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“What happened then?” Kerri coaxed.
“The same thing Brendal always does.” Tori bit down on her lower lip to stop its quivering. “She makes fun of everyone. She’s a serious bully.” She shrugged. “I mean, I wouldn’t have wanted her to get hurt in a million years, but she’s so mean to anyone she feels is beneath her—which is most of the other girls in our class. She’s always been that way, but she’s worse now.”
Kerri and Tori had talked about bullies at length many times. Whenever there was an incident at a school anywhere, they had the talk. There was so much more that needed to be done to stop this sortof thing, but Kerri wasn’t going to pretend to have the answer. It was an ugly problem without an easy or quick resolution.
“Was Brendal bullying you?” Kerri couldn’t help holding her breath. Though Tori hadn’t mentioned anything of the sort, she might be less inclined to share with her mom, being a full-fledged teenager now. Adolescents didn’t always share everything with their parents during this often-difficult phase in their lives.
“She treated me no differently than she did everyone else.” Tori let go a long breath. “Lately, it was Sarah she really went after.”
This was news to Kerri. Sarah Talley had been Tori’s best friend since kindergarten. Sarah was shy and quiet. Never got into trouble. Always an honor student, like Tori. Kerri was surprised Sarah’s mother hadn’t tried to intervene.
But then maybe Sarah hadn’t told her mother.
Before Kerri asked the really painful question, she ventured into less delicate territory. “Alice is the new girl who started Brighton this semester? The one you spent the night with a couple of times?”
Tori nodded. “Alice Cortez. Remember she moved from Mexico last year, like August, I think. Her parents died, and an uncle took her in. She went to another school before this one, but it didn’t work out.”
Kerri remembered Tori coming home all upset and sharing the sad story the first day of school right after the semester break. She’d taken it upon herself to befriend the new girl when others weren’t so quick to do so.
“Was Brendal bullying Alice too?”
Tori shook her head. “Alice ignored her. It was mostly Sarah she’d been hounding really hard lately.” Tori averted her gaze, stared at her hands. “That’s all I know.”
Kerri recognized the lack of truth in her daughter’s final statement. Tori wasn’t a very good liar. Or maybe Kerri’s skills at spotting an untruth were just particularly well honed. Either way, there was more.
“I understand this is difficult,” Kerri assured her. “I also know how it feels to want to protect someone you care about. But sometimes you can’t do that. Protecting someone is different from covering for them. Which girl are you trying to protect?”
Tori clasped her hands together in her lap. When she finally lifted her gaze to Kerri’s, more tears flowed in little salty rivers. “I swear I don’t know if anyone pushed her. I know I didn’t, but I was so focused on how Brendal was lashing out that I can’t be sure who did what. It all happened really fast.”
Kerri nodded slowly. “All right.Ifyou didn’t see what happened, I can understand your hesitation to hazard a guess.”
Tori peered up at her again. “I swear I can’t be sure.” She glanced around the room before meeting Kerri’s gaze once more. “I wouldn’t want to get anyone in trouble unless I’m certain.”
Kerri squeezed her daughter’s hand. “If you’re not certain,” she said carefully, “then you shouldn’t say one way or the other. What did you tell Detective Peterson and Mrs.Leary?”
“I told them the same thing I told you. I don’t know who pushed her or if anyone did. I was watching Brendal’s rant, and suddenly she was going backward. Her back was to the steps going down. Maybe she backed up or leaned the wrong way and lost her balance. Maybe it wasn’t anyone’s fault.”
Kerri nodded, mostly for her daughter’s benefit. “That’s possible. There wasn’t anyone else in the halls? A teacher or another student who might have seen something?”
Tori moved her head side to side. “The bell had already rung.”
Not the answer she’d hoped for. Kerri tried to think of any other possibilities. Janitor? Librarian? Another student late for class? But why wouldn’t they have come forward?
Because there was no one else.Kerri felt the additional weight settle on her shoulders.
“What’s going to happen now?” The fear in Tori’s eyes twisted Kerri’s emotions to the snapping point.
“Stay here for a moment while I speak to the other detectives.” Kerri stood and turned toward the door.
“I just want to go home,” Tori whispered, her eyes squeezing shut against the new flood of tears.
“I’ll take you home as soon as I can,” Kerri promised.
She stepped out of Leary’s office, closing the door behind her. Sykes, Peterson, and Leary were crowded into the tiny waiting room. No doubt straining to hear through the wall.
“Did she tell you anything?” Sykes wanted to know.
Kerri shook her head. “She didn’t see what triggered the fall. She was looking directly at Brendal, and suddenly she was tumbling backward.”
