Page 105 of Catch a Kiwi
The cop had been getting increasingly wooden during all this, and the younger cop was glancing at him as if wondering how much it would take before he blew. Now, the older one said stiffly, “We need to get everybody’s movements down for the record. It’s procedure. So you and this lady were staying at the Clarence Hotel, sir. Not in this house.”
“That’s right,” I said.
Delilah was already starting to talk again when Summer broke in. “I can confirm that. I’m Summer Adair. Summer like the season, and Adair like—” She spelt it, then went on, “Same address as Delilah, because she’s my cousin. And to answer the question I’m sure is uppermost in your mind, we were at the hotel instead of here as planned because we hadn’t had sex before and weren’t planning to, but we went out to dinner in their restaurant—you can check that, too—and I decided I wanted to. Have sex. I decided I wanted to have sex with Roman. I didn’t want to wait, and I also didn’t want my cousin to know, so we stayed at the hotel. While my cousin was here at the house. As we thought, alone.”
“Excuse me,” Delilah said. “Out all night? How stupid do you think I am?”
“I was planning to come back before you got home,” Summer said. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and pink looked good on her. “Unfortunately, we fell asleep.”
“Right, so, got that?” Delilah asked. “Everybody? Now can I go to the hospital? If I stay here, Summer’s going to have me cleaning up puke, even though I already did that twice tonight and Roman would rather just get out his checkbook. He’s rich, and he’s scrubbing the toilet right now. Why? Predatory capitalism is wrong, but if you’remarinatingin predatory capitalism, if you’rebenefitingfrom it, shouldn’t you at least be consistent and embrace it?”
Summer said, “You and I are entitled to exactly none of Roman’s generosity. Bringing Erica back here was the right thing to do, but that doesn’t mean you don’t take responsibility for it and clean up after yourself!”
I said, “We can talk about this later. If that’s all …”
“Wait,” Summer said. Her color was still high, but her voice was level again. “I still have a question for the police. Officer …”
“Rayburn,” the older cop said. “Sergeant. This is Constable Padgett.”
“Sergeant Rayburn,” she said, “I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job, but youaregoing to review that bar footage, right? Assuming Erica actually was drugged, but it sounds like it. The bartender may even know who the man is. I doubt that was the first time. Maybe there’s a pattern.”
“Thank you, miss,” Rayburn said, more stolidly than ever. “Bars close at four, but no worries, we’ll look into it if the drug test comes back positive. ”
“If that’s it, then,” Summer said, “can Roman go on and take Delilah to hospital? I need to know that somebody’s called Erika’s parents. I need to know that she isn’t alone.”
I said, “I have an excellent way for you to know all that.” And handed her the car keys.
That was when the fun really began.
45
THE STILL-POINT
Summer
The cops left, looking like they were glad to go. Somebody needed to go to the hospital and make sure Erica was OK, but first …
Wait.First,I needed to tell Delilah, “That’s not the way you talk to cops.”
“Why?” she asked. “What did I say that was wrong?”
“If you ever get arrested,” I said, “you’ll find out that it’s not smart to antagonize them. It’s a good thing they’re Kiwis, that’s all I’ll say.”
“Maybe for you,” she said, “but you were actually getting arrested. For a crime.I’mcompletely innocent.”
I tried to think of something to say, but I couldn’t. I grabbed the glass cleaner instead and sprayed down the mirror and tried not to get shaky. This night, and the whole day before it, had been too strange. Too eventful. Tooemotional.That was the reason, because Delilah was right. Ihadbeen arrested for a crime.
Roman said, his voice calm and level as glass, “Take aminute and think about that one, Delilah. And then try again.”
“What?” Delilah asked, and then, after a few seconds, “All right, you didn’t do anything wrong. Obviously, because you were acquitted, even though you may have … well, you know. You probably got off partly because of how you look, that innocent thing. And that youdon’tget smart with cops and are so hardworking and respectful and everything.”
I wanted to ask, “Is that really what you think?” But I couldn’t, because I was stuck. Roman said, “You owe your cousin an apology. Now.” His voice wasn’t Roman-amused anymore. It was cold, and his face looked … I wouldn’t have wanted him to look at me like that. He went on, “And you may want to think about how privileged you sound.”
“Who, me? Privileged?” Delilah’d been looking combative, possibly out of guilt over the whole wrecked-house thing. Now, she was downright bristling.
“Talking to a cop like that may work if you’re a pretty little white girl in a flash house,” Roman said. “Think about how it’d work for anybody else. You think it’s cute. It’s not.”
Delilah opened her mouth, then shut it. Opened it again, paused, and shut it. I said, “It’s late. I need to switch loads of laundry, then clean the floors. Roman …” I handed him back the car’s key fob, which I’d set on the benchtop. “Please just take Delilah to the hospital. We can talk later.”
