by V. V. James
TRANSCRIPT OF NEWS ITEM AND INTERVIEW WITH HARPER FENN, WCON-TV CONNECTICUT TONIGHT
Prepared for legal and editorial standards review
DAO: The small town of Sanctuary is a quiet sort of place, a favorite of Yale professors and vacationing Manhattanites. It’s fair to say that violent crime isn’t common here. And neither—at least, for the past 300 years—are accusations of death by witchcraft.
But that all ended this week, when in an extraordinary step, local newspaper the Sanctuary Sentinel published an article all but naming a high school student as the murderer of her ex-boyfriend.
That young woman is Harper Fenn, and she’s here with me now. Harper, thank you for agreeing to speak to me.
FENN […]
DAO: So, Harper, tell me how you’re feeling. Frightened, maybe?
FENN: Frightened?
DAO: Your house was defaced last week. Did that make you fear for your safety?
FENN: Whoever did it probably hoped it would, yeah. But they’re the ones that are scared.
DAO: Of what? Witchcraft?
FENN: Of the truth. And do you know the truth about Daniel Whitman—the so-called victim in all this? The whole town’s acting like he was some kind of saint. The sports star. The kids’ coach. Mr. Popularity. But the truth is that he drugged me and abused me while one of his friends filmed it. He raped me.
DAO: [crosstalk] Harper, I need to stop…
FENN: [crosstalk, inaudible] …me.
NEWSCASTER: Anna, I have to just interrupt and say that no charges have been brought, against either Harper Fenn or Daniel Whitman—or anyone else.
FENN: Let them try to kill me. I’m innocent.
NEWSCASTER: And I’m afraid that’s all we’ve got time for this evening, Anna. Again, for viewers at home, no allegations in this case have been substantiated. We’ll continue to follow the story as it unfolds.
Now, it’s good news for holidaymakers heading to Kettletown State Park. Officials have confirmed that the campgrounds will be open for the upcoming holiday weekend. […]
Fifty-Four
Sarah
Oh, Harper. Oh, my darling girl.
Couldn’t you have let me take care of this?
What have you done?
Fifty-Five
Maggie
I swing by the pad thai place on the way back to my rental apartment. I’ve a lot of brain work ahead of me, and it’ll need fuel.
I have to call Remy, as I promised, to update him on Rowan’s findings. But first, I have to work out what the hell I tell him, because today dumped a bunch of new information and ideas in my lap. Unfortunately, not only does none of it solve things for me, it makes this investigation even more tangled.
Our magical investigator confirmed the presence of powerful, untraceable magic at the villa. But also said Jake’s video doesn’t show Harper using witchcraft. So who was responsible, and what exactly did they do?
My skin crawls just thinking about what happened at Sailaway Villa this morning.
Apart from Sarah Fenn, upset at a sex tape of her daughter, there’s still no one I know of with a clear reason to harm Dan. There’s no way I can put this to Remy. I’ve not forgotten what he said about both our jobs being on the line if I mess up.
So I keep things brief, telling my boss that Rowan’s still tired from their flight. He’s just asking if there’s been progress elsewhere, when I get an incoming call. Now, there’s nothing you should interrupt a talk with Lt. Remy Lamarr for, not even a booty call. But the number is Chester, which means it might be important. I throw my boss a quick apology and take the call.
“Ma’am!” Chester sounds panicked. “Turn on the TV now. WCON-TV Connecticut Tonight.”
Filling the screen is Harper Fenn.
“Stay on the line,” I tell Chester, and I hear his groans of horror as we watch the report unfold.
Rape. Harper has stepped forward and alleged that Dan Whitman raped her.
And although this makes my hot mess of a case a good deal messier, something inside me settles and calms.
Because I believe her.
