Chapter 15: Second thoughts

I’D READ THE police report and interviews until I practically knew them by heart. They didn’t help. They were all consistent. The witnesses had seen me on top of Ellie and while they might not have been able to see everything, they knew something was going on by the way I moved and I flexed my buttocks.

Ellie’s testimony wasn’t as damning as it might have been. She’d lost consciousness while I was rutting on her. Right after I came and spurted all over her I lost consciousness. No one was able to say how long we’d been out, but it had to have been long enough for Dale or whoever to do his thing.

It was Nicole who gave me the first glimpse of some possibilities. We were watching TV one evening, Nicole cuddled against me the way she did almost every time now. I was stroking her hair and listening to her hum in pleasure, when she straightened up and paused the TV.

“Christopher, I was talking with Deborah today. Something she said I think you should know.”

My heart started to beat fast. I knew it was going to be good news. It had to be. Nicole could sense my excitement, because she put a hand on my thigh.

“Don’t get too excited, Christopher.”

Like that wasn’t going to happen.

“What, Nicole, what is it?” I could barely contain myself.

She grinned. Wiped the grin off her face when she saw my expression.

“Easy, Christopher. It’s Deborah.”

“Yeah, what?”

“She’s been talking with Mateo. They haven’t said anything to Ellie, really, since they don’t want to disturb her at school, but Mateo’s having second thoughts.”

She stopped.

“Actually, I think it’s Deborah who’s having second thoughts. She’s mentioned some of them to Mateo.”

Nicole turned to face me and kissed my cheek.

“You don’t give him enough credit, Christopher. Especially considering how long you’ve known each other.”

Well, to judge by Mateo’s murderous glares during my trial, I didn’t see much credit to give him.

“During the trial I thought he was going kill me with his death ray eyes, Nicole.”

She snickered.

“Yeah, I know. Deborah says he was really really angry for months afterwards.”

“What about their parents?”

Nicole shrugged again.

“Ellie’s their daughter, Christopher. They can’t forgive, at least not yet. Her welfare is the top priority for them. Deborah says they spent a fortune on therapy for her after the attack. Even after your trial. Everybody talks about “closure”, but not for Ellie. They found a really good therapist for her and she spent a lot of time with her.”

“Does she hate me?”

Nicole stared at me.

“I don’t know, Christopher, but you’ve got to understand why she might. Anyway, the whole point was to get her to come to terms with what had happened, make sure she was physically unhurt except for the injuries from the assault, and to get her ready for college.”