Victim Rights

by Norah McClintock

  Dooley didn’t get why Kuldip was telling him that. He must have had muscle for brains. The cops could check. It would just make things look worse for Kuldip.

  “I asked her if she’d seen my sister at the party. She said no.”

  Pam was like a ghost. She’d been there, but no one had seen her, at least, not clearly enough to identify her.

  “She said Parker had disappeared from the party and that he was probably fucking some girl in the bushes at the back of the yard, overlooking the ravine.” He was peering evenly at Dooley. “We didn’t go on the property. But we did go down into the ravine. All of us.” He nodded over his shoulder at his friends. “I wanted to see if I could see who he was with. I wanted to see if it was Parmjit.” His eyes were boring into Dooley’s now. “When we got there, we got a good look at him. He was lying on some rocks at the bottom of the ravine. His eyes were open, like he was looking up at the stars, only he couldn’t see them, you know what I mean? He was already dead.”

  “Well,” Dooley said, “that’s your story.”

  Kuldip looked over his shoulder. “Parv,” he said, nodding. One of the muscle boys trotted over to him. “Tell him what you saw when we were in the ravine, you know, when we found the dead guy.” Parv looked confused. “You said you saw someone. Tell him.”

  Parv said something in a language Dooley didn’t understand.

  “Yeah,” Kuldip said. “Tell him.”

  “My laces came undone. I stopped to tie them and this girl almost slammed into me.”

  “Tell him what she looked like.”

  “Long dark hair. Thin but not skinny. Nice-looking. Wearing jeans, a dark-colored T-shirt, and a light-colored jacket. Pink. She was running, and she looked freaked out, like something had scared her.”

  “Direction,” Kuldip said.

  “The opposite direction from us.”

  “What else?”

  “I don’t think she saw me, but I saw her real good. I seen her at your sister’s school one time, too, when we went to that gymnastics thing. Your sister told me her name.”

  Dooley waited.

  “Beth,” Parv said.

  “You want me to,” Kuldip said, “I could make sure Parv tells the cops that, too. I bet they could check what she was wearing when she left home that night. I bet someone saw her, even if her mother didn’t. There’s always people who see things.”

  Kuldip waited a few beats, then swung away from Dooley. His buddies closed around him, and they disappeared into the gym.

  From the gym, he headed east to the street that ran along the southern boundary of the swank neighborhood where Parker and all his friends lived. He pulled out his cell phone and punched in the number he had been given. A groggy voice answered.

  “Nevin?” Dooley said.

  “Yeah?” The voice suddenly sounded a little more alert—and a lot more cautious. His eyes had probably focused. He was probably checking call display. Even so:

  “It’s me. Dooley.”

  Silence. Then: “I heard you called.”

  It figured he hadn’t called back.

  “I need a favor,” Dooley said.

  “A favor?” As if a switch had been flicked, Nevin’s voice was now flooded with condescension. “You want me to do you a favor?”

  “I want you to do Beth a favor.”

  That got his attention.

  “What favor?”

  “I need to talk to you in person, Nevin. I need you to meet me.”

  “Where are you?” He was back to being cautious, suspicious.

  “At a pizza place at the end of your street. Tino’s. You know it?”

  “I know where it is.” His tone suggested that he would never eat the food there, much less set foot in the place.

  “I’ll wait for you,” Dooley said. He hit the END button. Would Nevin show up? Had Dooley given him enough reason to? He hated that it all came down to this, that everything between him and Beth depended on Nevin dragging his ass down the street.

  Five minutes passed. Jesus, how long could it take? He looked out through Tino’s plate-glass window. Trucks lumbered by, their heavy bodies clattering over some thick metal sheets that had been set across the road in places. A construction crew arrived and started to block off a lane in either direction. Things would get hairy when rush hour started. It was hard to believe that just north of this busy street was a peaceful enclave of lavish mansions on large estates.

  Another five minutes went by. Dooley started to get antsy. Then he spotted Nevin across the street, turning his head first left and then right before jogging across to the pizza joint, where Dooley was nursing a coffee while the guy behind the counter prepped some tomato sauce.

