Chapter 28

Sunday was an interesting day. We were awakened to the light being turned on and Patty walking into the room and snorting at the smell. We were all still mostly asleep when she lit one of the scented candles to try to clear the smell of sex from the room.

She pulled the desk chair over while the girls all tried to go back to sleep. “I was starting to worry about your reputation, Matt. I haven’t heard of anyone screaming in this room for a while. You missed breakfast. Lilly told us that she was awakened in the middle of the night by a scream like murder being committed.”

“It was a long night,” I mumbled, still trying to adjust to the light.

“Care to share?” she asked lightly.

“A hundred and four minutes. There were no survivors.”

“An impressive win,” she said. She wasn’t surprised. I’d done enough in the past three months that she rarely became shocked by anything I did. “I made lunch. Shall I pull the blanket and make everyone move?”

“Remember how well that went last time?”

“Yes, but none of these girls are Lana or Beck. If they say something mortifying, they’re not saying it to their mother.”

“True. Still, give us a few minutes to get dressed and we’ll be up.”

She nodded and left the room. I poked Emma and Zoe. They both moaned that they wanted to go back to sleep. “Two choices. Who wants what Hanna got last night and who wants to have lunch?”

“Uh, lunch sounds good,” Emma mumbled and struggled out of bed. Zoe was only a step behind her.

Hanna took another minute to convince to move and when she got to her feet, she was positively hobbling. “What did you do to me?!!?” she wailed, stepping awkwardly into a pair of sweats. The other girls giggled at her condition and the three of us helped her up the stairs when we were all dressed.

Lana and Beck were sitting at the table and laughed when they saw how Hanna was walking. “We heard that it was a hard night,” Beck said. “No one seemed to know who got the worst of it.”

“We’ll let you know when the autopsies are finished,” I told her, guiding Hanna to a seat and then dropping into one with a groan of strained muscles.

Patty mercifully had outdone herself with help from Lilly. And there was a full salad, a plate of sandwiches, a large bowl of cut fruit, chicken vegetable stew, a plate of pickles and fresh rolls.

Zoe and Emma were skeptical of the amount of food, but the four of us were starved. We attacked our food like we hadn’t eaten in days.

“Patty, this is delicious,” I told her and everyone agreed with me.

“I clearly need to leave you with a few spare meals in the fridge on the weekends,” she laughed, seeing how quickly the food disappeared.

Lana had slid her sandwich over to me and I split it with Hanna. The two of us were just starting to feel satisfied. “I swear, we’ve been eating. I made tacos on Friday and we went out to eat last night.”

“I know. You get like this every time you fuck someone half to death,” she assured me. “I’ll put a little something you can heat up easily in the fridge on Fridays. If you devour it in the middle of the night, that’s what it’s there for. If not, it saves you from cooking for yourself for a night or two.”

Hanna seemed comfortable with the banter since I was and Emma knew enough of my past to know we weren’t on uncharted ground, but Zoe was still finding her feet here and I noticed.

“Can we talk about something that might make Zoe a little more comfortable,” I asked kindly. “No one’s doing anything wrong, but she’s had to process just how close we are this weekend and it’s a little unsettling at first.”

They nodded and the topic turned toward questions about my visit with Charlotte the day before. “It went better than I could have possibly asked for,” I told them. “She’s calm and Dr. Spencer’s been keeping her up to date about some of what’s going on around here. I told her I’d ask Dr. Spencer to authorize visits from Lilly and she was very much like her old self. I told her that we were all in a better place since the last time she saw us and that we’re all hoping she can come home soon.”

They were all glad to hear that she was doing well and asked me a lot of questions, from how she looked to what she needed.

Soon it was time to go to my dance class and Hanna said she wanted to go home and soak in a hot bath. Emma and Zoe were going back to the dorms and catch up on some studying. I asked if I could get dropped off along the way, but Lana offered to take me instead.

We all left the house together, Beck opting to stay home today. The two of us drove in a comfortable silence and she stayed to watch the class for the two hours we ran through new routines and old.

When we were about to leave, she turned on the car to start the heater, but turned toward me, obviously wanting to talk. “I talked to some of the girls yesterday,” she started. “Some of them are willing to talk to their parents and get tested, but others are adamant that their parents not know. Is there anything we can do to help them?”

I took out my phone and called my expert on matters medical. Normally I’d call Victoria, but I felt Samantha was a better option. She answered right away and I told her I needed a doctor’s advice.

