Page 74 of Don't Say a Word

I got straight to the point. “Elijah Martinez turned you in for cheating. You got in trouble, and according to your mother, you don’t hold a grudge. Is that true?”

“It is now.”

When she didn’t elaborate, I said, “Then?”

“I was furious. At Elijah for being a snitch, at myself for being so stupid, at Mrs. Porter for hating me. I mean, I was wrong, I fully take responsibility for my actions. No onemademe cheat. But Mrs. Porter hated me for no reason, it was so obvious. I mean, I’m sure she had a reason, but whatever it was didn’t justify her always marking me down, nit-picking everything, never calling on me in class, being dismissive when I asked questions. I love English. Ilovewriting. I wanted to impress the teacher who hated me, and I worked myself up to the point that I had such anxiety about the class that I convinced myself the only option was to cheat.”

I was impressed that this seventeen-year-old had such keen insight into her own psyche.

“The day after the final, you had a public argument with Elijah.”

“I took everything out on him. But really, he was just the messenger, you know? My parents went to bat for me, and then... that’s when I just fell apart. I couldn’t let them believe the lie. I admitted it, asked for forgiveness, got a zero. That sucked. But this summer I took a couple classes at community college and they weresomuch better than Mrs. Porter’s English.” Dani looked me in the eye. “Are you here because you think Elijah did drugs because I was mean to him?” She wrinkled her nose. “That would be dumb.”

“I’m talking to people who knew him to find out exactly what was going on with him before he died.”

“Elijah and I were cool. We were never friends or anything, butwe were friendly. And I didn't blame him. He is—was—a pretty straight arrow, and I wasn’t being all that discreet when I cheated.”

“When was the last time you talked to him?”

She considered. “First week of school? Maybe even the first day. We have Honors Government together with Mr. Parsons. I said hey, he said how was summer, I said I took classes at PV. He said he’d talk to me later about it, because he was thinking of taking some classes at night, but didn’t want to be overwhelmed. We never ended up talking about it, though.”

“Did he mention the class he took over the summer?” I asked, remembering what Alina had told me about working and school over the summer.

“At PV?”

“I don’t know.”

“He didn’t say anything to me.”

“What do you know about his friends? Peter and Andy and Angie.”

“I don’t really know Peter, Andy is kind of a dork—I mean, nice guy, and we were partners in science our sophomore year, so I say hi and stuff, but—” she shrugged “—we didn’t have much in common.”

“And Angie?”

“Kind of a bitch. I know, not a nice thing to say, but truth.”

“How so?”

“Chip on her shoulder. Always assumes anything you say is an insult. I know she was close to Elijah, and I knew her boyfriend, Chris—”

“Chris...?” I questioned.

“Chris Vallejo. He graduated, goes to ASU. Lives in the neighborhood, so I’ve known him for years. Don’t know what he saw in Angie, but they were pretty tight for, like, two years. Maybe they’re still dating, I don’t know.”

I considered Dani’s impression of Angie, as well as my own. Yeah, I could see how Angie might come off as being a bitch. Herdefault reaction to everything was defensive. But I knew about her home life, thanks to Lena Clark, and I’d met her mother’s pot-smoking boyfriend. Those weren’t things a teenager would share with just anyone. I saw Angie as doing what she needed to do to make it to adulthood, then I expected her to bolt. I hoped she bolted to college or the military, both viable options for kids who didn’t have a good home life.

I said, “Did you know Elijah outside of school?”

She shook her head.

“Did you ever run into him at parties?”

She laughed. “I definitely wouldnothave. My dad is a cop. He would skin me alive if I went out and partied. It’s really not my thing, anyway.”

“Is there anyone else Elijah socialized with? Maybe someone who did party?”

“I wouldn’t know. Andy was his best friend, so if Elijah was doing drugs or drinking, Andy would know.”