Breath of Scandal

by Sandra Brown

  “Can’t you do it?” she asked tremulously.

  “Do what, honey?” The nurse was laying out stainless steel tools. They looked repugnant and terrifying.

  “The examination.” She didn’t want a man near her, touching her. She didn’t think she could survive having to open her legs and expose herself to a man.

  “I’m sorry, honey, no. Did he put those scratches on your arms?”

  “They. There were three of them.”

  Horrified, the nurse whispered, “Blacks?”

  “No, they’re white.”

  She appeared relieved. “I’ll call the sheriff’s office. The doctor will be here in a jiffy.”

  The nurse went through the curtain, leaving Jade alone. Slowly, painfully, she removed her clothing. She piled her soggy, tattered blouse, skirt, and bra in a heap on the floor. Her underpants and pantyhose were gone, as were her shoes.

  In the revealing light, she gazed down at her body, cramming her fist against her lips to keep from screaming. She was filthy. From the knees down, her legs were caked with mud. There were long, bleeding scratches on her arms. Her knees and the heels of her hands were raw and bloody beneath several layers of dirt.

  Worst of all, her belly and the skin between her thighs was smeared with a sticky substance, tinged pink by her own blood. She felt nastier than a spittoon. Hastily reaching for a stainless steel basin on the counter, she retched.

  “Miss, uh, Sperry?”

  The male voice came from just beyond the curtain. He cast a silhouette against the thin fabric. Jade choked on bile, coughed, and cleared her burning throat.

  “I need to examine you now, Ms. Sperry.”

  “Just… just a minute.” She fumbled with the gown and was finally able to pull it over her head. Its hem barely skimmed her upper thighs. She climbed onto the examination table and draped the cloth around her hips, covering as much of herself as she could. “Okay.”

  Her system received another unpleasant shock. The doctor was very young. He had a fresh face that looked like it rarely needed a shave. His eyes were bright and quizzical. She had hoped for someone who resembled the kindly, family physician in the famous Norman Rockwell paintings—a gray-haired, older gentleman with an endearing paunch and spectacles.

  The doctor must have sensed her aversion to him. He did his best to look and sound compassionate, probably because he didn’t want a hysterical girl on his hands. “The next few minutes are going to be uncomfortable, Ms. Sperry. I’m going to examine you, take some Polaroid pictures, ask you some questions. Some of the questions will be embarrassing, I’m afraid. Let’s get them over with first, okay?”

  Getting down to business, he opened the metal cover of a medical chart and whipped out a ballpoint pen from the breast pocket of his white lab coat.

  “Full name?”

  “Jade Elizabeth Sperry.”

  “Age?”

  “Eighteen.”

  “Date of birth?”

  He wrote the pertinent information in the spaces provided on the official form; then, as he had warned, the questions got more embarrassing. “Date of your last period?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “I need to know. An approximation anyway.”

  Rubbing her temples, Jade thought back. She gave him a date that seemed feasible. He wrote it down.

  “Any venereal diseases?”

  The questions stunned her. “Pardon me?”

  “Have you ever had a venereal disease or sexual contact with someone who has?”

  Something inside her snapped and she lashed out in anger. “Until tonight I was a virgin!” In that instant, Jade knew that she had lost her innocence this night in more ways than one.

  “I see. Okay.” The doctor made a note of that on the chart. “Did the man—”

  “Men. I already told the nurse that there were three of them. Didn’t she tell you?”

  “No, I’m sorry, she didn’t. Three?”

  “Three.”

  “Did all three achieve penetration?”

  Her lower lip began to tremble. She caught it between her teeth. “Yes.”

  “You’re certain?”

  “Yes!”

  “Did all three ejaculate?”

  She was almost sick again. Swallowing another mouthful of bitter bile, she croaked, “Yes.”

  “Are you sure, Ms. Sperry?” he asked skeptically. “I mean, if you were a virgin, you might not be able to tell.”

  She glared at him but couldn’t muster the energy to maintain the outrage for long. Her shoulders slumped forward in defeat. “They all three… did that.”