I know what she’s referring to. The incident shown in the screengrab photograph Varley sent me. Which I’ll bet shows that thing at the football party that Beatriz Garcia told me about earlier. A search on the right sort of website for “high school witch slut”…
I tell Chester to have a watch put on the Fenn house through the night, in case the folks who trashed it last time come back for more after this. Then I grab my laptop and check that the safe-search function is switched off. Honestly, someone should come up with a browser for cops that does an unsafe search, taking you straight to the dark corner of the web where the creeps we deal with live. I tap in those four words, then hit the videos filter on the results page.
The screen fills immediately with thumbnail images. Luckily I don’t have to inspect them all, because one is a close match for the grainy screengrab. I see it again lower down in the list. And again. All different sites. I click on the first thumbnail, and it connects to one of the biggest hosts of user-uploaded online porn.
The video’s there, ready and waiting, all two minutes and forty-eight seconds of it. It’s been given a title, the sort of crude, titillating thing that hooks in the creepers who use sites like this: High school slutwitch begs for it.
I check the name of the user who uploaded the footage. It’s not SanctuaryslutXposer, but a person calling themself Anaxander. Which strikes me as an unusual choice for a site like this. I google it—anything to delay the moment of actually having to watch this—and get results for a music group and a Wikipedia reference to some ancient king.
Ah. A king of Sparta. Jeez. Dan played for the Sanctuary Spartans.
Gotta hit Play, Mags.
Sometimes I really hate my job.
The video is horrible. It would be even without having just heard Harper confirm that what it shows is rape.
The quality is poor. It’s been filmed in low light, and smoke drifts into frame. There’s a bed, but the room beyond is indistinct—nothing I’ll get an ID off.
Harper told the reporter that Dan Whitman drugged her. She’s conscious—she’s tossing her head from side to side, and her mouth is moving. But there’s no audio, only music—a sample of several songs, everything from Taylor Swift to what sounds like Swedish heavy metal. The video has already racked up several thousand “likes” from the pervs who use “high school” as a search term on sites like this. Tomorrow I’ll get a copy stored on our database and a take-down notice issued to the site.
My heart aches for Harper Fenn, even though she’s not the first raped girl I’ve seen, and she won’t be the last. Jenny’s frail, starved face comes back to me, pale against her hospital sheets. Despite all she’d endured, she was radiant with gratitude that we’d rescued her.
Harper Fenn on the news blazed with righteous fury.
Not everyone thinks that “believe the victim” is the right way to proceed. But I believe this girl, because in coming forward with this accusation against Daniel, she has given herself a motive for his murder. So with her life on the line if it came to a trial, Harper must be either a very, very confident liar, or very, very innocent.
Which makes sense, because magic was used at the villa that night—and Harper doesn’t have magic.
But her mother does. And experience has taught me that the person most likely to take revenge on an abuser isn’t the victim—it’s the victim’s parent. Usually fathers, taking a swing or even a potshot at their daughter’s abusive or unfaithful partner.
I specifically asked Sarah Fenn earlier if there was a reason someone might want to hurt Dan on Harper’s behalf. And Sarah told me no. I sensed that was a lie when she said it. Now I know it was. She knows Daniel assaulted her daughter—she knew before Harper told the entire state on live TV.
So have I just solved my case? Boy rapes girl. Girl’s mother kills boy. Seven small words to sum up something so huge and painful.
Rowan’s findings mean I should add two words to the end of that, though. Two crucial words: by witchcraft. That means the death penalty. For avenging her raped daughter, Sarah Fenn would die.
If I make one false step, a woman will be executed for a crime that in her shoes, every parent in America would consider.
So no missteps, Mags.
The bulletin’s just uploaded to the station’s streaming service, so I watch it and rewatch. The third time around, I notice something interesting.
Harper’s still talking right after she makes her allegation. But the interviewer is talking over her, trying to shut her up after the compliance shitstorm she’s created for the program exec back in the studio.
All I can hear clearly is…me. The word before it might be just? The cameraman turned full-frame onto the reporter after Harper launched her allegation, so I can’t try to lip-read it.
I’ll ask her—if I can find her.
