I snickered. “Wow. It really does look like the TV shows.”
And when Rae let out the softest giggle, it spread a wide smile across my face.
There she is.
The detective turned to us. “All right. It’s simple. Some men will file in, and you two will point out the guys you recognize.”
Rae finally spoke. “How many men are there going to be?”
The detective shook his head. “I’m not at liberty to discuss that. All you two have to do is point out the four boys from that night. Okay?”
I nodded. “Got it.”
The first line of guys filed in, and I recognized none of them. I looked down at Rae to see if she had any opinions, but she shook her head, too. None of them looked familiar and I felt my stomach drop. Until another line of guys filtered in.
Rae perked up. “The one on the far right.”
The officer nodded. “Number?”
I licked my lips. “Number One. Definitely. He was the one calling the shots that night. The one driving.”
Rae scoffed. “He’s the one that kept making the sexual jeers at me all night. He’s one of those boys.”
The detective sighed. “Any other ones look familiar?”
And when we both shook our heads, they sent the guys away.
We looked at five lines of guys before pointing out the four boys that had attacked us that night. I was confident in every single one we picked out. Rae was right there with me, too. Backing me up and even explaining what their roles had been. The leader. The driver. The one feeding everyone else opened beers. She even explained my relation to two of them, outlining the fight that had taken place at school. Her memory was fucking dead-on, and it was impressive.
But I knew it’d lead to a lot of uncomfortable questions with the officer later.
Anger radiated off her. With every line of guys that trudged in, she squeezed my hand harder. Her face grew redder. Seeing their faces brought back memories I wanted to forget. But Rae looked like she could practically kill over them. I smoothed my thumb over her knuckles as I pulled her close, trying to calm her down as much as I could.
Then, as we were ushered into a room for questioning, Rae turned around.
“What happens now?”
The detective cleared his throat. “Well, there are some questions the police will want to ask. All you have to do is answer them as honestly as you can. If you don’t remember, say you don’t. And whatever you do, don’t lie. They’ll write down your testimony, you’ll sign it, and that’ll be admitted into evidence when these boys go on trial. If they go on trial.”
Rae bristled. “What do you mean ‘if’?”
I sighed. “I have to press charges.”
She paused. “Wait, you haven’t done that already?”
The officer slipped into the room. “We haven’t gotten to that point yet. But once you answer my questions, we can go over his options.”
The detective nodded. “You’re in good hands. Just answer the questions honestly, then we can go over what to charge these boys with. If you want to press them.”
Rae scoffed. “Of course he’s pressing charges. Right?”
She looked up at me, searching for an answer. But I didn’t know what to say.
“Right. Clint?”
I sucked air through my teeth. “What would I even charge them with?”
The officer put a hand on my shoulder. “Once we get your signed testimony, we’ll get you linked up with a lawyer. Because you’re going to want to talk to one, kid.”