Ear-Witness by Mary Ann Scott Page A

called,” Mom said. “She wants to see you tomorrow, after school. She’ll pick you up out front unless she hears from you.”
    â€œMaybe Jon will come too,” I said.
    Mom cut herself a second piece of cornbread. “You aren’t spending much time with Kelly these days. Is anything wrong?”
    â€œIs that a way of saying I shouldn’t spend so much time with Jon?”
    â€œNo. Not at all. Don’t be so quick to criticize, Jess. I just don’t want you to lose Kelly because of some guy.”
    â€œHe isn’t just some guy! And it’s Kelly who hasn’t got time for me, not the other way around.”
    Mom’s eyes and mine met, and held.
    â€œShe’s very involved with Joey,” I said. “And she hasn’t been making it to school that much.” Kelly would be really upset if she knew I’d said that. Too bad.

CHAPTER 16
    The cruiser was waiting in front of the school. Sheena popped the lock on the passenger door as Jon and I crossed the sidewalk.
    â€œOK if I bring a friend?” I said.
    She shook her head. “Sorry. This is an official interview.” This was the bullet-word Sheena, not the friendly one. I turned to Jon and raised one corner of my mouth. “See you tomorrow,” I said.
    Sheena pulled a U-turn on Jameson, and headed back towards King Street. “I thought we’d just cruise around a bit.” she said. “Rather than go to the station.”
    â€œSure. Is something wrong?”
    â€œIt’ll keep,” she said.
    We followed the Lakeshore to the Exhibition grounds, which were almost deserted. The lake was grey, and the sky was covered by a dirty-looking blanket of clouds.
    â€œIt’s about Raffi,” she said.
    I kept looking at the lake. “What about him?”
    â€œHow long has he been hanging around with your mom?”
    â€œI was eleven,” I said. “Four years. A little more.”
    â€œI was reading over your statement this morning...”
    I sighed. It was almost a relief to know what was coming.
    â€œAnd you were a little, uh, cute, weren’t you?” she said.
    â€œCute?” Sitting in the front seat of the cruiser meant I didn’t have to look at her, which was fine with me. She was looking at me though, I could see her out of the corner of my left eye.
    â€œIt’s
just Mom and me
. That’s what you said.”
    â€œThat Bud guy asked me who lived with us. I told the truth.”
    â€œYou implied that your mom was alone. That she didn’t have anybody.”
    I turned to her then. “He didn’t need to be so insulting! Even you saw that. Remember how you pretended to shoot him?”
    Sheena shook her head. “I didn’t tell you to lie! A cop can ask you anything he darn well wants, so long as it’s relevant to what he’s investigating. What interests me is why you were covering up for this guy”
    â€œCovering up?”
    â€œPretending he didn’t exist.”
    I sighed again. “One of his friends, another black guy, who hadn’t done anything bad at all, got shot by a cop just two days before! Raffi worries about things like that. The police scare him.”
    â€œI noticed. People can be scared of cops for lots of different reasons, I guess, but the most common one is that they’ve done something against the law.”
    â€œI didn’t lie,” I said.
    â€œYou misled the police,” she said.
    â€œWhat does it matter whether my mother has a boyfriend or not? What’s that got to do with anything?”
    â€œDon’t play smart games, Jess.”
    Another car pulled into the lot, circled around, then left. Sheena tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, like she was really irritated. She probably was. I swallowed hard.
    â€œIf you were me,” she said, “dealing with you, a witness to a crime, a witness who covered up for someone, what would you think?”
    When I