  He let the cover fall back over the chart and repocketed his pen. Poking his head around the curtain, he called for the nurse to assist him. She helped Jade to lie down, then guided her feet into frigid metal stirrups. The doctor worked his hands into a pair of rubber gloves, snapping them at his wrists. He sat down on a low stool at the end of the examination table and adjusted a blindingly bright light. He touched her bruised thighs and spread them wider. She made a small sound of protest.

  “I warned you this would be uncomfortable, Ms. Sperry. I’ll try not to hurt you.”

  She couldn’t meet his eyes where he looked up at her from between her thighs. Instead she pinched her eyes shut as she felt him insert something hard, cold, and intrusive into her. She gripped the edges of the padded table.

  “Try to relax. You did the right thing, you know. It’s good that you didn’t run home and shower before coming here.”

  She couldn’t carry on a conversation, not while she was so thoroughly exposed to him and the nurse. Her skin was cold and clammy to the touch, but a red tide of embarrassment had heated her veins. Her head was pounding, and she could feel each heartbeat strike her eardrums.

  “Do you think you can identify the men?”

  “Oh, yes. I can identify them.”

  “Well, that’s good, at least. They’ll pay for it. That is, if you don’t lose your nerve and drop the charges before the case comes to trial.”

  “I won’t lose my nerve,” she vowed, her jaw clenched and set.

  “There, I’m finished. Except for the public hair. Not all of it is yours. I’ll just collect some here. It’ll go to the lab, too.”

  Jade cringed and kept her eyes tightly shut until she felt the nurse lowering her feet from the stirrups, helping her to sit up. The doctor cleaned beneath her fingernails with an orangewood stick, then peeled off his gloves and dropped them into a trash bin.

  “Just stand there in front of the curtain,” he said to Jade as he reached for a Polaroid camera. He instructed the nurse to help her adjust the gown.

  For the next several minutes, she was photographed front and back. She was never completely naked, but she might as well have been. He took pictures of her face, her shoulders, breasts, belly, thighs, buttocks, any place where there was a scratch or a bruise. There weren’t many. Neal had been careful about that.

  “What about those scratches on your arms and knees?”

  She shook her head. “I got those later, crawling along the highway.”

  “Okay. I’ll fill out my report and get this stuff to the lab. There won’t be anybody there at this time of night, but they can get on it first thing in the morning. The nurse will take you to a shower. We’ll give you a set of OR scrubs to put on. Your clothes will go to the lab, too.”

  Jade nodded. “Thank you.”

  He bustled out, taking the laboratory evidence with him.

  “Come with me, honey.” The nurse pulled back the curtain and moved toward the door.

  Jade hesitated, self-consciously tugging on the brief gown. “Like this? It barely covers my bottom.”

  “This is a hospital. Nobody notices.”

  Jade thought the janitor would notice. There didn’t seem to be any choice, however. She followed the nurse out into the corridor and took tiny steps to keep the hem of the gown from flapping.

  “You’re lucky Doc Harvey came from a bi
g city hospital. He knows what to do,” the nurse remarked.

  They went through a pair of swinging doors marked HOSPITAL PERSONNEL ONLY and entered a lounge area where several nurses were drinking coffee and eating snacks from the vending machines. They glanced up curiously as she crossed the room behind the nurse.

  “Right in there,” she said, holding open the door to a women’s locker room. “Towels and everything else you’ll need are in the closet next to the shower stall. There’s a disposable douche in there, too.”

  Jade wished she would lower her voice. Everyone in the room was staring at her. “I’ve never douched,” she whispered.

  “Nothing to it. The instructions are printed on the box.”

  Jade slipped through the door. As the woman had said, she found everything she needed in the closet. She removed the hospital gown and stepped into the shower stall. Thankfully, the water was hot. Jade turned it on until it was scalding. She kept it as hot as she could stand it and welcomed its pounding sting. It was cleansing, purifying. She wanted to wash them and their hideous residue off her body. It amazed her that she had stood having it on her skin this long without losing her sanity.

