“When was the last time you saw him?”
“Right after he was found not guilty of raping me.”
“Ah, and are you upset by that fact?”
“Yes.” I grit my teeth and stay quiet.
“So would you say that you wanted to get revenge?”
“No! No one should ever have to go through what I did.”
“How do you know what he’s going through?”
“It’s all over social media.” Again, I try to keep the duh out of my voice.
“That’s true. Where were you on the night he was attacked?”
“Florida. It was so fun! But hot.”
“And when did you get back?”
“Just this morning, right before you picked us up at the airport.”
“Okay, so let me get right to it. Rory, did you attack Tanner?”
“No. I’m half his size, and he’s far stronger than me. Believe me, I know how strong he is, and I never want to go near any of them again.”
“Did your brother attack Tanner?”
“No. He was with me the whole trip.”
“Did you or your brother hire someone to attack those men?”
“Of course not. What do you think this is? A movie? How would we even find someone who was that heartless and not afraid to maim people?”
“But he was upset by the verdict. It would make sense that he wanted to get revenge for his brother.”
“Anyone would want to get revenge if someone they loved was attacked like I was.”
“Do you want revenge?” he asks again, and I want to smack him.
“I wanted justice. I wanted those monsters to be put away for what they did to me, so they couldn’t hurt anyone else.”
“And when that didn’t happen, you decided to take justice into your own hands?”
“No, and we weren’t here, so we couldn’t have done it. Now I’d like to go home please.”
He sighs and nods. “Alright. Thanks for coming in today, Mr. Byrnes.”
“You’re welcome.”
“We may be calling you, so keep your phone on you, please.”
“I’m twenty-two.” I laugh. “I always have my phone on me.”
He chuckles and lets me out of the room and into the lobby.
There are so many people here, and all of them look kind of rough, so I pull up my knees, ball myself up into my hoodie, and pray that no one notices me until Brendan is done.