  Nevin stood in front of Dooley, his hands shoved in the pocket of what looked like a brand-new jacket.

  “What do you want?”

  “Have a seat.” Dooley used his foot to push out the chair closest to Nevin.

  Nevin hesitated a moment before sitting.

  “Coffee?” Dooley said.

  Nevin wrinkled up his nose.

  “You know a guy named Kuldip?” Dooley said.

  Nevin’s eyebrows knit together in irritation.

  “Should I?”

  “So you don’t?”

  “I thought you said you wanted a favor. If it’s about some guy I don’t even know—”

  “It’s not about that.”

  “What is it about? You’ve got five minutes, and then I’m going back to bed.”

  Not for the first time, Dooley wondered just what it was that Beth’s mother saw in Nevin. Or what Ellie saw. She had it bad for him. A little voice inside Dooley said, Kick him in the nuts. Dooley ignored it. The fact was, he needed Nevin. And when you need someone, you sometimes have to swallow a lot of shit.

  “I’m going to level with you, Nevin.” He kept his voice calm, even pleasant. It wasn’t easy. “The cops want to see me. I have to go in and talk with them. If I do, I probably won’t get out again real soon.”

  Suddenly Nevin looked interested.

  “I can’t get hold of Beth,” Dooley said. “They won’t let me talk to her unless I’m on her approved list, and that totally depends on her mother. But you—” He’d rather bite his tongue off and swallow it than have to be doing this. “Her mom likes you. You were able to see her in the hospital. I bet you’re on her approved list. You could get through to her, right?”

  “Is that why you dragged me out of bed? You want me to talk to Beth for you?” He started to get up, shaking his head in disgust.

  “Nevin, whoa.” Dooley stood up. He hated the whole set-up, hated that he had to talk to Nevin, worse, that he had to ask for his help. “I need to talk to her. As soon as possible.”

  “Why?”

  Dooley said nothing.

  “Right,” Nevin said. “Drag me out of bed, ask me to do something for you, and then treat me like shit. Perfect.”

  “Come on. Sit down.”

  Nevin crossed his arms over his chest.

  “I know you don’t like me, Nevin. But you do care about Beth. You were right there in the hospital with her. You didn’t give her a hard time about what happened.” Nevin seemed to like that. A smug little smile appeared on his face. Well, Beth appreciated the way Nevin had reacted. She didn’t know that he had rubbed Dooley’s face in it, or the way he’d presented it—Beth had done the deed with Parker and then had been dumped—or that Nevin had delighted in conveying that to Dooley. He probably thought he could benefit from the situation. After all, he’d had no problem getting into the hospital to see Beth, to comfort her. “She said your dad seemed embarrassed when he went to see her,” Dooley added. He needed that phone call and was determined to get it, no matter how much ass-licking he had to do.

  “My dad went to see her?” Nevin dropped back down into his chair. “What for?”

  “Reinforcement. He didn’t tell you?”

  “Tell me what? What are you talking about?”

  “Your dad w
ent over to Beth’s with Parker’s dad and tried to pressure her into dropping the charges against Parker.”

  “Who told you that?”

  “Beth.” Dooley looked at the surprise on Nevin’s face. “You didn’t know?”

  “You’re saying my father talked to Beth about what happened?”

  “Your dad and Parker’s dad, both,” Dooley said. “They went over to her place. They talked to Beth and her mom.”

  “When did this supposedly happen?”

  “It didn’t supposedly happen, Nevin. It happened. The two of them went over there as soon as they found out Beth had pressed charges. A couple of days before Parker died. She was really hurt by that, you know, because your dad is such a good friend of her mom’s. But she said he looked embarrassed, like he didn’t want to be doing it.” It kind of reminded Dooley of the way Nevin had looked when he’d brought drinks for Parker and his friends. Nevin and his dad were a lot more alike than Beth realized.

  “Jesus Christ,” Nevin said.

  The guy behind the counter turned and scowled at the profanity.

  “Sorry,” Dooley said. “He’s upset.”

