A girl in glasses and a thick knit sweater puts a book back on a shelve and then turns around to look at Detective Solomon. They're in the local library, where she works part time to make money for college and books.
She says, "I wrote an article about them, yes, but I never published it. I could never bring myself to."
The detective asks why not. The place smells like lavender and dust, and they're the only ones there. The girl looks at him like the question is somehow stupid.
"I didn't think it was my place to do it. I would be putting the rope around their necks."
"How come?" the detective asks.
"I knew Finn wouldn't give me an interview even before I asked him. I knew I had to get the answers myself," she begins. "Figured if I wanted the dirt I had to jump in the mud with the pigs. So, I went to their practices, their games, their after-parties. I got exactly what I wanted. What I suspected all along. What everyone else was saying. There was the team, and then there was Levi. He never belonged and he didn't fly under the radar either. The team gave him a hard time. There, I could write my article. These boys were mirrors turned on each other, reflecting what they thought the other was. Eventually, no one was anyone but an idea. Of masculinity, of insensitivity, of brutality. They knew what they were doing was wrong. I know they did. But it's so easy to do it when you're not alone. When there's more of you. I was ready to publish the article when another story fell into my hands."
The girl puts the books down and faces the detective.
"It was the morning after their last match, just hours before the party."
She doesn't say what party, but the detective knows which one she means. In the end, it's the only one that matters.
She goes on, "Everyone had left already. They had won. They were so happy you could almost touch it. Grab a handful of it and take it home with you. I stayed behind to talk to Coach Hawk, one last bit of research before finishing up the article. I was walking back to the parking lot when I saw them."
"Levi and Finn?"
"Yes, they were walking together, stopping every now and then to laugh at each other." The girl's lips bend in both sweetness and sadness, "To kiss."
YOU ARE READING
One for the Team
Mystery / ThrillerThe body of a missing student is buried in the woods. But only a few know this. At first, it was just a running joke in the hallways of Northwoods High, a lowbrow school in a lower brow town. Finn Sexton never really thought the joke was funny, but...