“That sounds ominous considering I’m your bondage mentor,” she said. “What’s on your mind.”

“I’ll be blunt. There was a party that was thrown early in September. The people that threw the party drugged about 60 girls and subjected them to a three day rape-rally. Some of the girls don’t want their parents to know what happened, but they need to be tested for pregnancy, diseases and infections. It’s still about three weeks early to do the HIV antibody screening from what I’ve read, but is there a way for them to get their tests without their parents being involved?”

“Jesus Christ! Why haven’t I heard about that?!!?” she wanted to know.

“No one reported it. I’m fourteen and I know how rape victims are treated. You must have seen first hand how cops act when a rape exam is needed.”

“Yeah. You’re right. And this was in September? No physical evidence to process at this point.”

“Even if there was, all the victims were loaded with drugs on purpose before the first zipper dropped. We’re talking about thousands of assaults over a three day period. Most of them barely remember the weekend. Shaky timelines, hazy recollections, victims that were high at the time, accused who’ll cover for each other? That trial would be a cheery event.”

“Well, what are YOU gonna do about it?” she asked. “Don’t try to tell me you don’t have a plan.”

“First, I intend to help those girls make sure they’re not sick with something or pregnant with something. Normally I’d never suggest an abortion, but to force a girl to carry a rapist’s baby? If any girl is pregnant and wants that, I’ll help her however I can. My objection doesn’t give me the right to tell them what to do when their bodies are involved.”

“That’s not what I mean,” she said. “That’s all well and good and I’m glad you’re thinking of it, but what are you gonna do about the attackers?”

“Assuming I get the opportunity, I think they’ll die screaming,” I said. “I might want the help of someone skilled in treating injuries just for the sake of making sure they don’t die too quickly on me. Maybe a vet or a trauma surgeon who agrees that there’s no forgiveness for what they did.”

“I don’t think you’d have any trouble finding someone willing to help,” she said darkly.

“I’m glad we understand each other. What about the tests for the girls?”

“There’s a clinic that can do the tests for girls and they’ll keep the information confidential, send it to them or text them when the results are in.”

“Is there any charge for it?” I asked. “I know the HIV screening isn’t cheap.”

“The rest of the tests are fine. That one can be up to $70 for the rapid return on results.”

“Can I go down there and set up an account to pay for them or just take the girls in when it’s time?”

“You’re paying for the tests?” she asked, surprised. “Why?”

“Because these assholes ruined a lot of lives, mine included by what they did to those girls and because there’s a video on YouTube of me putting them in the hospital on Halloween. I’ve made about $2 million on that video in advertising revenue. The video itself has given some of them peace of mind that someone did something to stop them. I can at least use some of that money to ensure that they’re all walking away from the experience without worrying about disease or pregnancy.”

“Okay,” she said and gave me the clinic address. “Just take them down when it’s time and they’ll take cash or card.”

“Thanks, Samantha,” I said gratefully. “Is that clinic open on weekends?”

“They’ll be shut down for the day soon, but they’re open evenings through the week. Call me when you’ve managed to capture the creeps that did this. I’ll be there.”

“Once we talk it all out, we may give some rough treatment to the people that paid to be at that party too,” I advised. “Some of those girls were virgins when they arrived at that party. The people that paid for that deserve to be fed into a wood chipper too.”

“Agreed. In any case, call me. I’ll help out when I can.”

“Thanks again. I’ll see you Wednesday.”

“I’m sure you look forward to it,” she laughed and hung up.

I sighed and told Lana about the clinic the girls could go to for their results. “They can use our address or ask them to get notified by text to pick up the results. When it comes time to get the HIV tests, the test costs some money and I’ll pay for them to get the rapid results.”

She nodded and took my hand, squeezing it tightly. “Thank you for doing all this,” she said softly. “It means a lot. That video of you on Halloween makes the girls trust you. They know you’re not like the other guys.”

I squeezed her hand back reassuringly. “I’m glad to do it to help give them some peace of mind. Can you get the word out that I want to meet again on Monday after school. We’ll give them the info and take them down to the clinic in groups.”

She nodded and then we went home. I felt like my weekend had been exactly what Victoria had warned me against and I thought I should call her.

