Chapter 15

The biggest change in routine on Monday morning was Allie getting in the car and kissing me when I rode her to work. I asked she not use any PDA's in the building and right away she feared I was trying to hide our relationship from Mary. I assured her that I was going to tell her that day. In exchange for that I made Allie promise to call her therapist and tell her about her dream and her telling me the dirty details of the worst part of her 6 year affair with Simone. We were both in our offices as always by 8:30 and the day seemed to be progressing as a normal Monday with me reviewing the previous week's sales when Rachel paged me.

"Mr. Sparkhill, Allison McGruder is here with 2 detectives, a Blake Tucker and Bob Benson, reading from their ID's."

I was obviously out in a flash and I saw an upset Allie with these two refugees from a bad cop show. They showed me their ID's and they were from City of Pittsburgh PA Police. As soon as I saw that I ushered them into my office so we could talk privately.

As soon as the door closed Allie spoke up. "Jess, they want me to come and testify at a grand jury hearing."

"I've already figured that out. Now I am not a lawyer, nor am I family to Ms. McGruder but we have discussed this possibility, Gentlemen. What possible advantage does anyone gain by her testimony?"

"Are you her guardian?" Detective Benson asked.

"No, for God's sake, I'm her boyfriend. But I can tell you that she been through an emotional roller coaster for the past year and it was through her cooperation with her therapist that you guys were alerted to this situation. I certainly do not know the details of what charges you can bring right now, but certainly you have enough not to involve Allison." I said in my best lawyer-speak.

"We can always just subpoena her." The other detective said.

"That would involve extradition from Massachusetts and since she isn't being charged with a crime, it would be a long drawn out situation." I said using what I learned on the internet Sunday night about such things.

"It would make a better case with her testimony. She's depending on her control over her current victim to soften that testimony." Benson said.

"Hasn't the threat of bringing in Allison and others been used to get her to look for a deal?" I asked.

"We think she abused Ms. McGruder when the victim was 17. That will put her away for a long time." Detective Tucker said looking to Allie who was near tears again. "That would mean her name would never come out."

"Listen", Allie spoke up, "I don't need my family, my friends, my employer, anyone finding out about this. I may have been a victim, but I was there for 6 years of what looked like my own free will. It looked like I could have walked away but the threats to my educational career, my family finding out, and public embarrassment stopped me. I just want to forget this whole thing. I gave my therapist permission to explore this and I feel I've done my part. Don't make me the victim again!"

"We just said your name would never come out!" Benson said.

"You know as well as I do that the press will bird dog this and come up with me. I CAN'T DO IT!" Allie said on the verge of breaking down.

"Gentlemen, we are through here. I'm sorry you wasted your trip, but try some other avenues. Ms. McGruder is far too fragile to go through this at this time." I said.

"Ma'am, we appreciate that you've employed your boyfriend as your advisor, but you really should reconsider. Perhaps if you sought out the services of a real lawyer." Detective Tucker said and at the moment he took a breath Allie blew a fuse.

"I committed no crimes! What happened behind the closed doors of two people was private business and I do not appreciate you thinking it isn't. Yes I suffered stress from what happened but I took the action I felt I needed to take, I left! Just because a third party alerted you to a possible crime and a new victim has sought to make charges concerns me not. I want this out of my life! You used what I told my therapist as your basis to investigate and you got another victim. I've done my duty to justice. MY LIFE WAS A LIVING HELL UNTIL I PUT THIS BEHIND ME AND YOU'RE TRYING TO MAKE ME RELIVE IT!!" She shouted and then broke down as I went to her to comfort her.

The two Pittsburgh detectives left the office motioning that they would call me, why I do not know. I was pissed off that I had gotten Allie to use what her therapist had taught her how to battle memories, and these guys had seemed to shatter that. I held her tightly until she calmed down and then she backed away and sat on the window sill.

"How was that? You didn't know I could have been an actress, huh? Although I meant every word I said to them, I knew I needed a big moment of drama to scare them off, have them see how much they had overstepped the bounds of decency. Showing up in person was their power play move to create drama. I figured I would give them some of my own."

