“Steven Price confidentially paid hush money to two female students who’d been assaulted by Gates.”
Georgina gasps.
“There might be more victims besides those two other girls and you. Maybe more girls, like you, who told nobody. But, thanks to Henn, we know, for sure, there were at least three total girls, including you. One before you. One after you. The before you was a sixteen-year-old named Katrina Ibarra. Gates raped her a year and a half before he tried to rape you.”
“Oh my God.”
“It was smack in the middle of football season, when scouts from all the top colleges were actively trying to recruit Brody Price. Hence, the motivation for Steven Price to keep that information from coming out and disrupting his son’s football program.”
“This is... crazy.”
“The second girl, the one after you, was a fifteen-year-old named Penny Kaling. It’s not clear exactly the nature of Gates’ sexual assault of her. All we know, for sure, from some text messages, is that Gates forced himself on Penny in some way, and she was scared and ashamed and extremely upset about it the next day.”
Georgina looks ashen. “You realize what this means, right? If I’d reported Gates, I could have saved Penny from whatever happened to her.”
“Not necessarily. Katrina reported him and it got her nowhere. She told a teacher, who told the principal, who then called Katrina and Gates into his office for separate interviews. After those interviews, the principal, in his infinite wisdom, determined Katrina’s claim ‘wasn’t credible.’ And that was that. He swept it under the rug and didn’t send it up the flagpole to anyone else.”
“How is that possible?”
I shrug. “Gates denied all wrongdoing, and the principal believed him. Gates said Katrina was an unstable girl with a crush who’d thrown herself at Gates and gotten rejected—and, now, she was getting back at him. Lucky for Gates, Katrina wasn’t a star pupil. She’d been suspended the prior year for plagiarism. Plus, she was known for being a ‘drama queen’ after a couple breakups. So, the principal decided it was a ‘he said, she said’ situation, where the accuser wasn’t credible, and the accused was a ‘well-respected and admired pillar of our community.’ Oh, and by the way, the football team was having an undefeated season at this point.”
Georgina hangs her head. “I should have known he’d do it to someone else.”
“Look at me, Georgina. You were seventeen and in survival mode. If you’d said something, I doubt it would have made a difference. There were no witnesses to your assault, any more than there were to Katrina’s. If you’d accused Gates of trying to rape you, maybe those mean girls from the newspaper class would have come forward to say you’d always had a ‘thing’ for Mr. Gates. Maybe you would have been labeled a ‘drama queen,’ the same as Katrina. Has there ever been a time in high school when you lost your temper, or maybe got highly emotional, or displayed some sort of behavior Gates or the principal could have pointed to in order to paint you as an ‘overly emotional’ and ‘unstable’ drama queen, too?”
“Well, of course. I was a teenage girl who wound up breaking down every year on the anniversary of her mother’s death.”
“Well, there you go.”
Georgina sighs. “So, how did Steven Price get involved?”
“Gates contacted him and told him some ‘crazy’ girl was making accusations against him. At the time, Brody was being courted by the best colleges in the country. So, Steven Price told Gates not to worry about it. He’d take care of it. And he did. He paid Katrina off. Well, Katrina and her mother, since Katrina was a minor.”
“I can’t believe her mother took that money.”
“Don’t judge her too harshly. Katrina’s father wasn’t in the picture. Her mother, an immigrant, worked three jobs. So, a hundred grand was life-changing money to that family. All Katrina had to do was transfer schools and shut the fuck up about Gates forevermore. I can’t really blame them for taking the deal, especially after the principal had basically called her a liar. I’m sure Katrina figured a hundred grand in her and her mother’s pockets would help her a whole lot more than going to the police and being called a liar again.”
Georgina looks down at her wine glass on the table, shaking her head. “What about the other girl? Did she get paid off, too?”
“She did. Penny was fifteen when Gates did whatever he did to her. A sophomore on the newspaper staff. Unlike Katrina, she didn’t report him to anyone. But we have text messages between Penny and Gates, where she tells him she feels ‘sick’ about what she ‘let’ him do to her and that she’d been crying nonstop about it all day. She says she’d never done anything like that before and she feels like throwing up every time she thinks about it. Next thing you know, Steven Price was wiring Penny and her mother two hundred grand as part of a confidential settlement.”
“No father in the picture?”
“No father. Not sure if that was a coincidence or a sign of Gates’ MO. Maybe he figured girls with one parent at home, like you, had less of a support system. Or maybe he thought one parent would be easier to convince, later on, that nothing happened. Either way, by the time Gates assaulted Penny, he was Steven Price’s man. Brody had gone on to play football at Purdue. His first pick. And the next Price brother, Brendon, was having a golden season and getting courted by top colleges.”
“And the principal?”
“It’s not clear what he knew about Penny. We found nothing to indicate he knew anything. But who knows?”
Georgina picks up her wine glass and takes a long gulp. When she replaces her glass, she puts her elbows onto the table and sinks her face into her hands. “This is... horrible.”
I get up and pull her to me. Take her into my arms. Hold her tight and kiss her cheek. “Don’t beat yourself up about not telling anyone. You did the best you could under the circumstances.”
“But I’m not seventeen anymore.”
“No, you’re not.”
“But what good would it do to speak up now? It’s been almost five years since he tried to rape me—and it’d still be my word against his because those other two girls signed confidentiality agreements. I’d be on my own, the same as always. He said, she said. Only, now, five years later.”
“The truth is the truth, whether anyone believes you or not. Maybe, if you speak up, you’ll save the next girl. And if you don’t, at least you tried.”
She makes a tortured sound. “I need some time to think. Can you send me everything Henn sent you?”
“Of course. How about you read it after we get back from New York, though? Like you said, it’s been almost five years. Surely, it can wait another five days. In the meantime, let’s have fun and celebrate your birthday and forget about this shit.”
She looks grateful for the suggestion. “Yes. I’d like that.”
“In fact, let’s kick off that game plan, starting now.” Without hesitation, I scoop my beloved butterfly into my arms like a bride, making her swoon audibly. “Come on, beautiful. One giant dose of pleasure-induced amnesia, coming right up.”