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“What were their names?”
“One’s dead. The other guy’s in Norfolk now.”
“Not Earl Beckett?”
“That’s him. I got into his office when I was working on the cleaning detail for the federal building.” She slid out a thumb drive from her bag. “And got this.”
“There was no way he put any of that on a government computer,” said Gibson.
“No, but they had a file on my father that I thought might be helpful. And, more importantly, I wanted to find out whoelseBeckett had guarded since.”
“Did you get a list?”
“Yeah, but I haven’t started checking it yet.”
“You could have gone to the police, the school principal, somebody, Francine. Isn’t there anyone that could have helped you back then?”
“My father was all about the details, so he had already thought of that. I have my mountains of notebooks, so I guess I take after him in that way. Anyway, no one knew he was Harry Langhorne who had been accused of pedophilia back in Jersey. He and Enders spread rumors, through the cops, the schools, our pediatricians even, that we made shit up. That Rochelle and I couldn’t be trusted. My father and Rochelle’s dad even made us write up confessions saying it was all a lie just in case somebody suspected. They threatened to kill usif we didn’t.”
Francine focused on a photograph taped to the dash of Gibson’s kids. Next to it was a note that had a round face beside a large heart with the word “Mom” in childish scrawl.
“I can never have kids because of how forced sex at that age hurt me physically.” She sighed and sat back. “Rochelle had it even worse. I don’t know everything they did to her.”
“Why was she treated differently?”
“Because she wouldn’t cry. All the stuff they did to her, she refused to cry. And she wouldn’t beg them to stop. That pissed them off beyond belief. I guess I was the weak one. I cried, and I begged. Not that it did much good.”
Gibson sat back and looked at her with a conflicted expression. Francine noted this and said, “You don’t believe me?”
“I want to, but—”
“—but I’m a liar. A good one. Yeah, I know. Well, it doesn’t really matter if you believe me or not, does it?”
“But why involve me?” said Gibson. “You said you knew about me when I was a cop.”
“It was before then. At Temple.”
“Were you a student?”
“No. I worked in the cafeteria, and at odd jobs on campus. I also helped with the theater productions. I did that for free because…well, I liked it.”
“Why did you say I had everything and then I just pissed it away? I had to work my ass off for everything. I didn’t come from money, Francine.”
“I wasn’t talking about money.” She glanced at her. “Basketball star, the lead in all of those plays, a loving family. I would watch all of you walk around campus when they came to visit. There goes Mickey Rogers, the baddest badass on campus. You were a rock star. Everybody just…loved you. I…never knew how that felt. So, in my mind, you had it all. I thought you were going to be a pro basketball star, or rock the boards on Broadway.”
“But I never did because I wasn’t good enough, Francine. Playing ball in college and being in college theater is way different from doing it at the next level. The funnel gets really, really narrow.”
“I wanted you to try. I wanted—”
“—to live vicariously through me?”
“Pathetic, I know. But I didn’t have a whole lot else going on.”
“And baiting me into all this?”
“I’ll tell you the truth, though you probably won’t believe it.” She paused and looked directly at Gibson. “I wanted to kick your ass. I wanted to find the treasure before you did, even with all your resources at ProEye. You had failed at life, at least I saw it that way. But if I could beat you. If I could show the world that—”
“—thatyouwere the real rock star, and, what, everybody would love you?” Gibson stared grimly at her. She pointed at the car seats in the back. “Imade the choices in my life. I got married and had kids because that’s what I wanted. I don’t owe you or anybody else an explanation because it’s nobody’s fucking business but mine. So you waited all these years and decided to blow my life up and put my kids in danger all so you could feel, what, good about yourself? Thatispathetic.”