  After soaping three times, she propped one foot on the soap dish and washed the area between her thighs. It hurt so badly that it brought tears to her eyes, but she scrubbed and scrubbed until her skin was raw. Inexpertly, she used the douche and was glad that she did. Finally, she shampooed the mud out of her hair and rinsed her mouth out several times with hot water.

  Afterward she felt better, although she knew she would never feel completely clean again. She had been sullied—mentally, physically, and emotionally. She could never again be what she had been. That thought left her feeling disconsolate and furious.

  She dried off and then wrapped her wet hair in a coarse towel. There were several pairs of green scrubs folded on the top shelf of the closet. The second pair she held against her fit moderately well. The paper booties were meant to go over shoes, but she tied them onto her bare feet.

  Timidly she opened the door and checked the lounge. The nurse was alone, sitting on a sofa watching a TV talk show. When she saw Jade, she stood up. “Would you like something? A Coke? Coffee?”

  “No, thanks.”

  “They called from the desk. The sheriff’s deputy is here to talk to you.”

  “I’m ready.”

  The booties whispered along the floor. The deputy was chewing the fat with the janitor and Dr. Harvey when she and the nurse approached the emergency-room desk. The law officer pushed his hat back on his head, assumed an authoritative stance, and regarded her suspiciously.

  “Miss Sperry?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Please, sit down over here.”

  Gingerly, Jade sat on the edge of a lavender vinyl divan. He dropped into a chair facing her. Dr. Harvey remained standing at the end of the couch. The deputy, who wasn’t any older than the doctor, took a small spiral notebook from the breast pocket of his uniform jacket.

  “Dr. Harvey here says you claim you were raped tonight.”

  She divided her incredulous gaze between them. “Why does everybody keep saying I ‘claimed’ this or I ‘said’ that? I was raped. Do you think I’m lying?”

  “Hold on. Nobody’s accused you of lying. I’m just trying to find out what happened. Calm down, okay?”

  Jade composed herself. It wasn’t easy. She had to call upon all her reserves of self-discipline to keep from screaming. The janitor and the nurses were once again huddled together at the desk nearby. Jade didn’t think she was being paranoid in assuming that they were whispering about her. Every once in a while one or all of them would glance in her direction, then quickly look away and resume their furtive conversation.

  “What’s your full name?” the deputy asked.

  His image began to blur. She realized that her eyes were filling with tears. “I was raped,” she stressed. “My rapists are running around free while I’m here being humiliated and insulted.” She drew a ragged breath. “I’ve already given the doctor my full name, address, birthday, and so forth. Wouldn’t you rather know what happened to me tonight and who committed the crime?”

  “All in good time,” he replied, unfazed by her tearful appeal. “I’m using standard police procedure in response to this complaint. If the case comes to trial, you don’t want the perps to get off on a technicality, do you, little lady?”

  “Why don’t you just answer his questions, Miss Sperry?” the doctor suggested, speaking softly and courteously. “In the long run, it’ll go faster. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No, thank you.”

  “I can give you a sedative if you want one.”

  Vigorously, she shook her head. Returning her attention to the deputy, she supplied unemotional responses to his routine questions.

  “Now, about tonight,” he said after clearing his throat, “you told Dr. Harvey that three men attacked and forcibly raped you.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Were they armed?”

  “No.”

  “No? They didn’t hold you at gunpoint or anything like that?”

  “They overpowered me and held me down on the ground.”

  “Hmm. Did they all achieve penetration?”

  “That’s in my report, Deputy,” Dr. Harvey said helpfully.

  “I’m doing the questioning, Doc, thanks. Answer the question, Miss Sperry.”

  “Yes,” Jade said. “They all… penetrated and… and completed the act.”

  “Were you sodomized?”

  “No, she wasn’t.” The doctor answered for her again when Jade appeared too stunned by the question to speak.

  “Were you forced to have oral sex?”

  She shook her head as she slowly bowed it. “No.”

  “Where did this alleged attack take place?”

