should probably see how receptive he seemed, first. “How much longer do you think it’ll be? Any leads? Anything new?” Jacob stirred his barbecue chicken and vegetables. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Is it just a lack of witnesses? Because I don’t see how anyone could really hide anything from Carolyn and you.”
Jacob shook his head and focused on his food. “Vic, really. I don’t want to go over it. What do you think I’ve been doing all day?”
“But, I mean, maybe I could think of something. You know, like a fresh set of eyes.”
“The victim’s room was locked. Her rape kit came back negative. But she swears she’s been assaulted, penetrated everywhere—vaginal, oral and anal. And that the guy, whoever it is, taunts her the whole time, daring her to tell someone, because nobody’s going to believe her.” Jacob rubbed the stubble along either side of his goatee. “Carolyn says she’s telling the truth.”
On the surface it made no sense, but a case that didn’t make sense was nothing new to me. Obviously there was a loophole somewhere. It could’ve been anything as mundane as someone with a key sneaking in and assaulting the victim with a technique that didn’t show up in the tests. There was all kinds of medical equipment around, right? All it would take was a really sick mind to put some of those instruments to some screwed-up, per-verted use. Then again, it could’ve been something as exotic as an invisible sex demon.
Just for example. I’m sure that if it was an invisible sex demon, it would have some kind of fancy proper name that I hadn’t been paying attention to when they’d taught it at Camp Hell.
“You’ve cross-referenced the Psy-database at the Twelfth. Right?”
“That thing is five years out of date.” Jacob put his fork down. Hard. “I know you’re trying to help, but I just can’t…. I see her there, lying in her bed in that room, and I think, my God. What if that was my grandmother? What if that was my mother? I’ve got to do something, but I can’t figure out what to do.”
“And you’ve questioned the residents, the staff…?”
“I’m serious. I just can’t talk about it anymore, not right now. Give it a rest.”
“Did it happen just the one time? Or is it…?”
“Vic.” Jacob’s eyes snapped up and met mine. He meant business. “Trust me. I’m really not in the mood.”
I chewed on a shrimp that’d gone rubbery in my mouth. Cripes. I only wanted to help.
So much for softening him up so that we could talk about Camp Hell. “Okay, fine. Look, tomorrow’s my last day off, and I have no idea what to unpack. If you want to leave me a list or something, I’ll try to make some headway.”
Jacob’s shoulders relaxed marginally from my change of subject. “What do you want to unpack? What do you need first?”
I looked past Jacob into the kitchen, where my crappy laptop kept the countertop warm.
I wondered if I could segue into the Internet if we were on the subject of computers. Or better yet, I could make it seem as if it had just occurred to me to search for myself, and do it right in front of him. “Do we have a wireless uh…thing?”
“We do. You want the computer hooked up?”
He seemed surprised, and I didn’t blame him. I’d opened my laptop maybe twice in the four months we’d lived together in my old apartment. “Yeah. I mean, my laptop’s plugged in now, but I have to stand at the kitchen counter to use it.” Jacob nodded. “Okay. We can set mine up in the office, if you want. It’s faster.” And Crash’s little window full of “cyber” requests wouldn’t pop up on it either. Or would it? I’d never really understood how the Internet worked. I tried to imagine the mechanics of it. I drew a blank. Even so, I was pretty sure that the chat program with its stupid nickname, 69-whatever, was specific to my laptop. “Yeah. Let’s do that.” Jacob hauled the heavy computer boxes back upstairs while I
“Is it just a lack of witnesses? Because I don’t see how anyone could really hide anything from Carolyn and you.”
Jacob shook his head and focused on his food. “Vic, really. I don’t want to go over it. What do you think I’ve been doing all day?”
“But, I mean, maybe I could think of something. You know, like a fresh set of eyes.”
“The victim’s room was locked. Her rape kit came back negative. But she swears she’s been assaulted, penetrated everywhere—vaginal, oral and anal. And that the guy, whoever it is, taunts her the whole time, daring her to tell someone, because nobody’s going to believe her.” Jacob rubbed the stubble along either side of his goatee. “Carolyn says she’s telling the truth.”
On the surface it made no sense, but a case that didn’t make sense was nothing new to me. Obviously there was a loophole somewhere. It could’ve been anything as mundane as someone with a key sneaking in and assaulting the victim with a technique that didn’t show up in the tests. There was all kinds of medical equipment around, right? All it would take was a really sick mind to put some of those instruments to some screwed-up, per-verted use. Then again, it could’ve been something as exotic as an invisible sex demon.
Just for example. I’m sure that if it was an invisible sex demon, it would have some kind of fancy proper name that I hadn’t been paying attention to when they’d taught it at Camp Hell.
“You’ve cross-referenced the Psy-database at the Twelfth. Right?”
“That thing is five years out of date.” Jacob put his fork down. Hard. “I know you’re trying to help, but I just can’t…. I see her there, lying in her bed in that room, and I think, my God. What if that was my grandmother? What if that was my mother? I’ve got to do something, but I can’t figure out what to do.”
“And you’ve questioned the residents, the staff…?”
“I’m serious. I just can’t talk about it anymore, not right now. Give it a rest.”
“Did it happen just the one time? Or is it…?”
“Vic.” Jacob’s eyes snapped up and met mine. He meant business. “Trust me. I’m really not in the mood.”
I chewed on a shrimp that’d gone rubbery in my mouth. Cripes. I only wanted to help.
So much for softening him up so that we could talk about Camp Hell. “Okay, fine. Look, tomorrow’s my last day off, and I have no idea what to unpack. If you want to leave me a list or something, I’ll try to make some headway.”
Jacob’s shoulders relaxed marginally from my change of subject. “What do you want to unpack? What do you need first?”
I looked past Jacob into the kitchen, where my crappy laptop kept the countertop warm.
I wondered if I could segue into the Internet if we were on the subject of computers. Or better yet, I could make it seem as if it had just occurred to me to search for myself, and do it right in front of him. “Do we have a wireless uh…thing?”
“We do. You want the computer hooked up?”
He seemed surprised, and I didn’t blame him. I’d opened my laptop maybe twice in the four months we’d lived together in my old apartment. “Yeah. I mean, my laptop’s plugged in now, but I have to stand at the kitchen counter to use it.” Jacob nodded. “Okay. We can set mine up in the office, if you want. It’s faster.” And Crash’s little window full of “cyber” requests wouldn’t pop up on it either. Or would it? I’d never really understood how the Internet worked. I tried to imagine the mechanics of it. I drew a blank. Even so, I was pretty sure that the chat program with its stupid nickname, 69-whatever, was specific to my laptop. “Yeah. Let’s do that.” Jacob hauled the heavy computer boxes back upstairs while I
Similar Books
