She still had headaches sometimes, and nightmares. She was supposed to see a therapist in California. She just wanted to be back in L.A. and forget her time in the East. Nicole and Gillian hugged her before they left and wished her a safe trip home. In the hall, Nicole reminded Nancy to let them know if there was anything they could do for her or Vivienne, and she promised to keep Nancy abreast of all further developments in the investigation. Nancy nodded and thanked them, and they could both see how sad she was that Vivienne was leaving for L.A.
“Do you think that’s the best thing for her, to go back to California with her dad?” Gillian asked Nicole on the drive back to school.
“She’s almost eighteen, and it’s what she wants. After something like this, it should be her decision,” Nicole said quietly.
“Her mom looks so sad.” But it wasn’t just Vivienne leaving with Chris that made Nancy sad. Knowing the burden Vivienne would carry forever now was making them all sad for her. She had left her recommendation forms with Nicole right before Halloween, and Nicole was going to write a glowing one for her, and several other teachers had said they would too. The drinking incident was going to be overlooked in the circumstances, and she was leaving Saint Ambrose in good standing, which was the least they could do for her since they hadn’t succeeded in protecting her from her fellow students and keeping her safe at school.
* * *
—
Chris had put the bags in the car, while Vivienne walked out of a side entrance to the hospital. Several security guards stood by in case someone had leaked information, but there was no one there. No information had been given to the press about the victim since the beginning, and Vivienne hugged her mother, while Chris watched them. Vivienne just looked like a beautiful young girl in jeans, a pink sweatshirt, and a denim jacket standing with her mother.
“I’ll FaceTime you tonight when I get home, Mom.” It pained Nancy that she still considered L.A. home, and not the apartment she shared with her mother in New York. But they had only lived there for five months, so it wasn’t surprising. She’d lived in L.A. all her life, and now she wanted to turn the clock back and rewind the film to happier times. Nancy would have liked that too, not to be back with Chris now, but for none of the bad things to have happened. It had been a hard year for her too.
“I’m going to miss you,” Nancy said, with her arms around her. Chris had promised to call the therapist the next day, and set up a schedule with her for Vivienne, they were going to do things together and he wanted her to meet Kimberly and get to know her. He hoped they’d be good friends.
Nancy hugged her one last time, and kissed her, and Vivienne slipped into the car with her father, waved at her mother, and they drove away, heading for Boston, as Nancy put her head down and walked to her car for the long drive back to New York. She was sobbing as she turned on the ignition, and drove out of the parking lot. Her heart ached for her daughter. She was going to fly out to L.A. to see her soon, but nothing would be the same now without her. And it killed her that she wouldn’t be close at hand to help her.
“I can’t wait for you to meet Kimberly,” Chris said, and smiled at his daughter.
“Yeah, me too,” Vivienne said, staring out the window as they headed toward Boston. She wondered if Kimberly knew about what had happened, but didn’t want to ask him. From now on, she knew that would define everything, whether people knew that about her, or not. To Vivienne, it now seemed like the most important thing about her.
* * *
—
The phone rang at Taylor’s home on Sunday night, just as they were about to sit down to dinner. Charity had prepared a simple meal, neither of them was eating much lately, and Taylor had dropped ten pounds in the last week from the stress he was under. The call was from Detective Dominic Brendan.
“The preliminary report came in an hour ago,” he said in a neutral tone. Taylor had been waiting for the other shoe to drop for several days, and now the moment of truth had come. “We’ll have a more detailed report after this, but these results tell us what we’ve been waiting to find out. If it wasn’t a match with any of them, we’d know it now, and the boys would be off the hook.” Taylor held his breath and waited. The lives of six boys and their entire families would be impacted by the report they were waiting for. “I don’t have good news,” Dominic said seriously, “or maybe it is good news for Vivienne Walker. We have a match. The other five aren’t. There’s no question. The match is Rick Russo. So they’ve all been lying to us, protecting him. And Vivienne was too. The others are accessories for being present at the scene, and obstruction for lying about the rape. They all must have known it was him. We notified the circuit judge last week. He’s prepared to sign a warrant tomorrow morning. We have it ready for him. I’m sorry, Mr. Houghton, but we’re going to arrest all six boys tomorrow. The judge will let the other five out on bail most likely. He may keep Rick Russo in custody if he thinks he’s a flight risk, or set a high bail.” Taylor knew Rick’s father would pay it, no matter how high it was. And no matter how obnoxious Joe Russo was, he felt sorry for Rick’s parents. It would be a terrible blow for them. “It should be a relief for the victim’s family that the boy who raped her has been identified and will be brought to justice.” Taylor couldn’t breathe for a minute, his throat felt tight and tears filled his eyes. The lives of six young men were about to change forever, and their parents’ lives. All would be convicted felons if found guilty, and one of them would be a registered sex offender.
“Will they be tried as adults?” Taylor felt sick at the news Detective Brendan had just delivered. He knew all the boys well.
“That’s up to the judge. It could go either way. The DA will want them tried as adults. The average sentence in the state of Massachusetts, as an adult, is five to eight years. There’s no sympathy for rape even at seventeen, and it plays heavily in the press, a rich boy at a fancy school who thinks he can do whatever he wants, and rapes a girl. She played a part in it too, since she was drinking heavily with them, but no one deserves what happened to her. Juries don’t like cases like this. Neither do judges. It’s a hot potato and there’s hell to pay if there’s leniency involved. I’m afraid you’ve got a mess on your hands.”
“I do. Thank you, Detective, and for letting me know tonight. What happens now?”
“We’ll get the warrants signed tomorrow morning, and then we’ll come to arrest the boys. It’s best if you don’t warn them. We don’t want any of them flying the coop, and I imagine they all have the wherewithal to do that, with their parents’ credit cards.” He wasn’t wrong in most cases, except for Gabe. “This is strictly confidential information, for your benefit, to give you a heads-up.”