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“My driver and I dropped her off at a condo building in downtown San Jose, and I caught a flight back to Seattle. Is this about her? Is she okay?”
“Did you think she was attractive?”
I paused a beat. “Um. I thought she was young, only eighteen or nineteen. Too young for those parties.”
“Did you have sex with her?”
“No! What does this have to do with the IP case?” It hit me. I may have told them everything Iknewabout Cole Dennent but not everything I suspected. That conversation with Jo had convinced me that something happened to Pamela, and Jo thought it was Cole that did it.
“Wait. How did the case expand?” I asked.
Len leaned forward. “I’d like a moment to speak with my client alone. No cameras.”
What the actual fuck? Detective Rivers switched off the camera in the corner, and they both left the room. I saw her back leaning against the little window of the closed door.
“What else do you know about that party and that girl?”
“I don’tknowmuch, but I suspect.”
“Start talking from the beginning.”
I explained the whole thing to Len. How I was there with my buddies to make a deal, how Coleapproached measking about the platform and any other code for sale, and how I brushed him off. I had a bad feeling about him even then. I told Len that my buddies and I made an informal deal, and I left. I told him about Pamela, how she didn’t look okay, how Jo said Pamela had reacted to Cole while I was inside and what Jo suspected.
The detectives returned, switched on the camera, and resumed the questioning.
“Just to confirm, you are questioning my client about a party in Silicon Valley two years ago, and this is related to the IP infringement case?”
Detective Billings looked at me. “I’m with the Sexual Crimes Division. The IP investigation turned up evidence suggesting that Mr. Dennent may be involved with a group of powerful men currently under investigation from my division. We believe these men lure young women to parties, drug them, and sexually assault them.”
What?
“Mr. Dennent has been accused of drugging and sexually assaulting three young women, one of them at a party in Half-Moon Bay two years ago. The same party that you attended.”
My throat went completely dry.
“Mr. Dennent denies knowing the accuser, Ms. Pamela Glenn. After the alleged assault, Ms. Glenn reported she left with a man named Lucas. No one at the party reported seeing Ms. Glenn with Mr. Dennent, but one person reported seeing her with you, and Mr. Dennent claims to have seen you leave with her.”
“Am I being accused of something?”
Detective Rivers spoke up. “No one is accusing you of anything. We want to understand your presence at the party and your interactions with Ms. Glenn.”
My stomach turned. This wasn’t some tech deal with dudes who thought they had the biggest dicks in town. This was about a girl who may or may not be okay and the people who hurt her.
Detective Rivers kept her voice soothing. “Lucas, just tell us what you know, what you saw.”
And I did. I gave them the names of my buddies who could corroborate why we were at the party, and I gave them Jo’s name and number.
Len stepped out to speak with the detectives in the hall, and I took a sip of a cold coffee, barely tasting it. My mind raced, but I tried to stay calm.
Only Len came back into the room. “Take a breath, Lucas. You’re not under investigation. Your story checks out with Pamela’s statement. Cole is grasping, trying to link you to her and tie you to the IP infringement as a way to create reasonable doubt. He’s desperate.”
“What’s happening now?”
“My guess they’re going to talk to Jo and contact your two buddies.”
“I need to call her. I don’t want this to scare her.”
“No, you specifically do not need to call her. There isn’t any evidence you were involved, and Pamela isn’t saying you were. This is to debunk Cole’s claims. Let’s not give them any reason to doubt you. Just sit tight.”
