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Brad Dupont stared into her eyes and saw only the truth there. He also noticed she shook. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her, something he’d only fantasized about doing in the past. “Laura, you have to tell someone. I know the statute of limitations is over to prosecute him, but you have to talk to Lassiter about this.” He could see fear and other unresolved emotions in her eyes. He wondered if she ever received counseling for it.
She ignored his suggestion of talking with Lassiter for a minute. “But then, last week, I had this thought that I couldn’t have been his only victim.” She pulled away from him and retrieved her laptop. She opened it. “I researched other girls at that school who either reported a rape with no idea who did it or committed suicide. I found fifty possible victims over the last ten years. My next step would be to try to find out if they took his class, but I have no way to legally get access to those records.”
Dupont stared into her eyes, which now held a determination he’d never seen in them. He understood where she was going with this. It may be too late for her to press charges against West, but for any women assaulted by him over the last few years, they could file reports. And there was strength in numbers. If multiple women came forward, even going back ten years, the case would be stronger. He nodded. “You know you’re going to need help if you go down this path.”
Laura Lee nodded as well. She breathed out the heaviness in her chest. She couldn’t believe she was going to do this. She wasn’t even sure exactly when she made the decision that she was. It was at some point over the past few days of seeing the number of rape reports, and sadly, seeing the number of suicides of young women at her alma mater. If any of those had resulted from Harrison West preying on them, she felt partially to blame. Had she done the right thing ten years ago, they wouldn’t have also been victims.
Brad waited. She said nothing. “Shepherd. Or Lassiter, then Shepherd. But I’ll help anyway I can and I’m sure Smith will too after you’ve gone through the proper channels at the agency.”
Laura Lee nodded again. “I would never ask either of you to help me outside of an agency case. Do you think Shepherd will agree to look into this?”
“I’m sure he will,” Brad said. “This guy is an FBI agent in charge of students at Quantico. If he’s doing anything illegal, he has to be stopped.”
“Do you think Shepherd will believe me?” she asked. Yes, that was one of the things she was nervous about.
“Laura, why would you think he wouldn’t?”
She shrugged. “It’s just that this is an enormous risk, coming clean about everything. And I used agency resources without permission to look at the FBI Personnel Database.”
He wrapped his arms around her again. “Is that what you’re worried about?”
“Oh, believe me, there is a lot I’m worried about.” She relaxed into him. It felt good to be held by him.
“He’ll respect your honesty. I’d say take your time planning what you’ll say and what you’ll show him. That research you did needs to be included, so he knows you’re serious enough about this that you did some legwork on the case.” He let his hand caress her back.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this afraid in my life,” she admitted, his stroking over her, comforting.
“You’re more afraid to tell Shepherd than you were when it was happening?”
She shrugged again. “Okay, maybe it’s a tie. Shepherd intimidates the hell out of me. And I know once I start this, I have to go all the way with it. Brad, I’ve never told anyone else about what happened.”
“Not even a counselor?”
Laura shook her head. “Though I know Shepherd will order me to talk to Lassiter about it.”
“You should request that appointment,” he advised.
She knew he was right. If for no other reason other than it would look better for her with command.
His alarm went off. His break was over. He tightened his embrace of her for a moment before he released her. “Stay strong. You’re doing the right thing,” he said before he left.
Now alone in the room, Laura Lee scrubbed her hand over her face. Was she really ready to do this? Not that it mattered. She was sure that train had just left the station with her confession to Brad. He wouldn’t let her back out now. Was that why she had told him? So that she’d be forced to go through with it? She knew him well enough to know that he’d do the right thing, and, in this case, the right thing was to report all of it to Shepherd.
Brad was also right about having her presentation thoroughly planned. Shepherd would respect that, and she’d feel more confident if she knew she had it prepared. She wasn’t sleepy, so she got to work making notes. She thought about the wording she’d use and what tone of voice she wanted Shepherd to hear coming from her. She wanted to sound confident and contrite if it was possible for the two tones to coexist. She also grouped her thoughts into categories to order her presentation because, at that moment, her thoughts were all over the place and laced with so many different emotions.
Over the next few days, her presentation came together. She decided she’d start out with her FBI coursework, show it was completed and the dates she’d finished each module. That was what Shepherd would first care about as her failure to submit it was what landed her on probation. Showing it completed was easy. She could just hook her laptop up to the large monitor in the conference room. Disclosure of why she didn’t submit it was the next logical topic.
She knew the next topic had to be her confession of using the agency resources without permission to look up Harrison West. She would explain that she had to confirm his identity before she could do anything else. She’d put off relaying exactly what happened with him for as long as she could. But she would present the research into the other young women at her alma mater as a quick follow up to disclosing the nature of the abuse that he’d perpetrated against her, and she believed against others. It was just a matter of figuring out who they were. That was the pitch, the case that she believed needed to be investigated. That was what she decided was her end goal, for the agency to put its resources towards investigating Harrison West.
What came to her as a random thought while high on pain killers had morphed into an obsession of proving Harrison West had done the same thing to other women that he’d done to her. If he was still doing it, he had to be stopped. If not, he still had to be held accountable for what he’d done.
Brad visited her nightly while he was on his break. She looked forward to those visits every day. The night that Doc released her to limited duty, she ran through her presentation as a rehearsal for Brad. She’d officially give it the following day. As soon as Doc had notified her of his release, she scheduled a meeting with Shepherd. She also invited Cooper, Madison, BT, and Doctor Lassiter. Then she initiated a second meeting with Doctor Lassiter immediately after the first meeting. She wanted to show that she was taking the lead with courage, something else she knew Shepherd respected.
“It’s good, Laura. It’s concise and well ordered, almost like a mission report. I think the only thing it’s missing is emotions. It lacks what was there that night you told me about it.”
“I think my emotions don’t belong in it. I purposefully followed the guidelines of creating a mission report and there’s no place for emotions in a mission report. It’s the facts only.”
“Or is it the only way you can get through this presentation, keeping your emotions out of it? Thisisemotional for you, Laura.” She gazed at him with a look that told him he was right. He waited, but she remained silent. “Okay, I get it.”
