Jane was disappointed that Martha couldn’t take the case, but five minutes later a serious-looking man in a business suit walked into the room, and after talking to him for ten minutes, Jane felt comfortable with him. Martha had stayed in the room too, and would be consulting on the case. She had told Jane that Steve was forty years old, had gone to Yale Law School, and was one of the best lawyers in the firm.
Martha summarized what had happened for Steve’s benefit, and Martha’s assessment of the charges were attempted rape because he had pulled her underwear down in the copy room, which was a Class C felony, sexual abuse in the first degree for fingering her, a Class D felony, coercion in the second degree, a Class E felony for ordering her to give him a blow job or he’d fire her, and two counts of sexual harassment, which were a misdemeanor, referring to the two earlier incidents in the office kitchen.
Martha asked her if there were any cuts or bruises on her body, and Jane said there weren’t.
She left the room to call the police then and returned to tell Jane that they were expecting her at the police station, and offered again to go with her, which Jane gratefully accepted. She didn’t want to go to the police alone, and Martha was willing to go with her as a friend and legal consultant.
An hour and a half after Jane had arrived, they left Steve at the office and Martha and Jane took a cab to the police station, where they were ushered into a small office with a stack of overflowing files on the desk. A plainclothes male detective came in a few minutes later, wearing jeans and a Yankees jacket and cap, and a young female Chinese plainclothes officer in jeans and an NYU sweatshirt. Both were pleasant as Martha and Jane introduced themselves, then Martha explained the circumstances. Rachel Yee, the female detective, gently questioned Jane and took notes. The male detective, Rudi Post, brought bottled water for all four of them. He smiled at Jane to put her at ease as Detective Yee continued the questioning. Taking Jane’s statement didn’t take long, she was very clear on the order of events.
“So when did this happen?” Detective Yee asked her.
“Around noon today,” Jane said in a soft voice. She described what had happened in the copy room in detail, along with the threat to get her fired, and Dan’s telling her to give him a blow job in his office at lunchtime if she wanted to keep her job, and the two earlier incidents in the kitchen.
“A real gentleman, isn’t he? It’s amazing how bold these guys get and think they can get away with it. And many do.” Detective Yee listed the charges exactly as Martha had predicted they would. There were two misdemeanor counts of sexual harassment, and felony charges of coercion, sexual assault, and attempted rape. Detective Post told them he’d get the report to the D.A. in the morning, who would go to a judge to have a warrant signed for Dan’s arrest. Dan would be arrested in the next few days. “We know where he works,” he said, and Martha also supplied Dan’s home address, “so he won’t be hard to find.”
Martha felt sorry for Dan’s wife, Rita. She had for years. He had even brushed up against Martha once years before, and she had given him a quelling look and he’d never done it again. She had told Bob about it, but he didn’t say anything to Dan, in case Martha had “made a mistake,” which she thought was cowardly of him. She thought Bob should have thrown him out of their partnership long before this. Women at the agency had complained about him for years, but Dan seemed to have gotten away with it. But this time he had gone too far.
They were at the police station for an hour. Jane signed her statement at the end of it, and then they stood outside for a few minutes and Jane thanked Martha again. She was grateful for her kindness and support.
Jane took an Uber to the West Village and called Benjie as soon as she got home. She hadn’t seen him in three weeks, while she was working on the manuscripts for Hailey. By now, he might be dating someone else. But he answered on the second ring.
“I finished my projects. Can I invite you over for dinner? I’ll pay,” she said in a serious voice. She felt shaken by the events of the day and wanted company. He laughed when she said it.
“Is that bribery?” He was happy to hear from her, although he’d been mad at her for a few weeks. She was working so hard that she never had time for him anymore. “When did you have in mind?”
“Are you free tonight?” she asked meekly. And then he heard something in her voice.
“Are you okay?”
“Sort of. I’ll tell you about it at dinner.”
“I’m at the gym. I’ll come over in half an hour. We can order in if you want.”
He was there in twenty minutes, and they ordered sushi. She looked pale as she told him what had happened with Dan Fletcher, and that she was bringing charges against him, and had just come from the police.
“Good for you. You’re doing the right thing. What a sonofabitch. He deserves to go to prison.” Benjie looked furious, and sorry for Jane. He still cared about her.
“That’s what the lawyer said, that I’m doing the right thing. The police are going to the district attorney tomorrow, with the report. They’ll go to a judge to get a warrant for Dan’s arrest. I guess I’ll get fired for filing the police report. I love my job, but I still think it’s the right thing to do. You can’t treat people like that.” She felt tired and shaken but still convinced she’d done what was right.
“There are a lot of guys who treat people like that,” Benjie said. “I’m really sorry, Jane.” They sat on the couch and watched movies on TV after they ate. He didn’t feel right trying to take her to bed after what had happened. He could tell she was still unnerved and upset, and it had been weeks since they’d seen each other. After the last movie, she asked him if he wanted to spend the night.
“Are you sure you’re up to it? I figured you might want some space.”
“I don’t want to be alone. We can just cuddle,” she said, and he felt sorry for her again and gave her a hug.
“Come on,” he said, and pulled her up off the couch. “Let’s go to bed.” He didn’t try to have sex with her when they went to bed, he just held her and she started to cry and couldn’t stop. He lay holding her until she fell asleep, and then he did too. He told her again how brave she was when he left for work the next day. He still had some clothes at her apartment, and he wore a clean pair of jeans to work, with an oversized UC Berkeley T-shirt of hers.
When Jane got to work, she saw Dan go into Bob’s office later that morning and wondered if he was complaining about her.
“I want that little bitch fired,” he said to Bob as soon as the door closed.
“What little bitch?”
“The one that works for Hailey. She’s insolent and a troublemaker.” He didn’t tell Bob she’d slapped him, because he’d have to explain why and he couldn’t. “We don’t need little sluts like that around here,” he said, still angry at how things had turned out the day before. She hadn’t shown up in his office to give him a blow job, so he wanted to make good on his threat to have her fired.
“You need to lighten up, Dan,” Bob said quietly. “I’ve said it before. Women don’t put up with the kind of fun and games you like anymore. You’re going to get into some serious trouble one of these days. I don’t want that to happen and neither do you. Did something happen with her?” He felt that Dan wasn’t telling him the whole story, and Bob was panicked by what he didn’t know.