We all would—this is why no one came forward. Not about the suspected cameras or the basement. Not about things going missing or boys being beaten up in parking lots. It’s the same narrative you get when you hear about corrupt officers and find out the entire department was involved. It’s war. Us against them. Never mind those drugs were planted, never mind the weapons were recovered through illegal means. I will fight and die for my brother without ever stopping to examine who I’m fighting for and why I’m so eager to die to begin with.

I shake my head. “But Colin told you to fuck off.”

“Yeah. After the basement, he was furious.”

“So why didn’t Colin go to the university? I mean, if he was that pissed about what happened…”

Tripp stares at me.

“Right,” I say, feeling like an idiot. “Because of Michael’s father.” I drum my knuckles on the steering wheel. Colin would have known that Ed Williams was the university president—a fact I’m sure Michael lorded over the pledges at every opportunity. What would President Williams have done? I remember his face when he came to the station—blank, emotionless. He wasn’t furious at the flagrant misdeeds of his son’s fraternity or concerned about the welfare of the boys scattered across the floor. He was doing damage control. Just like Jay when Katie found out. I thought his love for her made him come clean, but really, he was trying to keep her quiet. And then he hid his phone where he knew his brothers and Colin couldn’t find it.

“Then why didn’t Colin come to us?” I ask. “To the Athens Banner Herald? Or the AJC?” I can think of any number of news organizations that would have loved to rehash all the sordid details.

“Because of what was on the video,” Tripp says.

I think of the boys crawling on their hands and knees. The buckets of waste.

“Colin was forced to wear the handcuffs,” I say.

Tripp looks up, surprised I know this. “Yeah,” he says gruffly. “He was. But do you know why?”

“Torture? Humiliation?” I offer.

Tripp shakes his head. “He snapped—in the basement. Started flailing. Broke another kid’s nose. Kept punching. The other pledges pulled him off, put him in the cuffs. We had to take the kid he hit to the emergency care unit. Say he fell down the stairs…” His voice trails off. “Jay edited the video, blurred out everyone’s face but Colin’s. They’d all been drinking, but Colin—he looked deranged. Dangerous.”