"When their superiors find out that they let you involve me, I bet they'll be back."

"I told them I would not see them unless you were in the room. They said they would subpoena me, and I told them to go ahead. Now, what you don't know. About 15 minutes before they got here I got a call from a counselor from CM. They told me these guys were coming and they asked me to stall an answer for a few days. I told him that I had no intention of going back to testify. He said that because of Simone's connection with the college they thought they could get her to plead guilty, accept a lighter sentence, and keep the school out of it. Otherwise they would not support her in any way and be sure she would lose her accrued benefits and any chance in working in the education system again. Believe it or not she's a great recruiter, but she's been picking her own "roommate" for a long time. I thought she was 32, she's 37." Anyway, if convicted of what they have on her now, she could get up to 9 years and 6 years probation without working in the education system. If she pleads, she'll get 6 years and be able to reapply at CM and keep her accrued benefits." Allie said as if tying her little package with a bow.

"Would you be happy with that? She would be out in 6 years?"

"I think I could get an order of protection to keep her away from me indefinitely. Besides prison will not be kind to her, she won't find any young girls there, and she'll be prey to the old lizards in prison." She said as if reciting something she heard elsewhere.

"Who told you that?" I asked.

"This counselor at CM. We were friendly and he knew what was going on, but if the girls, including me, didn't complain, they couldn't go after her. But now, the DA told him a lot about the what and where she would be held. All of the girls who chose to live with her were afraid to say a word because we felt she held the power to take away our scholarships. She used that cane a bit too early on her newest ingénue, and when confronted she sang like a bird." Allie said smiling like she had won something.

"This guy knew?"

"He had a good idea. He heard from a few graduates, but no one wanted to come forth, they just wanted to get on." She said shaking her head.

"Sort of like you?" I asked.

"Exactly like me. Who needs the public scourge? I hate to sound callous but, I didn't die, I found a guy. I don't want or need that part of my life exposed. If this thing goes to trial I'm probably going to have to answer a lot of questions that I don't want to and act stupid, like I didn't know what was going on before or after me. Now, I have to go, I have 3 ideas I'm trying to get on easels over there." She said gung ho to leave, but I grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Are you absolutely sure you're OK? Don't be hiding stuff." I chided her.

"You got it straight as an arrow. I just hope you talk to Mary about us real soon, so I don't have to explain WHY I had to see you with them." She said as she closed the door behind her.

I picked up the phone and dialed Mary's cell number.

"Hello Jess, what in hell is going on? Did she commit a crime?" She said answering the phone knowing it was me.

"No, no, no. Meet me in the HVAC closet."

The HVAC was a room in the corner of my side of the building that Maribel Designs also shared, it was where the Heating/Air Conditioning units were when they had to be serviced. We think there was supposed to be a wall separating the units, but was never finished. We used it to leave without being seen and for personal face to face meetings (not what you're thinking).

I went to the corner room and opened the door and waited. Thirty seconds later she opened her side and I held a piece of Owens-Corning foam insulation against the fiberglass stuffed, unfinished wall to she could walk past without getting the pink crap all over her. She looked at me quizzingly and I just told her.

"Listen, Allie and I have been seeing each other and I kind of know some of her details and that woman she lived with is being scrutinized for another victim of her sick shit and I'm sort of helping her past a lot of this. I'm her go to person from therapy and she needed me to help her. She is in no trouble, they simply want her to testify against the woman and she is resisting. That's all I can tell you. If she wants to volunteer more to you fine, but she is in no trouble or did anything wrong." I said like pulling a bandage off.

She swallowed hard and I don't think I was supposed to see that, but quickly she shook her head and said, "You're sure she's in no trouble?"

"Positive. They simply want her to come back to testify and she's made it clear that they would have to extradite her and Massachusetts is not a fan of these kinds of cases, reluctant witness's. Hostile witness's are a problem, but if allowed to state her case before an official hearing, pretty good chance they would not let Pennsylvania take her.

Mary nodded her head and then swallowed hard again. "So you finally asked her out, Huh? How long have you been dating?"