  “She talked to him about what happened, but she didn’t talk to me?”

  “Your dad and Parker’s dad showing up at her place—that’s part of the reason she did what she did, you know, to end up in the hospital. First Parker—” He couldn’t make himself say it. He could barely stand to think about it. “First he does what he does, and she’s afraid no one will believe her if she says anything. Then, when she finally decides to do something, her friends gossip about her. A witness lies to make her look bad. Your dad shows up to pressure her. And, just like she thought, no one believes her.” He thought about his own reaction and was ashamed all over again, especially here, sitting across the table from Nevin. You had to give the guy some credit. “But you stood by her. You went to see her at the hospital.”

  Nevin was staring down at the Formica tabletop.

  “Look, Nevin—”

  “I’ve known Parker for a long time. He’s an asshole,” Nevin said. “I’ve seen how girls go for him, and how he treats them. But never in a million years did I think he would do what he did to Beth. To hold her down like that, to say those things to her, to fucking get off on it.” He slammed a fist down. The man behind the counter gave him another sharp look.

  “Sorry,” Dooley said again.

  “You finish your coffee, you go,” the man said.

  Dooley nodded. “In a minute. Promise.” He turned to Nevin. “I need you to give her a message, Nevin. I need you to tell her to talk to Randall, to tell him she didn’t do it.”

  “I told her not to talk to them in the first place,” Nevin said. “I don’t even know what happened. One day, she was just lying there. She wouldn’t talk to anyone. She wouldn’t eat. She just said she wanted to die. Then the next day, I go to see her and all she can talk about is that she wants to call the police and tell them what she did. I asked her what she was talking about, but she just kept saying it was all her fault; she wanted to call the cops. Next thing I know, she’s confessed to them. She’s told them she killed Parker.”

  Dooley knew exactly what had made her say it—Warren had told her that the cops had taken Dooley away. When she heard Dooley was in trouble, she decided to help him. Jesus, what a mess.

  “I need you to tell her, from me, that she has to talk to them. She has to tell them she didn’t do it. It’s important, Nevin. Tell her I said to tell Randall the truth. Tell him everything she saw.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just tell her, Nevin. Please?” The last word costing him more than it should have under the circumstances.

  “Okay,” Nevin said. “But what about you? You said the cops want to talk to you. What about?”

  “What do you think? Parker.”

  Nevin shook his head slowly.

  “You’re going to do the same thing she did, aren’t you?” he said. “You’re going to tell them you did it.”

  Dooley didn’t feel like arguing. Besides, it was getting late. He had to get home.

  “Just give her the message, okay, Nevin?” “You two are like that Christmas story, you know that one? ‘The Gift of the Magi.’ It’s about this couple, they love each other but they’re so poor they can’t afford to buy Christmas presents for each other. So she goes out and gets all her hair cut off—she sells it—so she can buy him a fancy chain for the pocket watch he’s so proud of. Meanwhile, he’s selling the pocket watch to buy her some combs for her hair, which he thinks is so beautiful. They’re so cross-eyed in love that neither of them stops to think maybe they shouldn’t waste their money on stupid gifts, maybe they should focus on getting themselves on a good footing or, if you want to be realistic about it, they shouldn’t have married each other in the first place. Instead, they act just plain stupid.”

  Dooley knew the story. They’d had to read it one year at Christmas. The guy who had written it referred to the young couple as foolish children. Dooley had more or less agreed.

  “She told the cops she killed Parker because she wanted to take the fall for you, didn’t she?” He shook his head in disgust. “That’s what she meant when she said it was all her fault. She meant because she got close to Parker and then he did that to her. She knew you’d go crazy. She confessed to cover for you. Jesus, and now you’re doing the same thing.”

  Dooley stared across the table at Nevin. You never knew what he was going to say. You never knew what kind of mood he was going to be in where Dooley was involved. But he obviously didn’t think that Beth had done it. He didn’t believe her confession. That was good. It meant maybe he could get her to do the right thing—he could get her to take back the lie she had told the police.

