Prologue


STANLEY WADE YELNATS

THE INTERROGATION (PART 1)

Date: November, 7th
Time: 7:42 pm
Location: Green Lake County Police Department

Conducted by Officers of GLPD

OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTION OF POLICE INTERVIEW

-START PAGE ONE OF TRANSCRIPT—

NEWBERG: Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Yelnats. I just need to ask you a few questions.

YELNATS: Am I under arrest?

NEWBERG: My name is Detective Debbie Newberg. For the record, today is Monday November 7th, at 7:42 pm. We are located at the Green Lake County Police Department. This interview is being recorded. Mr. Yelnats, I'd like to remind you that at any time, being that you are not under arrest, you are free to leave whenever you wish.

YELNATS: Okay.

NEWBERG: Also, even though you are not under arrest, you have still have the right to remain silent and you have the right to an attorney.

YELNATS: Okay.

NEWBERG: Would you please state your full name for the record.

YELNATS: Stanley Wade Yelnats…IV

NEWBERG: …Your last name is your first name backwards?

YELNATS: Yes.

NEWBERG: Hmm, I've never seen that before. [Clears throat.] And state your date of birth.

YELNATS: [Redacted]

NEWBERG: And please state your address.

YELNATS: [Redacted]

NEWBERG: Thank you, that's all that background information I need. I'd like to state, for the record, that we are here so I can ask you a few questions regarding the accident. If at any time I ask a question you don't understand, please feel free to ask me to clarify. If at any point you don't know how to answer a question, you can say 'I don't know'. All I'm looking for is the truth here, to understand the events that lead up to and happened after the accident. Do you understand?

YELNATS: Yes, ma'am.

NEWBERG: [Unintelligible]

YELNATS: Sorry, ma'am'. Er…detective.

NEWBERG: [Clears throat] Do you also understand that, although you are not under arrest, you are still a suspect in this case and anything you say today may be used later as evidence?

YELNATS: Y-yes, I understand.

NEWBERG: How's your arm?

YELNATS: It's okay. I can get the cast off in a few weeks.

NEWBERG: …Let's start at the beginning. How do you know Ricky Williams?

YELNATS: He's…I mean, I met him when I joined the school's baseball team last year.

NEWBERG: And what school is that?

YELNATS: Barlow High School.

NEWBERG: And what year are you in?

YELNATS: I'm a sophomore.

NEWBERG: And you play for the baseball team?

YELNATS: No. Not exactly. That is…I mean, look at me. I'm not exactly in the right shape. I handle the stats with my friend Hector.

NEWBERG: Hector?

YELNATS: Hector Zeroni. He's the team manager.

NEWBERG: I see. And Ricky is a player on the team?

YELNATS: Yes, he's a pitcher.

NEWBERG: And you're friends?

YELNATS: Yes. I became friends with a few guys from the team.

NEWBERG: And who may they be?

YELNATS: José Martinez, Alan Carson, Rex Washburn, and Theodore Johnson.

NEWBERG: And you were all present at the party that Ricky was last known to have attended?

YELNATS: Yeah. I mean, yes. We all decided to go to the Homecoming party that a few seniors had thrown. We didn't intend to go at first but we had nothing else to do after the big football game.

NEWBERG: You all arrived at the party together?

YELNATS: Yes. Kind of. We got there at the same time but we took a few cars.

NEWBERG: Whose idea was it to attend the party?

YELNATS: Rex's.

NEWBERG: And who threw the party?

YELNATS: [Pause]

NEWBERG: For the record, please.

YELNATS: Will he be arrested?

NEWBERG: We may have to bring him in for questioning. That's all we're doing at the moment. The name of the boy, please.

YELNATS: Ben Winchester.

NEWBERG: Thank you. You arrived at the party and…?

YELNATS: And we kind of split up. Hector and I ended up looking through Ben's parent's vinyl collection. Um…José was chatting with some girls. Rex…I think he was playing cards with some of the seniors. Theodore was playing Ping-Pong and Alan and Ricky were out in the backyard.

NEWBERG: What were they doing?

YELNATS: [Pause]

NEWBERG: For the record, please.

YELNATS: I don't want to get anyone into trouble.

NEWBERG: No one's in trouble. We need to know everything that happened that night.

YELNATS: …Okay. They were outside smoking.

NEWBERG: Smoking?

YELNATS: Yes. Smoking. I'm not sure what but they were smoking.

NEWBERG: And that's all?

YELNATS: Yes. That's all I saw, anyway.

NEWBERG: That's all you saw?

YELNATS: Yes. Parties…aren't exactly my thing. I only went because the team was going.

NEWBERG: I see. And you were the first of your group to leave?

YELNATS: Yes, I had a curfew I needed to make.

NEWBERG: And Ricky asked you for a ride.

YELNATS: Yes.

NEWBERG: What time would you say it was when you left?

YELNATS: Umm…I don't know. 11…11:15? Around there.

NEWBERG: And what state would you say Ricky was in?

YELNATS: I…I don't understand.

NEWBERG: Was he drunk? Was he high? Was he under the influence of something?

YELNATS: No! I mean…I couldn't tell. He seemed the same to me.

NEWBERG: Can you tell me, in your words, what happened moments before the accident?

YELNATS: [Inhales] We were talking about the party as I drove in the direction of his home. He lives near me; sometimes I drive him to school. We were just talking about some of our classmates, hookups, that sort of thing. We were listening to, um, Mumford and Sons I think. I had stopped at a stop sign and looked both ways before proceeding. I had started to come up a hill when…[Pause]

NEWBERG: I know it's hard. But I need your account on the events.

YELNATS: [Audibly swallows, voice shaky] I had…had just started to come up a hill when the car was flooded with lights. Someone…came flying over the top of the hill and landed on my side of the road. I…I didn't know what to do. They came at me so fast. There was this really loud bang and everything stopped. The car, the music, everything. Then the lights went away and I couldn't see much. But I could see Ricky…and I wished I couldn't. I wish I didn't. I wish we'd never gone to that party. I…I wish… [Pause]

NEWBERG: I think now's a good time to take a break.

-END OF RECORDING-


A/N: So, what did you think? I've been wanting to do a Holes story set in high school for a while now. I hope you all like this prologue. Also, part of me wants to include Mickey from my other Holes story in this but I'm not sure if I'm going to yet. This was also party inspired by A.V. Geiger's Follow Me Back. Please read and review!

~C.M.