  Alleged? The word annoyed her, but she responded to his question. “Near a channel off the coastal highway. I don’t believe the turnoff has a name. It’s only a dirt track. I could lead you straight to it. Unless they took them, you could find articles of my clothing there.”

  “Can you provide the department with a description of the alleged assailants.”

  “I can do better than that, Deputy. I can name them.”

  “You know their names?”

  “Oh yes.”

  “Well, hey, that’s a real break for us. Shoot.” His pencil was eagerly poised over the spiral notebook.

  “Lamar Griffith.”

  The pencil lead scratched noisily against the paper. Then, cocking his head to one side in puzzlement, the deputy read the name he’d just written down. He looked up at Jade.

  “Myrajane Griffith’s kid?”

  “Lamar Griffith,” Jade repeated firmly. “Neal Patchett.” The blood drained out of the deputy’s face. Nervously, he wet his lips. “And Hutch Jolly.”

  For several moments he stared at her. Then, leaning forward, placing his nose inches from hers, he whispered, “You’re shittin’ me, right?”

  She snatched the notebook and pencil from his hands and printed the three names on the ruled paper. Jabbing the bold message with the tip of the pencil, she cried, “Those are the names of the men who raped me. It’s your duty to see that they’re arrested and locked up in jail.”

  He swallowed visibly and glanced at the doctor, as though seeking help. “Miss, uh, uh—”

  “Sperry,” she shouted.

  “Miss Sperry, you can’t mean what you’re saying.”

  “I mean every word of it.”

  “You got things mixed up.”

  “Neal, Hutch, and Lamar abducted me from my girl friend’s car, took me to that remote spot, and all three of them raped me. After that, they left me there.” She jumped to her feet. “Why are you just sitting there looking stupid? Find out about Donna Dee! Go after those boys! Put them in handcuffs! Take them to jail!”

  “Miss Sperry.” The doctor took her arm. He guided her back dow
n to the sofa and signaled for the nurse. “Maybe you’d better bring her a Valium.”

  “I won’t take it,” Jade snapped, shaking off his arm. To the deputy she said, “If you’re incapable of apprehending three criminals, call somebody who can.”

  “Shit, lady. You just named my boss’s kid as a rapist.”

  “That’s right. Hutch went second. He was the roughest. And the biggest. He nearly smothered me.” She didn’t realize she was clenching her hands so tightly, until they began to hurt. She glanced down at them and saw four half-moons gouged into her abraded palms.

  “You’d better call the sheriff,” the doctor told the deputy.

  “Christ almighty,” he said as he reluctantly stood up. He dragged his hand down his youthful, pudgy face. “I ain’t looking forward to this, a’tall. The shit’s going to hit the fan when I tell Sheriff Jolly that his and Ivan Patchett’s boy have been accused of rape.”

  * * *

  An hour later, Jade sat alone in the interrogation room. It smelled of stale tobacco smoke and anxious sweat. The deputy had driven her straight from the hospital to the courthouse and deposited her in the cubicle as though washing his hands of the whole nasty affair.

  Jade was certain that before it was over with, things were going to get nastier. The legal ramifications were overwhelming, but they were diminished by the personal affronts she would have to endure. How would she tell Gary?

  She couldn’t think about that now or she would go crazy. She had to deal with the here and now—Donna Dee, for instance. Jade was concerned for her safety. It was conceivable that after the boys left her, they had gone back and done the same thing to Donna Dee. Perhaps that had been Neal’s plan—to separate them and render them virtually helpless. Donna Dee could be severely hurt, lying unconscious somewhere along the highway. Even dead.

  Her anxious thoughts were interrupted when Sheriff Fritz Jolly entered the room. Instead of his uniform, he was wearing blue jeans and a flannel pajama top beneath a camouflage hunting vest. Obviously he had been roused from his bed. Rust-colored whiskers sprouted from his chin and cheeks.

  “Evenin’, Jade.”

  “Hello, Sheriff Jolly.”

  She frequently sold him chewing tobacco at the store. They were always friendly with each other. Now, he lowered his large, imposing frame into the chair across from hers and folded his hands on the scarred table between them. “I understand you got into some trouble tonight.”