Someone loved me after all: there was a whole pizza in the oven. I made myself a salad so I would eat something besides just pizza. I noticed that Mom and Peggy were missing.
“Where’s Mom?” I asked.
“She took Peggy and Little David shopping with Pam and Lacy. They’re furnishing the baby’s room,” Dad said.
I hated to imagine what that would cost, but it was for my son, so I just kept my mouth shut. I knew if I complained, my dad would tell Mom.
They let me eat before the talk began. I wasn’t surprised when Fritz took the lead.
“I think we should use this weekend as a wake-up call. David needs to have security with him when he leaves the house,” Fritz said.
“I was surrounded by state police all weekend,” I tried.
“Who were there to protect the governor and Senator Dixon,” my grandma said.
“David, this is happening,” Dad said. “I’ll admit I was glad you followed what Fritz told you to do, as far as notification is concerned. But you were two hours away from him being able to be there.”
“It also highlights that even though you didn’t do anything, unexpected things happen,” Uncle John said.
I pointed at Caryn.
“What?” she asked.
“Oh, I thought it was your turn to pile on,” I said.
Dad smacked me on the back of my head, to the amusement of everyone else.
“No, it was my turn,” Fritz said with a grin. “I’ll bring some of my team from California here. They’ll rotate in every couple of weeks until we find someone local. I also want you riding in that giant SUV you just bought.”
“But …” I began.
“We’ll figure out something when your son’s born. For now, Peggy would rather drive your jeep,” Dad said.
“I’ll also need the SUV for the next few days to make some modifications. I’ll pick you up in the morning and drive you to school,” Fritz said.
There was no sense in fighting it, so I just shrugged my acceptance.
“Now we need to talk about the real reason we’re here,” Dad said.
That had my attention. It was now Caryn’s turn.
“Mouse told me what she said to you.”
“That’s not a very nice nickname,” I deflected.
“She answers to it,” Caryn said.
“David’s right, Megan should be treated professionally,” Dad said.
“Well, if we’re done, I have homework,” I said and got up to leave.
“Sit down,” Dad said in a voice not to be denied.
I sat.
“Tell us what’s going on,” Grandma Dawson said.
I debated whether to say anything, but I noticed that Fritz looked uncomfortable. That made me wonder if he’d already told them. I took a deep breath. Now I understood why my mom wasn’t here. If she had been, the jig would’ve been up, and Brandon would have been tipped off that I was coming after him.
“On a recruiting trip, I took Alan and Tami with me. They had separate events for the recruits and their guests for evening entertainment, so we didn’t go to the same parties. When I got back to the hotel, I found them both naked and passed out in my bed.
“Megan told me she suspected Brandon Rigby had slipped something in their drinks and staged them to make it look like the two of them had sex. I honestly thought they had, at the time. What I now suspect happened is much more sinister: I think Brandon raped Tami,” I said.
By everyone’s reaction, Megan and Fritz hadn’t spilled the beans.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Did you call the police?” Uncle John asked.
“It’s not that simple. I have no proof of what happened to Tami. I got some help and found out more about Brandon. It seems he was in the equivalent of a fraternity at Harvard. Over the last couple of years, there have been multiple complaints of rape made against members of his frat. Somehow, no one ever put together that they might all be related.
“After I obtained that information, I talked to Bev Mass, and she contacted the DA in charge of the area where Harvard is located. They’d taken the investigations far enough to obtain rape kits, but none of them were ever processed, for one reason or another. I paid to get all the kits analyzed. Bev told me this weekend that there is a connection. The only problem is they don’t have DNA from Brandon or the other fraternity members in the system, so they don’t know who did it,” I said.
“Can’t they just take it from him?” Caryn asked.
“You would think so, but apparently you’re innocent until proven guilty. If they had a better case, they could compel Brandon to provide DNA. Bev said that now that they’ve put together the links between the multiple rapes, the police would become more aggressive in their investigation. She said they would build the needed case to get the DNA so it can be compared. She said to give it some time so they could do their job,” I said.
“When do you plan to tell Tami?” Uncle John asked.
“I’ll tell Tami and Alan when either the police do their job, or I’ve dealt with the situation myself,” I said.
“David!” my grandma and dad said at the same time.
“I’ll help him, if it comes to that,” Fritz said.
