Parsons sighed loudly. I know that. I’m sorry. I’m just not looking forward to this shit show. I can feel a bad ending. One way or another. I feel it in my gut. He’s gonna have a whole team of people crawling up my ass.
“And yet it has to have one, doesn’t it? It has to end,” I said calmly. “Have you asked Sullivan and his wife about it?”
They claim it’s an honest mistake. But the bills from the club don’t lie. There’s one charge from the wine dinner. The tab was signed by the wife, Fran. Sullivan has no alibi.
“I see.”
And he has that record in Florida. The world is gonna eat this up. He’ll have to come out swinging.
“I imagine that’s true,” I said. I did not challenge him on his conclusion about Bob’s innocence. It didn’t matter what Parsons thought. What mattered was the fear in his voice. This was the sort of “fucking crap” that ruined a man’s career.
“What happens next?”
He already hired a lawyer. Some shark from Hartford. Karl Shuman. Got those gangbangers off back in the late ’90s.
“I remember that case.”
Made a name for himself. Now he just handles anyone who can afford him. And now we can’t go near Bob unless we formally detain him. Bring him in for questioning. That’s when the press will know. That’s when this whole thing blows up.
“I am sorry you have to deal with this. I wish I could help you more.”
Alan, please, can’t you just say whether this will stand up or not? Give me a little wink or a nod. Anything? I gotta make a decision here.
“The truth is, Detective, that it wouldn’t matter if I gave you a wink or a nod. Nothing that has happened in this office would ever be admissible. That’s the trouble with this treatment all these victims are getting. Even after a memory is recovered, there’s just too much uncertainty for the law to give it any weight. I’ve read the cases, the decisions. These patients get beat up on the stand, and the court has to allow it.”
Parsons was silent for a moment. He did not want to hang up the phone in the same state of mental chaos he’d been in when he dialed my number. He was in a box, and there was no way out. If he did nothing and the press found out there was enough to move forward, he would be called out as a panderer to the rich and powerful. But if he dragged Fairview’s golden child through the mud for no reason, there would be lawsuits and private investigators. With lawsuits came dismissals. With the PIs would come close scrutiny of his efforts to solve the case, of which he seemed increasingly fearful. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. The only way out was if Bob Sullivan was guilty. And he was not.
Poor Detective Parsons.
Chapter Twenty-nine
The seeds of doubt grow like weeds when given enough sun. Enough water. Enough nurturing.
Charlotte sat in my office at her next visit with her doubt about Bob sprouting from her pores. She had not seen him again, but he had called her to tell her about the problem with the alibi and his new lawyer. He would not come off his story that he was at that dinner. And yet there were no more flirtatious text messages. No more pictures of his erect penis. He was being careful like a guilty person is careful.
“I’m sorry things with Bob are troubling you. Sorry because I can see you’re anxious about it.”
I am. It’s very troubling. I mean, what is he hiding? I even asked him, I said, “Just tell me where you were that night. If you were with another woman, then I’ll deal with it.” He just kept saying he was at the club and everyone was persecuting him because of his run for the seat and his money and blah blah blah. He was overselling it, you know?
“Yes. It sounds very strange, and I can see why you are concerned.” I let that sit for a moment. “How has Jenny been since the group session?”
The same. She was doing so well before she remembered the voice. And now she just seems to have given up. It’s like she doesn’t believe in the therapy anymore and is just resigned to being in constant pain. God, it’s so hard to watch. And worry—all over again.
“I see. I thought maybe the session would have changed that. There was a somewhat graphic disclosure by one of my other patients. Another rape victim. I was going to stop it because I am always very cognizant of Jenny’s age. But I let it go. It was not that disturbing in and of itself. But it was of the moment of first penetration, and that is the one memory Jenny has regained of that night.”
Charlotte’s eyes got wide and she sat up on the edge of the sofa. I didn’t realize she’d told you in that much detail.
“Well, of course. What did you think happened in that session?”
I don’t know. I guess I thought she just remembered it and told you she remembered it. I haven’t wanted to ask her the details. But I did not realize she told you.… It just seems … so personal. Not that it’s wrong. Oh, I don’t know what I’m saying!
“No—it’s fine. It is strange to think that your daughter described this act to me, a man, in such a sterile environment.”