Which conjures up a whole other nightmare. When she realizes the consequences of what she’s just done, will Harper skip town permanently? That’d be a disaster. But I can’t imagine how bad it’ll look if I arrest her—a seventeen-year-old girl who’s just stated that she was raped.
I scribble down my to-do list. It’s pretty straightforward: Harper. Jake Bolt.
Then I take a deep breath and call Remy back to explain what the hell just happened.
Funnily enough, I don’t get the best night’s sleep.
As early as is reasonable, I call the Fenn house. The phone rings and the message request kicks in. I told Sarah yesterday to screen her calls, but frustratingly she doesn’t pick up as I leave a message that I urgently need to interview Harper.
As an afterthought, I call back to ask if she caught what Harper said when the reporter was talking over her. But the line’s now engaged—so she is there—and after a couple more tries, I give up.
Jacob Bolt is my next mark. His father answers.
“Would have thought arresting that little bitch would be your first priority,” he says before brushing aside my assurance that Harper was the first person I tried to get hold of this morning.
He sounds furious, which is understandable. Harper Fenn just told the entire state of Connecticut that his son’s best friend is a rapist. And I wonder if he’s thinking about who the “friend” was who filmed it.
“Jake’s under the weather this morning, Maggie,” Tad tells me. “Maybe coming down with this mono that’s going around. I don’t think he’s in a fit state to come to the station.”
“If it’s mono”—which I don’t for a minute believe it is, more like a chronic determination to avoid hard questions—“it’ll get worse before it gets better. So we should get this done.”
“It’d better be about what she did to Daniel, and not that crock of crap she talked on the television last night. If you’re not going to arrest her for murder, I’ll happily pick her up for slander.”
He can’t, of course. You can’t defame the dead. But this isn’t the moment to point that out. Instead, I reiterate that as Daniel is unable to give his side of the story, only Jake can do that.
“You’ll be getting me, too,” Bolt growls before slamming down the phone.
Fifty-Six
POLICE TRANSCRIPT: JACOB BOLT
Interviewing officer: DETECTIVE KNIGHT, MARGARET
Attending: THADDEUS BOLT
…
DET. KNIGHT: Thank you for coming in today, Jacob. Let me know if you need to stop this interview at any time.
BOLT: This is important, Detective.
DET. KNIGHT: As a minor coming to the station voluntarily, you have elected to have an adult present, who is your father Thaddeus Bolt. For the record, Mr. Bolt is the chief of Sanctuary, but is attending today in a parental capacity. Please confirm this is correct, Mr. Bolt.
PARENT: Correct.
DET. KNIGHT: Now, since we first spoke, things have moved on. I’d like to show you a screengrab from a video that has been available online. We have masked the identity of the two primary figures, but I’d like you to tell me if you recognize this scene.
[The footage can be accessed in the digital evidence database ref. IB-9–02360. Restrictions apply.]
BOLT: What the fuck is this? I thought we were going to be talking about what Fenn did at the party.
DET. KNIGHT: Are you saying that the two people in this photo are…
BOLT: Yeah, that’s Dan and Harper. Anyone at school could tell you that. What a complete ho. He dumped her the day after.
DET. KNIGHT: Okay. So, what’s the occasion here? When was this filmed?
BOLT: How would I know?
DET. KNIGHT: You weren’t there?
PARENT: Clearly the only people there were the two seen on camera and whoever was filming. And as you know, Detective, that person would be guilty of making indecent images of a minor. Next question.
DET. KNIGHT: Tad, that’s… So, Daniel breaks off his relationship with Harper the day after this video was filmed. Did he discuss that decision with you?
BOLT: Not really. We didn’t exactly talk much about girl stuff.
DET. KNIGHT: But you were his closest friend?
BOLT: Yeah?
DET. KNIGHT: So, I’d imagine a guy about to break things off with his girlfriend might tell his best pal.
BOLT: Guys don’t gossip like girls do, Detective.
DET. KNIGHT: If you say so. What explanation did your classmates, or the school more widely, put on this breakup?
