“Still?” Thatcher repeats.
I shrug. “She was so out of it. Looked like she was on something. I thought by now she’d have realized she made a mistake.” I shrug, then hesitate when something Kai said to me on Friday night resurfaces.
“What is it, Miss Lee?”
I open my mouth, looking away as I try to gather up my thoughts. Being a snitch is so much harder than it’s made out to be.
“She, uh…you know she takes drugs, right?”
Thatcher doesn’t bat an eye. “Seems everyone in this place does.”
“No, I mean, like…she…uh…went to rehab for coke.” God, I have to force out the words and even then, they get stuck in my throat.
Thatcher studies me for a moment with that unreadable-as-fuck face of his, then drops his chin and writes in his notebook. He takes a while before he looks up again, and I spend the entire time trying to read his handwriting upside down.
It must be in code. There’s nothing legible about that scrawl.
“So you’re saying the only reason Melissa named Kai is because she was under the influence of cocaine?”
I swallow. I’ve spent way too much time around meth heads, but coke? My only reference is when Kai and Bastian snorted some off my ass after the Rain Dance. I wasn’t really in a state to make notes.
“I…I’m not an expert,” I say, fingers splaying away from my biceps for a brief second. “But I’m sure she was on something. It must have confused her.”
“Like what, Miss Lee?”
“For fuck’s sake, I don’t know!” I slap my hand onto the table, rattling the voice recorder.
Thatcher barely glances at it.
I force my voice down a few decibels. “Youshould know. You tested her for drugs, right?”
Thatcher says nothing.
I smooth my hair away from my face and sit on my hands. “Did you speak to her again? Like, after she calmed down? You should. She’ll tell you she made a mistake. She’s still in the hospital, right? Go down there and ask her.”
“I’ll be sure to follow up on that for you, Miss Lee.”
Our cat-and-mouse game seems to wear him out. He props an elbow on the table and rubs at the frown forming between his brows. For a second, he’s just a man, not a cop.
Exhausted, frustrated, just doing his best.
I almost feel sorry for him…if I wasn’t like ninety percent sure he’s a better actor than some guys in Hollywood.
“Please confirm for the record whether you had relations with Kai before or after the fight about his mom.”
“What?” I couldn’t have heard that right, but the blush suddenly working its way up my neck thinks I did.
“Did you have sex with Kai on Friday night?”
My cheeks are on fire. “Uh…we…yeah…Kinda.”
“Kinda?” Thatcher’s eyebrow twitches.
“You serious?” I whisper, ducking my head closer.
“It’s a straightforward question, Miss Lee. Did you or did you not?—“
“Yes. We…slept together.” I swallow, clear my throat, take a sip of coffee because nothing is helping. But the cup pauses halfway back to the table. “Well…kind of.”
