“We were playing Truth or Dare,” Riley says.
“…And one of the dares was to steal a fifth of vodka from the liquor cabinet.”
“And you did?”
“Cammi got the dare.”
“All the girls drank?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Did Kelli’s mom know about the drinking?”
“No. She wouldn’t have allowed that.”
“Can I assume you drank too much?”
She nods.
“When did the boys show up?”
“Just before I passed out.”
“Tell me about that.”
She sets her jaw bravely, and says, “I felt sick to my stomach, so I went upstairs to Kelli’s bedroom. She’s got her own bathroom. I was dizzy, and thought I might need to throw up. When I came out of the bathroom, I sat on Kelli’s bed, then passed out.”
“Was the bedroom light on or off?”
“On.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, ma’am. I turned it on when I went in the room.”
“Did you close the door behind you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You’re positive?”
“Yes, ma’am. Like I said, I thought I was going to be sick. I was embarrassed. I didn’t want anyone to hear me throw up.”
“How long were you in the bathroom?”
“I don’t remember. A few minutes, I think.”
“Then you went to the bed and passed out?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Any idea what time that happened?”
“A little before midnight.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Parker’s mom picked her up at midnight. But she was still in the basement when I went up to Kelli’s room.”
“And Mrs. Underhill was asleep at the time?”
“I guess so.”
“Where’s her bedroom?”
“On the main floor. But she was sleeping in the guest bedroom.”
“And where is that located?”
“On the other end of the hall from Kelli’s bedroom.”
“How far away is that in feet?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Do the Underhills have a big house?”
“Huge.”
“How many bedrooms upstairs?”
“Four, I think.”
“More than one staircase?”
“They’ve got two. I used the back one, and came up from the basement.”
“So Mrs. Underhill didn’t hear you come up the stairs?”
“No, ma’am.”
“You’re sure?”
“If she’d heard me, she would’ve come out of her room to ask why I was upstairs. We were supposed to stay in the den or the basement the entire time.”
“Where were the girls going to sleep?”
“In the basement. They’ve got six beds down there.”
“So when did you wake up?”
“The next morning, around nine.”
“How’d you feel?”
“First thing I did was throw up in the bathroom. I had a terrible headache all day.”
“Did you feel groggy? Like you might have been drugged?”
“No ma’am. Just however you’d feel after being drunk all night.”
“So you woke up in Kelli’s bedroom, and threw up. Then what happened?”
“I heard the girls downstairs, in the kitchen, making breakfast. So I went down.”
“How’d they react?”
“They were shocked to see me. They thought I’d gone home with Parker.”
“And you told them what happened?”
She nods.
“What did they say?”
“They said they got wasted, too. But they slept in the basement.”
“And they never came up to Kelli’s room the whole night?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Does that seem normal to you?”
“Normally, they probably would have gone to Kelli’s room at some point during the night. We usually did that.”
“But not this time? You’re sure?”
“Yes, ma’am. I asked them about it.”
“What did they say?”
“They didn’t want to get caught. They were afraid Lydia—Mrs. Underhill—would find out they’d been drinking.”
“Makes sense,” I say.
I take a minute to think about everything she said. Then ask the big question.
“Tell me about the boys.”
YOU ARE READING
Promise You Won't Tell?
Teen Fiction"I think something might have happened to me Saturday night. Something bad." Private Investigator Dani Ripper's client list is nuttier than the Looney Tunes conga line, but she diligently solves one crazy case after another, waiting for a game-chang...
