my panty hose up and sort of played with it for a minute, rubbing it on his face. I'm thinking, this is a real fruitcake, all the time I was sitting there frozen, part of my mind was clear as a bell, observing it, looking for a way to make a break.
"Then he came over and wrapped the panty hose around my head, the seat part, and knotted the legs around my neck, tight, but not enough to cut off the air. Just to hold them on. I thought, this is it, he's going to strangle me.
"But he backed away and said, 'Spread your legs and show me your cunt! Wider, wider! So I did. He made me pull my knees way up. Then he must have bent over, because the next thing I felt was the knife poking around down there, between my legs."
"Did he cut you?" Marlene asked as calmly as she could.
"No, he just poked around the… area, just hard enough not to break the skin. Look, could I have a drink of water? Talking about this, my throat is clamping up."
Marlene poured a paper cup of water from the carafe on her desk. After the woman had drunk it down, she continued.
"While he was doing this he was insulting and threatening me, like saying stuff like, 'I should cut it out, bitch,' and 'I ought to fuck you with this, you whore.' He was really working himself up. I was concentrating on not wetting myself, that's how scared I was.
"Then he raped me. It hurt like crazy but at least it was over fast. He lasted about eight seconds. Then he stood up and grabbed my head and rubbed his genitals on the panty hose. That was it. He left."
"He didn't say anything as he left?"
"He might have. I can't remember."
"I don't guess you kept the panty hose."
"No, that was a dumb move, I realize it now. But I wasn't thinking of that at the moment. I buried them in the trash and took a shower for about an hour and a half. And then took a bunch of Valium. Which was another dumb move. I should have just gone down to the emergency room and had them take a sample. Now I know, but I, um… but I'd never been raped before."
Caputo sat silently for a moment, taking deep breaths. Tears oozed slowly from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Marlene passed her a box of tissues, without comment. She completed her card and resisted the temptation to glance at her watch; she was due in court in a few minutes, but something was nagging at her mind and she didn't want to let it go.
She slid one of her shoeboxes across the desk. What was that woman's name? Feldman? Rosenberg? She started shuffling through the files, muttering and cursing quietly.
"What are you doing?" asked JoAnne Caputo.
"Oh, sorry. It just occurred to me that your rapist may have done it before-that trick with the panty hose. I had a woman in here a couple of weeks ago with a similar story, but I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten her name. I have them filed by name, and there are over two thousand."
Caputo leaned forward. "You don't have them cross-indexed?"
Marlene shook her head. "No, see, this is strictly amateur hour. It's a shoebox with cards. I've been trying to get some better analysis, but there's all kinds of problems…" Now Marlene did look at her watch. Almost out of time.
"Let me see the card," said Caputo.
Marlene passed it across the desk and Caputo read both sides. "I see the problem. A lot of the key information is in text fields-what he said, what he did. You'd have to input the whole field as text and then do a string search subroutine to pull matches out. SPSS could handle it, or you could write a little Fortran program."
"You know about this stuff?" Marlene asked hopefully.
"It's what I do. I told you I worked at NYU. I'm in social stat."
"I'm afraid to ask," said Marlene. "Would it be possible…?"
"Would it help to find that bastard?"
"Girl, it's about the only way there is."
"OK, give me the boxes. I'll start right away."
"You can do it? Just like that?"
"No," said Caputo, her face tightening. "I'll have to steal and lie and forge my boss's signature and do nothing else for
"Then he came over and wrapped the panty hose around my head, the seat part, and knotted the legs around my neck, tight, but not enough to cut off the air. Just to hold them on. I thought, this is it, he's going to strangle me.
"But he backed away and said, 'Spread your legs and show me your cunt! Wider, wider! So I did. He made me pull my knees way up. Then he must have bent over, because the next thing I felt was the knife poking around down there, between my legs."
"Did he cut you?" Marlene asked as calmly as she could.
"No, he just poked around the… area, just hard enough not to break the skin. Look, could I have a drink of water? Talking about this, my throat is clamping up."
Marlene poured a paper cup of water from the carafe on her desk. After the woman had drunk it down, she continued.
"While he was doing this he was insulting and threatening me, like saying stuff like, 'I should cut it out, bitch,' and 'I ought to fuck you with this, you whore.' He was really working himself up. I was concentrating on not wetting myself, that's how scared I was.
"Then he raped me. It hurt like crazy but at least it was over fast. He lasted about eight seconds. Then he stood up and grabbed my head and rubbed his genitals on the panty hose. That was it. He left."
"He didn't say anything as he left?"
"He might have. I can't remember."
"I don't guess you kept the panty hose."
"No, that was a dumb move, I realize it now. But I wasn't thinking of that at the moment. I buried them in the trash and took a shower for about an hour and a half. And then took a bunch of Valium. Which was another dumb move. I should have just gone down to the emergency room and had them take a sample. Now I know, but I, um… but I'd never been raped before."
Caputo sat silently for a moment, taking deep breaths. Tears oozed slowly from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Marlene passed her a box of tissues, without comment. She completed her card and resisted the temptation to glance at her watch; she was due in court in a few minutes, but something was nagging at her mind and she didn't want to let it go.
She slid one of her shoeboxes across the desk. What was that woman's name? Feldman? Rosenberg? She started shuffling through the files, muttering and cursing quietly.
"What are you doing?" asked JoAnne Caputo.
"Oh, sorry. It just occurred to me that your rapist may have done it before-that trick with the panty hose. I had a woman in here a couple of weeks ago with a similar story, but I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten her name. I have them filed by name, and there are over two thousand."
Caputo leaned forward. "You don't have them cross-indexed?"
Marlene shook her head. "No, see, this is strictly amateur hour. It's a shoebox with cards. I've been trying to get some better analysis, but there's all kinds of problems…" Now Marlene did look at her watch. Almost out of time.
"Let me see the card," said Caputo.
Marlene passed it across the desk and Caputo read both sides. "I see the problem. A lot of the key information is in text fields-what he said, what he did. You'd have to input the whole field as text and then do a string search subroutine to pull matches out. SPSS could handle it, or you could write a little Fortran program."
"You know about this stuff?" Marlene asked hopefully.
"It's what I do. I told you I worked at NYU. I'm in social stat."
"I'm afraid to ask," said Marlene. "Would it be possible…?"
"Would it help to find that bastard?"
"Girl, it's about the only way there is."
"OK, give me the boxes. I'll start right away."
"You can do it? Just like that?"
"No," said Caputo, her face tightening. "I'll have to steal and lie and forge my boss's signature and do nothing else for
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