When she answered the phone, she was immediately worried, but I told her I wasn’t critical, just needed to talk a little. She asked me what was going on and I told her about figuring out what had happened with Lana and Beck, how many other girls were involved, my visit with my mother, Tricia’s father, the sex on Saturday night and my conversation with Samantha.

“Careful, Matt,” she cautioned. “I’m not telling you not to be angry about what those boys did. I’m not even telling you they don’t deserve it, but there are two standpoints that you need to be cautious from. First is a law enforcement issue. Their crimes don’t justify yours in the eyes of the law. That said, I’m sure that if you did decide to make them disappear, they would absolutely disappear. You’d have an alibi, a way to destroy forensics and a method of disposing of any unfortunate corpses,” she said dryly. “The other thing I want to caution you about is Miranda. You internalize guilt. I don’t want you to backslide into the spiral you were on with her death.”

“I understand. Trust me when I say that I have personally looked into enough anguished faces to convince me that there is no redeeming value in either of them. For better or worse, the third person responsible was sent across the country by her parents to get her out of the line of fire.”

“That’s one worry resolved,” she said, hearing the steel in my voice. “I know better than to talk you out of something when you’re absolutely certain about it, so I’m going to ask you to be ABSOLUTELY certain about things before you act. I’ve worked with enough rape victims to know that the act should come with a death sentence. Victims can be whole again with time and support, but they’re never the same as they were.”

“It’s worse. Some of those girls were virgins when that party started.”

She was silent for a moment and I could hear her breathing. “Be absolutely certain before you do anything,” she repeated. “Remember, if you get caught doing something you shouldn’t, the study is in dire jeopardy of being shut down. That’s Carl’s legacy and we all want it to succeed.”

“I understand. I expect that they’ll come after me. They’re being offered a plea deal for the events of Halloween. When they come after me, that’ll be another trip to the hospital for them. If I do some damage that impairs their mobility long term, they can easily be picked up later and the attack would be considered self-defense.”

“I think it’s better for you to stick within the bounds of self defense and leave deeper vengeance to other, more emotionally invested hands,” she said gently. “I understand your investment in this. From what you’ve told me, there are sixty other people that have a deeper reason to want to harm them for what they’ve done.”

“I agree. If a perfect opportunity presents itself, then I’ll host a party of my own and let the girls give them a little taste of what they did to them. If not, then I’ll content myself with a self-defense beating that puts them back in the hospital.”

“My advice as your friend and your doctor is don’t do this,” she said gently. “I can tell that you’re determined to make them pay, but from what you’ve told me, two of those boys need surgery to walk again as it is. A broken hip and a shattered kneecap don’t get put back together overnight.”

“Supposedly, the guy with the broken hip feels like he’s lucky that I put him down before he ended up with felony murder, kidnap and rape charges. He might take that beating and walk away. I expect that Vance Waterman will be back in school any time now once his plea deal is ironed out.”

“Then be careful with him,” she cautioned me. “I’m worried about you, Matt,” she said and I could hear the anxiety in her voice.

“I’ll keep my head on a swivel,” I promised. “I don’t want it taken off my neck when I’m not looking.”

“Good attitude, but I meant in terms of your larger plan. Consider this: police investigators might not be as intelligent as you, but they have years of experience in chasing physical evidence into every corner. I would want you to let this go. At least for now. Carl needs you and so do I.”

That deflated me. “I’d been hoping you wouldn’t play that card,” I admitted softly. “Alright, Victoria. I’ll let this go, because I love you and because I need you too. If a group of those girls come to me with Vance Waterman trussed up in a Rubbermaid container though, I may need to open that particular Christmas present.”

“If that present can never be traced back to you, then I’d say you’re going to be fine. You’ve got a clarity of purpose that you didn’t have with Miranda. I hope you don’t have an opportunity to put that purpose into practice, but if you do, I would suggest doing some extensive reading on forensic science. Also, be aware that cameras are almost everywhere now.”

“I know. Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to the girls involved and let them know that there’s a lot of danger in getting caught. That’s the last thing I want. They’ve been through enough that they don’t need more suffering.”

“Good. Take care of yourself first, the victims second and the guilty last.”

“There’s a few other important concerns in there between second and last,” I reminded her. “I believe you made some vague promises for the future at some point,” I said teasingly.

“But they were for after you stopped needing me,” she said with a touch of playfulness. “You told me that you’d always need me.”

“I will,” I assured her. “Not always as a doctor though. Someday the most pressing need I will have for you is as a man needs a woman.”