Chapter Ten

 

"He has a court date two weeks from now," Natasha told Taj as they watched the last fumes from the lawyer's vehicle disappear down the hill.

"Did you have to treat him like that?" Taj asked angrily. "It's as if you became a different person. Cold and impersonal."

Natasha rounded on him, her eyes flashing angrily. "I am a police officer. I was just doing my job! My job description does not involve mollycoddling criminals!"

"You looked like you enjoyed making him sweat," Taj said. "I saw a sneer on your face."

"Rape is no joke," Natasha said, "and if he did it he should pay for his crime."

"He didn't rape that girl," Taj hissed, "and you and I both know that. Micah has always tried to avoid her."

"When he is before us," Natasha snorted. "But who knows how he was with her behind our backs."

Taj shook his head vehemently. "Listen to me. Deidra has some serious issues. I don't know what they are because I am not treating her, but trust me, any sane man who has it together can spot those issues from a mile off."

"She is a victim!" Natasha spat.

Taj ran his fingers through his hair. "No she is not. She is the perpetrator of a crime here and the crime is against Micah. Stop thinking like a woman and start thinking like the police officer you claim to be!"

Natasha screwed up her eyes at him. "Run that by me again!"

"You heard me!" Taj said. "You have seen Deidra flirt and cajole her way, trying to get a reluctant Micah to notice her…hoping for his affections. You know that Micah is not the type to commit a rape. He is a loner…a man who thinks his way through things. He is no rapist!"

"Is that a medical conclusion or is it fueled with emotions because he is your recently discovered brother?" Natasha snarled. "If it is medical, maybe you can be a part of his defense team when this case goes to court, but let me tell you something mister…too long have girls reported rapes and the police, who should do better, turn the other way.

I have always vowed that under my watch, rape won't be a minor offense. Did you get that? I don't care who it is, or where the person is from, or what class they are in life. They deserve to be punished if they rape someone! Now, I have three rapes to investigate and one suspect. Let me do my job!"

She huffed when she finished. "If you will excuse me. I have work to do."

Taj watched her storm off. Her head held high, a certain aggression to her step and he sighed deeply. He got into his car and decided to go visit Micah. When he left here he had looked like all the stuffing had been pounded out of him.

He turned and headed in Micah's direction.

 

***

Natasha was so angry she felt as if she could punch something. The old gym that was at the back of the station had a punching bag and some weights. She headed to it, hauling on her gloves first—savagely pushing her fingers down into them.

"Where are you going?" Tony asked her as she walked down the corridor.

She growled in answer.

He looked alarmed but followed her at a measured pace and watched as she beat the daylights out of a 250 pound punching bag.

When she was done she was dripping with sweat and her anger was spent. She hated rape with a passion. Her very first case as a detective had been a rape case. The victim had been a ten-year-old girl. She had been afraid to talk at first because her rapist had threatened her life. They had gathered the limited evidence that they had at their disposal and found that the rapist was her father. Natasha had made excuses for him at first. He had cooperated with them and had been angry when they told him about the rape—he was almost livid, when all along he had been the one. She could see his face now in her mind's eye.

She thought about how shocked she was when she found out who the real rapist had been. Then and there, she had decided that she would not make excuses for anyone. After all, how did rapists look? They looked like everybody else and the people who denied the claims at first were usually the worst.

She had been giving Micah the benefit of the doubt until she found that pair of panties on the floor under his bed—and those wedding books that she mentioned had been thrown down on a table, as if she had run and left them there.

Maybe Deidra was a raving nymphomaniac, but she had a case and Micah's claims that he hadn't even touched her was bordering on the unbelievable.

 

"I got the information you asked me for," Tony said when she came back from the rickety shower dressed in fresh jeans and a polo shirt. Her head had sweated so profusely that she had washed her hair as well and combed it off her face, slicked back.

She sat in her office chair and looked at him quizzically. "Really? When did you find the time?"

"I was up at the crack of dawn." Tony grinned, his straight white teeth glistening.

"What do you have?" Natasha asked.

"Well," Tony looked through his papers, "Penelope Harris, the first victim, is pursuing her bachelors degree in Mass Communication and Media Studies. This is her final year. She works for the school's cable channel, Mount Faith Television. Along with two other co-hosts, Gilbert Hibbert and Dane Biggs, she has a segment on the channel called Wake Up Mount Faith.

Students like to tune in to the show because Penelope and Dane have a very acerbic rapport. Apparently, she puts him down and he retaliates giving viewers the best of the male and female viewpoint on things.

Natasha raised her eyebrows. "We have to check him out."

Tony nodded. "And Gilbert Hibbert too. His role is to act as pacifier when the two of them flare up at each other.

Next is Jiselle Newman, our second victim. She is a second year student in Journalism. Her father is Reverend Newman of the Stony Place Baptist Church. A couple miles up the hill. Her mother lectures here in the Psychology Department.

Natasha shook her head. "She had to be sedated last night. She was so distraught."

Tony scratched his chin. "I see no link to Micah Bancroft here. Neither of them has worked in the business center but of course, we need to explore further, how he could have come in contact with them. The glaring similarity with these two girls is that both are in the same area of study.

Natasha nodded. "What about Deidra? Managed to get any information on her?

Tony nodded. She's the daughter of government Senator, Edward Durkheim, who was a past student of Mount Faith and a very wealthy patron. He used to sit on the school board. Deidra is doing a Bachelor in Fashion Design. She is in her third year and doing extremely well, grade wise."

Tony looked over his paper again. "Her reign as beauty queen for the parish ends next week and she is a hot favorite to win Miss Jamaica Universe when she enters next year February."

Natasha smirked. "She's really pretty."

Tony frowned. "And maybe she is also lying? I may be fairly new at this detective thing but I am almost sure I can spot a fake rape report."

"And what if she's not lying?" Natasha asked. "What if Micah Bancroft snapped and attacked her? Are we just going to let it rest because she was the one chasing him?"

Tony shrugged. "It could have been consensual sex and not rape. She has no discernible bruises or even looks shaken up. Her stepsister did say that her story was mainly false. It's Deidra's word against Micah's. If his lawyer has any sense this will not see court."

Natasha sighed. "You are right. When I saw the panties under Micah's bed I almost exploded."

She put her face in her hand. "I quarreled with my boyfriend. I might have called him names. I don't remember. I was so incensed."

Tony grinned. "That punching bag really got a beating though."

Natasha sighed. "Senator Durkheim is high profile. He is going to put pressure on us to find evidence on Micah."

Tony crossed one leg over the other. "The Bancroft's are not without influence though."

"Well, back to the case that we are clear about." Natasha looked over Tony's papers. "We have to interview Penelope's two male co-hosts and check to see if there are any CCTV camera's near the Psychiatry Center."

"Already checked," Tony said. "There is none. The chief of security said that the area was not being used so there was no reason for cameras."

Natasha tapped her fingers on the desk. "That sucks. What were the common things that the girls said about this attacker?"

Tony pulled a piece of paper from the folder he had on the table. "They both said his voice sounded hoarse and that he smelled like gum."

"That's not really a lot to go on, is it?" Natasha leaned back in her chair. "They also said that he called them highhanded bitch."

Tony nodded. "That too."

Natasha snapped her fingers. "Did Penelope and Jiselle have any classes in common?"

Tony grinned. "Good point. Let me see."

He had a print out of their class schedules. He looked at both schedules in a timely manner. "No classes together." He shook his head disappointedly.

"Let's go find out if they have anything in common at all," Natasha said stridently.