  “You make a big deal about caring about Beth, Nevin. This is where you get to prove it. Just tell her what I said.” He got up and went over to the counter and paid for his coffee. While he waited for his change, he glanced in the mirror. Nevin was standing up, pulling on his jacket. Dooley hated to admit it, but he looked good. He wondered what would have happened between him and Beth if Dooley hadn’t showed up on the scene, and what would happen between them if it turned out Dooley was out of the picture for a while. It was like Linelle said, Beth definitely had a type.

  Nevin held the door for him, and they stepped out into the street. The construction crew was hard at work now, digging up a whole section of street. Traffic had picked up, too. Cars, buses, and more trucks filled the two remaining lanes. They moved briskly, too.

  “So you’ll talk to her?” Dooley said.

  Nevin nodded before turning to wait for a gap in the traffic. Dooley wondered what was going through his head. Maybe he thought it was his shot now, that he had a real crack at getting to Beth. Maybe he couldn’t wait to get to the phone and throw her a lifeline so that he could watch Dooley drown instead. He thought about the story Nevin had told—two people, two foolish children acting foolishly because they loved each other. It was a funny story to pick. It wasn’t even a good analogy.

  Or was it?

  Who cared, so long as Nevin talked to Beth, so long as he convinced her.

  Jesus, Beth. He wanted her out of that place. He wanted her to maybe get some help, find a therapist, like Dr. Calvin, and pull it together after what Parker had done to her. Holding her down like that, saying those things to her.

  He glanced at the back of Nevin’s head as it swiveled back and forth, searching for an opening in the traffic.

  Holding her down like that.

  Saying those things to her.

  “Nevin!”

  Dooley’s cell phone rang. His uncle.

  “Ryan, where the hell—”

  Holding her down like that.

  Nevin finally caught a break. He darted through an opening between a truck and an SUV.

  “I’ll call you right back,” Dooley said into the phone. He flipped it shut and jammed it into his pocket. “Nevin!” he called. “Yo
, Nevin, wait up!”

  Nevin was in the blocked-off part of the street. Dooley couldn’t tell if he had heard him or not.

  “Hey, Nevin!”

  Nevin turned. Dooley zipped out into the street in front of a Smart Car whose driver leaned angrily on the horn.

  “I’m sorry about that last crack,” Dooley said. “You know, about you having to prove you care about Beth. I know you do. And I know this has been hard for you, too. I saw the way Parker treated you that night, Nevin, like a gofer—making you hop around, getting him and his friends drinks when they wanted them, probably getting them food, too. Whatever they wanted. Making fun of you behind your back. He called you a ghost, did you know that?” Nevin’s face turned crimson. “Like you weren’t really there,” Dooley continued. “I saw those kids laugh. You said it yourself, he’s an asshole. You’ve known him forever and he’s an asshole. Jesus, this whole thing must have been hard on you, too, especially when Beth asked to get transferred off your team and onto his.”

  Dooley could see Nevin was thinking back over the whole miserable time.

  “Then you heard she went upstairs with him,” Dooley said. He laid a sympathetic hand on Nevin’s arm. “They were holding hands. Isn’t that what Annicka told you?” She must have. It was what she’d told everyone else. She’d lied for Parker because she’d been too afraid to tell the truth. Even now that Parker was dead, she didn’t want to come forward. So Nevin had heard the same thing everyone else had heard. “She wouldn’t go with you, but she went with me and then she went with Parker. I bet that didn’t make you feel too good, huh?”

  Nevin brushed him off.

  “Did she tell you what I said?” Dooley asked quietly, so quietly that Nevin had to lean in a little to hear him above the rumble of the traffic. Jesus, it was hard enough to remember, let alone say out loud, let alone say out loud to Nevin. “Did she tell you she came to talk to me? Did she tell you what I said when she told me about Parker?”

  “Yeah. She told me you were pissed off,” Nevin said, puffing himself up again, back on sure ground. “She told me you were mad at her for going up there with him. But I wasn’t,” he added. “I saw them together all week. I saw them leave that party together. I was there. She said you were angry, but I forgave her.”