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Whitley scribbled down a note, as did I.
“Tell me about the event.” He rested an ankle on his knee.
“It started in the morning. We got there about seven.”
“Where was it held?”
“At the capitol building where the legislature meets.”
He gave her a brusque nod to continue.
“There were . . .” She tilted her head and tapped her finger on her thigh. “I’d say at least two hundred people there. We’d really tried to get the word out at nearby college campuses to garner support.”
“Was there any opposition?”
“Yeah. Not nearly as many as we had, but they showed up.”
“Would you say there were two hundred of your supporters plus however many opposers? Or just two hundred people total?”
“Two hundred on our side. Probably a hundred on theirs. Maybe more. It was hard to tell.”
Whitley finished jotting something else then looked up. “It’s okay. Your best guess is fine. We don’t need exact.”
A softtap tapon the door sounded before JoJo stuck her head in. “I have tea.”
Penelope looked relieved as her mother offered her a cup. She wrapped her hands around it and blew on the hot liquid before taking a sip.
She set a mug on the coaster beside Patrick and placed one on the desk in front of me. I thanked her with my gaze, and she disappeared once more.
Whitley made a face after he took a gulp of his tea. “What was the atmosphere like?”
“It was electric. People had signs and were chanting. They could hear us inside because some of them looked out their windows.
“We shouted. Then the opposition shouted. Both sides were loud. News cameras were there, which was great for attention to the cause.”
I hoped my daughter would be satisfied with boring lawyer work. Although I enjoyed the theatrics of the courtroom, so she’d probably find some excitement there. But she planned on litigating for Earth Warriors, and there was no doubt she’d be passionate about that.
“Did you stay with your friends the entire time?”
She frowned. “I did until things escalated.”
“What do you mean by ‘escalated’?”
“The two sides kept pushing closer and closer to one another. Ezra . . . he can be a hothead. He takes our causes seriously and is willing to go to extremes.”
Whitley set his pen down and focused on Penelope.
“He had a backpack full of glass bottles. I didn’t know that before he unzipped his bag or I would’ve tried to stop him. Judd had one too. They hurled them at those people.” She looked down at her lap. “I might not agree with their position, but violence is never the answer.”
I stiffened. I admired her and JoJo for standing up for what they believed in, but those situations could be dangerous. Clearly this one had been. I hated the thought of Penelope in the line of fire.
“What happened when they threw the bottles?” Whitley asked.
“All hell broke loose. We were shoved as the crowd moved. I nearly fell. Fights broke out. Someone had a knife. And then Judd and Ezra set fabric stuffed into the bottles on fire and threw them.” She shuttered. “There was fire and blood and pandemonium. The police couldn’t stop it.”
“What did you do once the chaos ensued?”
“Naomi and I tried to get out of the crowd. The closest opening was toward the opposition protesters, and we didn’t have a choice. Michael was on the sidewalk bleeding from his head. His shirt was burned. We stopped to help him. The cut was pretty bad, so we helped him to our car and took him to the hospital.”
