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Ballard opened the yearbook to the senior photos. Van Ness leaned in.
“One was Victor,” he said. “Then there was Andy Bennett and Taylor Weeks.”
He flipped through the pages and tapped on the photo of each senior.
“Okay,” Ballard said. “You said Victor didn’t have a date. What about Bennett and Weeks?”
“Uh, Andy I think went stag. Taylor had a date. Katie Randolph. I think she was a junior and I heard they ended up getting married.”
Ballard nodded. She was in the flow, getting solid new information with every answer, getting names of people who were at the heart of the case. Interviews didn’t always go this way, but when they did, it felt like there was no stopping her momentum.
“What happened in that room, Rodney?” she asked.
“The usual, I guess,” Van Ness said.
“Don’t guess. Tell me. What was the usual?”
“You know, we partied. Got there early and partied before the dance.”
“The four boys and Mallory and Katie?”
“Well, I think Taylor and Katie got there late. But yeah.”
“Was it drugs or alcohol or both?”
“There was a bottle of gin. So we did that.”
“You brought the gin?”
“No, I think it was Andy.”
“Did Mallory drink gin?”
“Yeah, she drank. Nobody forced her. She drank a lot.”
“How long did Andy and Victor stay in the room partying with you?”
“I don’t know. It was a while and then they went down the hall to visit other rooms and get more booze.”
“You ran out of gin?”
“Eventually, yeah.”
“And you were left alone with Mallory?”
“Just for a little bit.”
“Did you have sex with her?”
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on here but it wasn’t rape, okay? She wanted to have sex, so we did.”
“Was that before or after she passed out?”
Another bluff, but based on what had been revealed, an informed bluff.
“I’m not like that,” Van Ness protested. “She wanted to do it, so we did. There was no rape and you can’t prove that there was. This is complete bullshit.”
“We are not saying it was rape,” Ballard said. “We weren’t in the room. I just want to hear from you whether she was conscious when you had sex.”
