The Thrashers(21)

Her eyes squeezed shut. “Yeah,” she said weakly. “But they think we did. And … they think Zack had sex with her. And since he’s eighteen, they’re calling it statutory.”

“Where are you?” It sounded like the engine cut out.

“Don’t worry. I’m at the Thrasher home with the others. They—they arrested Zack, so Greg is trying to post bail.”

“Jesus…”

“I know. I’m okay though. I just wanted you to hear it from me. We’re on the news.”

“Rosa called, but I ignored it.” Her mother’s sister was somehow always first to know.

“Okay, I’ll text her.”

“Try to stay with someone tonight, alright? I’ll hurry home but probably not until dawn.”

“That’s fine. Drive safe.”

When Jodi hung up, she texted Aunt Rosa and let her know she was safe and not in trouble. She left the bathroom and went back to the kitchen just as Julian came in from the backyard.

He was looking down at his phone. “Okay, so it looks like there’s not a lot they could have on us, despite all this press. If they were to go for criminal harassment, it would be hard to land.”

Lucy stood from the couch and met Julian at the kitchen island. Paige sipped her cocoa with a distant look in her eye.

“What do you mean?” Jodi asked. “What would make it ‘easy?’”

“Well, if we’d done anything physical to Emily, like they’re accusing Zack of.” He glanced at Lucy. “And they’d probably need eyewitnesses.”

Paige shook her head. “But we didn’t. We didn’t do anything.” She looked between Julian and Lucy, waiting for them to agree.

Car lights splashed onto the walls of the dining room, and all four of them looked. Jodi held her breath. Was it the cops? Were they here for each of them now?

A key turned in the lock.

“Hey, everybody,” Greg Thrasher said from the front door, his voice tired and rough.

Jodi darted to the hallway, Paige and Lucy hot on her heels. Zack was closing the front door, his eyes bloodshot and his nice black dress shirt untucked and wrinkled. Greg dropped his hand on his son’s shoulder and said to all of them, “Let’s talk.”

He gestured for them to enter the large dining room where Jodi had joined the Thrashers for dinner on more than one Thanksgiving. Greg hugged his wife before following them in, taking the chair next to Zack. Jodi and Lucy mirrored them, and Charity and Paige sat at the heads of the table. Julian leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

“I’ve been in contact with Cheryl,” Greg said, nodding at Paige, “but have the rest of you called your parents?”

Jodi and Lucy nodded. Greg looked to Julian. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “They’re in Paris.”

Julian hesitated, and Charity offered, “I can call Nina. They’ll be awake in a few hours.” It seemed like Julian was about to decline, but he just nodded tightly, looking at the floor.

If Jodi’s dad won the award for “Least Involved,” then Julian’s dad was runner-up, but in Ray Hollister’s case, it was more to do with indifference, Jodi thought.

Greg turned his eyes back on the whole group.

“The DA seems to think they have enough evidence to charge Zack for criminal harassment and statutory rape,” he said in his lawyer voice.

Lucy shifted next to her, pulling her hands into her lap and then placing them back on the table.

“What evidence?” Charity asked, voice thin.

“Zack has told me that he has no idea what they have on him,” Greg said. “He did not have sex with Emily. He did not harass her physically or verbally.”

Jodi’s eyes slid to Zack. His gaze was concentrated down on the table runner. His bottom lip wobbled, and he bit down on it.

Before Greg could continue, Jodi cut him off. “There’s a journal.”

Six pairs of eyes looked at her. She glanced at Zack before continuing.

“I ran into Maureen Mills at the grocery store, and she mentioned things I had no memory of—things she learned about in a journal.”

“So it’s Zack’s word against a journal’s? Seriously?” Lucy sat back, running a hand through her hair.

“What was in the journal that she mentioned?” Greg asked her.

Jodi sat forward. “All she said was that Emily tried to kill herself in April, and that I convinced her not to.”

“Did you?” Greg’s eyes bore into her.

Jodi felt like she was under a microscope, like she was back at the police station with Detective Harding. “Definitely not.”

Greg tapped his fingers on the table.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Paige said softly.

Jodi turned to her. “I didn’t—I mean, it’s not true, so I didn’t think…” She looked at Zack for help, but he was looking at his hands on the table.

“Can they really press charges based on a journal?” Julian asked.

“No. You can’t cross-examine a journal. They’d need more evidence. So they think they have it.” Greg cleared his throat. “They may think they have evidence on all of you.”

A chilled silence fell over the table. Jodi’s mind worked quickly. So, Harding had the journal before the police took them in for questioning, but they didn’t arrest Zack that night, which means they got more evidence since then.