School of Fish (Fish Out of Water #6) - Amy Lane Page 0,12
God, not ten minutes later, the door bursts open, and it’s the cops.”
“Now, you say you were the only ‘brown face’ there. Can I ask if your school is mostly white?”
Tyson tilted his head. “Uhm, no, actually. It’s a pretty good mix.”
“Did it bother you to be the only person of color at an all-white party?”
“No.” He shrugged. “Sorry. Not the only time it’s happened. Black people deal with it, you know?”
Ellery nodded. “I, well, I guess I can’t really understand personally, but I understand that the world works that way sometimes. I was just wondering if this was a rare occurrence or a usual one.” Because while Ellery hadn’t had a chance to put Henry on the case, he had asked to see the files of the other kids arrested at that party and had been told that Tyson was the only one.
Tyson frowned. “You know, now that you mention it, most of the parties I’ve gone to as a football player are pretty, you know, rainbow. ’Cause the team is pretty rainbow, and the school is all the colors, so it’s not so much me against the world.”
“So, this was a situation that only happened at No Neck’s house?”
Tyson nodded slowly, and Ellery could see the wheels turning. “His family is pretty white. His grandparents were Russian, I guess, but we don’t really talk about it. Do you think I was set up?”
“I can’t say for sure, but we have lots of inconsistencies to look at when our PI gets here.” Jackson had texted when he and Henry had arrived at the PD’s office building; they should get there any minute. Ellery looked at the police report again, and then at Tyson. “Tyson, there are some differences between your police report and your story. Now, I’m going to ask you about them, and I don’t want you to get upset. I just want you to know this is me, looking for the truth. I’m not taking this document at face value, that’s why I’m asking.”
Tyson blinked slowly at him, and in spite of his size, Ellery could sense the intelligence that had made him an outstanding student athlete.
“Yessir,” he said. “What’s different?”
“Three pills. You said the little stapled baggie only had three pills in it.”
Ty nodded. “Yeah. I remember showing it to Nate Klein, and he showed me his own. He’s got his own scholarship and we were like, ‘Yeah, right,’ before we both shoved them in our pockets.”
“Three,” Ellery repeated grimly, circling the passage on the report that said three dozen. “What did they look like?”
“Pink, with a little butterfly on them. Same as Nate’s,” Tyson told him, looking confused. “What else?”
“Okay, you said the party was mostly white. Were these kids clean-cut white or grungy white?”
“Honors-student white.” Ty grimaced. “I remember thinking I didn’t know No Neck knew that many honors students.” He gave an abashed look. “No Neck’s not the smartest kid on the team, you know? Like, some of us got scholarships to out-of-state schools, but No Neck got a scholarship to the local junior college.”
Ellery grunted. “Okay. So I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that when the police report says ‘suspicious characters,’ they want me to think—”
“There were a lot of Black people at the party?” Tyson said incredulously.
“Or just a lot of shady people in general,” Ellery muttered. “That’s their reason for knocking on the door. Now, were you in easy visual of the door?”
Tyson suddenly got where this was going. “No, sir. I was in the hall.”
“Did they search anyone else?”
“No, sir, they came straight to me.”
Ellery let out a sigh. “Did anyone remark on it?”
“Well, yeah. Nate was all up in their face until someone shoved him down and drew their weapon. He tried to tell them the drugs weren’t mine, but they shouted, ‘Whose were they?’ and Nate looked around and….” Tyson bit his lip. “Ziggy was gone.”
Ellery rubbed his temples and wished for Jackson. Jackson would have vetted this folder first, and then they could have discussed it, and then, oh God, he wouldn’t be the only one thinking that this setup was bad. So very, very bad.
“Okay. Tyson, I need to talk to my associates. Don’t worry. We’re still taking your case. But—and I know you’re not supposed to leave town—but do you and your mother have a place to stay? One that your friends at school might not have visited or know about?”