Deadly Illusions(58)

“He told me that he’d like a Dateline interview,” Finn added. “He thinks he deserves one so he can stand up to his alleged victims and tell the real story.”

Mandy reached her hand out, wrapping her small fingers around Finn’s forearm. She knew what was coming next.

“Oh, and then he told me if I really wanted to get her going in bed, I should yank her hair and make her cry,” Finn said, his voice trembling, his eyes forlorn. “He said it was better when she screamed and, not to worry, even if I had to force her at first, she would eventually just lay there and take it.”

Mandy’s heart broke as Finn sank to the floor in the stairwell, his head dropping into his hands as his voice thickened with unshed tears. Mandy sat down next to him, rubbing his back soothingly, content to let him regroup on his own terms.

“That guy is an animal,” James said, kneeling down so he could meet Finn’s gaze. “He’s a rabid animal. He should be put down.”

“I can’t believe he said that to you,” Mandy said, brushing away a stray tear of her own.

“He enjoyed saying it to me,” Finn said. “I went in there pretending I was just an investigator working on the case. He somehow knew, though. I don’t know how he knew.”

“That’s how he got away with doing the horrible things he did for so long,” James said. “He knows how to read people.”

“The thing is, once he said it, everything kind of snapped into place,” Finn said. “She was always so scared, so unsure. She woke up screaming in the night – and it wasn’t because some guy tried to throw acid on her at the boat show, or her apartment building burned down. No, it was because he … he … . All of the signs were there. I didn’t see them.”

Mandy and James exchanged a look.

“Maybe you didn’t want to see,” James suggested. “Maybe you wanted something you could fix, so you tried to pretend something else was going on.”

Finn sucked in a shaky breath. “You knew, didn’t you?”

James shifted uncomfortably. “No,” he lied.

“How long have you known?” Finn asked.

“A couple of days,” Mandy supplied. “I found out when I pulled the Lance Pritchard file at the office on Tuesday.”

Finn was silent, contemplating.

“I wasn’t trying to invade her privacy,” Mandy said. “I thought, if we could get our hands on the witness list, it would make the search for Emma’s attacker that much easier.”

“I’m not blaming you.” Finn’s voice was small and muffled. “What did the file say?”

“It said that Emma was checked out by state medical personnel after her father was arrested,” Mandy said. “She was just barely a ward of the state. In fact, she turned eighteen two weeks after he was arrested – but the investigators used her age to their advantage and put her through a complete medical workup and psychological testing.”

Finn rubbed the heel of his hand against his burning eye. “And?”

“And the doctor determined that Emma had been raped repeatedly over the course of the past five to six years, starting at about the age of twelve,” Mandy said.

Finn choked out a sob, lowering his chin to his crossed arms as they rested on his knees. “And she testified in court?”

“No,” Mandy said, shaking her hand. “The file says she denied any sexual abuse. She would only testify about what she saw in the house – not about anything pertaining to her.”

“So, she covered for him,” Finn said.

“She didn’t cover for him,” Mandy argued. “She protected herself.”

“How is that protecting herself?” Finn asked. “If she had testified, she could have saved those other boys from testifying.”

Mandy held out her hands, palms up, and shrugged helplessly. “Sexual assault victims don’t want to talk about it, Finn. She was terrorized as a child. She was … forced. She was forced by the one man who was supposed to protect her. She wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. She wasn’t trying to protect him. She was trying to keep herself sane.”

Finn shook his head. “Why didn’t she tell me?”

Mandy pursed her lips. “I can’t speak for Emma,” she said. “I can make a guess, though.”

Finn waited for her to continue.

“I think that Emma didn’t tell you because she knew you would look at her differently,” Mandy said.

“What?”

“I made the mistake of telling James, and he couldn’t help but stare at her all week,” Mandy said. “It was making her uncomfortable.”