Page 48 of Twisted Elites

A burly police officer turned to me. “Miss?”

“Evergreen. Willow Evergreen.”

“Is there something you would like to tell us about this girl?”

“Her name is Bianca Byrd, and she’s a sixth-former here.”

“How could you describe your relationship with her?”

“Oh, come on,” snapped Leopold. “You can’t put any credence into the wailings of an attention seeker.”

The officer turned his cold eyes to Leopold. “And your name is?”

“Leopold Brunswick.”

The officer flicked his gaze back to me and stared. I met his eyes but noticed Geraldine in my peripheral vision rushing over to a female officer, diverting the constable’s attention from her so-called best friend. The policeman raised his brows in silent question.

“I didn’t push Bianca if that’s what you’re implying.”

“They hated each other,” Geraldine said to the crowd. One of the paramedics who crouched at Bianca’s side glanced up from his patient. “You ask Mr. Byrd. He’s the managing partner of the law firm, Byrd and Byrd. Willow hated him as well.”

My mouth gaped open. Why on earth was she trying to derail the investigation with her lies and theatrics? Did she have something to hide?

“That’s ridiculous,” said Prakash. “She was with me all night.”

“Your name?” asked the officer.

Prakash paused. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and I cringed. As much as I appreciated his defense, I couldn’t trust Geraldine not to start turning accusations, and I couldn’t trust the police not to dismiss her for a pathetic attention seeker. Leopold’s arm tightened around my shoulder, giving me silent support.

“Prakash Kashaayah,” he said.

The officer’s brows rose. “That Indian boy who was arrested for sexual assault and GBH this year and last year?”

Shocked gasps sounded from around us. Since everyone seemed to know about Prakash’s arrests, I could only guess that some of the onlookers were making appropriate sounds to add drama to the situation.

“Yes,” he said through clenched teeth.

Hatred burned in Prakash’s eyes. I wanted to reach out and comfort him, but the policeman might remember Geraldine’s accusation and think we had conspired to kill Bianca.

“Sarge?” the policeman turned to an even larger officer who had crouched by the paramedics. “Another one for questioning.”

The sergeant stood, edged around the crowd toward us, and fixed his stern gaze on Prakash.

I spluttered. “But—”

The policeman turned to me and swept his arm toward the exit, where even more students streamed out to gape. “Let’s go inside.”

Leopold’s arm tightened around me. “You can’t just take her away on the word of a school rival.”

I dug my heels into the gravel. If this was a cartoon, steam would have blown out of my ears. If we were standing on the ledge of a roof, I would have kicked Geraldine off the edge. All the police needed to do was check my name in their database. Then they would find all the complaints I had made about Bianca. Based on the severity of her crimes against me, I would probably have enough of a motive to shove her to her death.

Geraldine continued her barrage of accusations and threatened the police with legal action from Mr. Byrd if they didn’t arrest me right now.

Tremors quaked through my insides, and my throat turned dry. This was getting out of control.

More police officers emerged from around the building with staff members, but there was no sign of Sebastian or Mrs. Benazir. I couldn’t dwell on this with the sergeant advancing on Prakash, and the officer threatening to arrest Leopold for perverting the course of justice if he didn’t let go of me and allow me to leave with him for questioning.

I placed my hand on Leopold’s chest. His frantic heartbeats vibrated against my palm. “It’s alright, Leo. I have nothing to hide.”