side of her face that were now beginning to yellow.
“When you and Hoda got to the city, where did you go?”
“To Hugo’s house. He’s a friend of Hoda’s.”
“What happened then?”
“There were a lot of kids there. Everyone was drinking... And stuff.”
“What stuff?”
Brooke shifted to find a more comfortable position and seemed to immediately regret it. “Why does it hurt so bad between my legs?”
“We’ll get to that. What other stuff were the kids doing?”
“There were some pills. I think it was Molly. I heard someone saying it was something new and really cool.”
“You think but you don’t know for sure?”
“I don’t know for sure.”
“But you took some of it anyway?”
Brooke looked down at her hands, which were fisted around the bedclothes. “I know it was wrong, but everyone was doing it, and I didn’t think anything would happen.”
Sam held back the desire to snap at her for being so freaking stupid. But since that wouldn’t accomplish anything other than alienating her niece, Sam contained herself. “Were you drinking too?”
“Some.”
“How much?”
“A couple of drinks.”
“Do you know what kind of drinks? Beer, wine, booze?”
“Some kind of liquor, I think. It might’ve been vodka.”
“Do you know where the alcohol and the drugs came from?”
“If I tell you, will Hugo get into trouble? His parents were away, and he wasn’t allowed to have anyone over.”
Sam sighed when she thought about the many things she had to tell Brooke about what’d happened that night. “No, he won’t get into trouble.”
“Hugo’s brother hooked us up.”
“Do you know the brother’s name?”
“Billy maybe?”
“Was he at the party?”
“I don’t know him, so I can’t say for sure.”
“Who else was at the party?”
Brooke thought about that for a minute. “Hugo and his best friend, Michael. Their friends Todd, Kevin and Brody, and a bunch of girls I didn’t know, and some other guys they went to school with. The only ones I knew before the party were Hoda, Todd, Hugo and Michael.”
“What’s the last thing you remember about that night?”
She closed her eyes and released a deep breath. “You’re going to be mad. Everyone will hate me.”
“That’s not true. You made mistakes, and we’re disappointed you made some bad choices. But most of all we’re grateful you’re alive.”
“Alive? What does that mean?”
“The Molly and the alcohol and the GHB combined to make you really sick, Brooke.”
“GHB? What’s that? I didn’t take anything called that.”
“We believe someone gave it to you. Probably in a drink. Do you know
what else it’s called?”
She shook her head.
“The date rape drug.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open as that news plus the pain between her legs added up to horror. “Oh my God. I was raped?”
“Yes.”
She began to cry in deep racking sobs. “By who?”
Sam remembered what Freddie had said about telling the truth and forced herself to say the words. “There were four of them.”
Brooke covered her mouth to muffle the sounds coming from deep inside her.
“Can you tell me what the last thing you remember is?”
She shook her head as tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Brooke, please. It’s so important that you tell me what you remember.”
With what seemed like tremendous reluctance, Brooke said, “I went into the bedroom with Todd. He was the reason I wanted to go to the party. I met him last summer, and we’d been texting while I was at school. I wanted to see him again so badly.”
“Did you have sex with him?”
“Yes,” she said softly.
“Was that your first time?”
“No.”
Sam worked to keep her expression neutral so Brooke would keep talking.
“It’s embarrassing to be talking about this with you.”
“I understand, but it’s really important you tell me what you remember. Did you leave the bedroom after you were with Todd?”
Brooke tilted her head to the side. “I don’t remember leaving the bedroom. Everything is kind of blank after that.”
Which meant the GHB had been consumed before she went into the bedroom with Todd and took effect while she was there.
Brooke looked at Sam beseechingly. “You said there were four of them. What happened to me, Sam?”
“I hate to have to tell you this, but someone gave you GHB, and while you were out of it, Todd’s friends took turns with you. That’s why you’re so sore. You had to have stitches.”
“Down there?”
“Yes. There was some tearing.”
“Why would they do that?” she asked so softly Sam could barely hear her. “Todd is my friend. I thought he liked me.”