Read Betrayal for Free Online

called it his “So Cal sabbatical from Kidnap County.” Although he was eighteen, Drew told everyone that he was a year younger. He didn’t want the other kids to know that he’d been held back and had to repeat the second grade.
    Drew was attractive, but the bleary, fluorescent overhead lighting in the interrogation room didn’t do him any justice. He had dark hair, dark eyes, and a pug nose almost too small for his face. Over his right pec was a tattoo of a fleur-de-lis, a gift to himself in honor of his Italian heritage. His parents didn’t have the heart to tell their less-than-brilliant son that the design he’d had inked permanently on his body was French, not Italian. No one in the Marcello household liked to push or prod Drew. When he was calm, he was much easier to deal with.
    â€œYes, Chief,” he said to Annie Garnett’s request to take a seat for the interview. He waited a beat for her to sit first.
    Annie was unsure if the teenager was trying to be polite or if he was using her title in sarcasm.
    â€œAll right, Drew,” she said. “Let’s talk about what happened tonight.”
    Drew shrugged and pulled on the zipper on his hoodie, revealing a Kingston High Buccaneers red and gold T-shirt. “Fine, but, if you don’t mind, my dad says that kids don’t have to talk without their parents being here. My dad’s Chase Marcello, the judge. Maybe you’ve heard of him?”
    â€œI’ve heard of your father. You’re not a minor, Drew,” Annie said. “You’re eighteen.”
    â€œMy dad says it’s never good to talk to the police without a lawyer.”
    Annie kept her emotions in check. The kid was a piece of work, but he was right. “Understood. Are you requesting a lawyer? Or would you like me to phone your father at this hour?”
    Drew glowered a little. “Nah. Not really.”
    Annie dropped a new pad on the table and reached for a pen. With her perfect, deliberate penmanship she recorded Drew’s version of the events of the evening: who came to the party, who shouldn’t have been there, and if he knew of any reason why Olivia Grant had been murdered.
    After a series of answers that varied from “I don’t know” to “I don’t remember,” and to “I was kind of wasted” to “I didn’t see anything freaky,” Drew said, “I wish I could help. I know it would be the right thing to do. Really, I do get that. But I don’t know anything.” He paused and surveyed the room. “There were a couple of kids dressed up as Occupy protestors. Tim and Ken or something like that. Maybe they know something. I’ve seen them around at school.”
    Annie wrote down the names. “Did they cause any kind of trouble?” she asked.
    â€œNah. They drank some beer and, if anything, bored a couple of girls.”
    â€œDid everyone get along that night?” she asked.
    â€œYeah. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Not for a party. A couple of guys got into it over something, a girl, a car, I dunno. No one punched anyone. Brianna asked me to get them out of there, and I did. They said something about Bree being totally mean, but I didn’t argue. Sometimes she is . She even accused me of having a thing for Olivia— totally ridiculous. Olivia is so not my type.”
    â€œWhen was the last time that you saw Olivia?”
    Drew fidgeted with the drawstring of his hoodie. “I hardly saw her at all. She was talking with her friends from Port Gamble—the Ryan twins, Colton James, and Beth Lee, the girl she’s been living with. They didn’t look like they were having much fun. Especially Beth. I think she had plans to come to the party with Olivia, but it didn’t happen. Whatever. It wasn’t that big of a deal.”
    â€œOlivia was supposed to go with Beth?”
    Drew nodded. “Yeah, but I picked her up at the