BOLT: He’d been getting bored of Harper for a while. She acted so entitled, never came to his games, wasn’t there to hang out at the weekends. Dan had half the school after him. Simple as that.
DET. KNIGHT: So it wasn’t to do with the evening shown in this video, then? Help me here, Jake—I’m confused.
BOLT: It was and it wasn’t. What she did that night… Everyone thought it was because she saw the breakup coming, decided she wanted to hang on to him after all, so let him make a sex tape. Dan said she was begging him to let the rest of the team join in. What a ho.
DET. KNIGHT: Less of that language, please, Jake.
PARENT: She’s right, Jakey.
BOLT: But…
PARENT: Just keep telling the officer what happened, and soon you’ll be able to call her what she really is: “murderer.”
[BOLT laughs. Laughter turns into coughing. BOLT becomes breathless.]
DET. KNIGHT: Jacob? Jake, are you okay? Interview suspended.
[Recording halts. Resumes.]
DET. KNIGHT: Jacob, you can stop at any time if you’re feeling too unwell to continue.
BOLT: Fucking mono.
DET. KNIGHT: Let’s move on. So, this sexual footage that I have just shown you—this is what was projected on the wall the night of the party when Daniel died. Correct?
BOLT: Yeah.
DET. KNIGHT: Let’s talk about that night. Can you describe for me where the projection appeared to be coming from? Close by you, or further away?
BOLT: Further away. Higher.
DET. KNIGHT: Further away and higher. So maybe somewhere like the landing where Dan was?
BOLT: Probably, huh? That would make sense.
DET. KNIGHT: Okay, so, you and Harper are on the stairs? In our earlier interview, you described Harper as “yelling.”
BOLT: Yup.
DET. KNIGHT: What was she saying, exactly?
BOLT: It was really loud, Detective.
DET. KNIGHT: You said she was swearing, so you could obviously make out a few words? Could she have been angry about the tape? Maybe making the allegations she made yesterday on TV?
BOLT: If I’d heard her say “rape,
” I would have done something about it. My mom raised me to be chivalrous toward women, even if girls these days are too skanky to appreciate it. So I didn’t hear her say it then, and don’t you think it’s pretty convenient that she’s crying rape now? She’s trying to distract from what she’s done, or maybe get a lighter sentence. She must have found out about the death penalty and is running scared.
DET. KNIGHT: Just the facts, please, Jacob. Did you see Daniel fall? Actually go over the banister?
BOLT: …
DET. KNIGHT: If Harper’s shouting in your face, you probably wouldn’t immediately notice something happening on the landing, right?
BOLT: I was kind of looking back and forth between them. I wanted to check whether he’d noticed her. [coughs]
DET. KNIGHT: Feel free to take a drink of water. We’re almost done.
BOLT: I don’t need any water. I just don’t feel great.
PARENT: Speed this up, Detective.
DET. KNIGHT: So you saw Dan fall, or not? It’s just that throughout the footage, your phone follows your line of sight, but you don’t capture the moment he falls, only when he’s on the floor below.
BOLT: I was filming Harper with the phone, just holding it up, you know, but watching Dan.
DET. KNIGHT: So how did he fall?
BOLT: I don’t remember.
DET. KNIGHT: You don’t remember? Jacob, you didn’t see the moment Dan went over the banister, did you?
BOLT: It was a party. It was dark, full of people. No one could see anything, really. But it doesn’t matter that I didn’t see Dan fall. Clearly I got the important thing: her hands. The moment she used her filthy magic.
DET. KNIGHT: Have you ever seen Harper Fenn use magic before, Jacob?
BOLT: I… Well, I guess.
DET. KNIGHT: You guess? It’d be pretty easy to spot, surely?
BOLT: It’s not like she’s making brews in chemistry class, Detective.
DET. KNIGHT: So what have you seen?
BOLT: Well, it’s pretty obvious how she got Dan in the first place.
DET. KNIGHT: You think she used witchcraft to make Daniel Whitman date her?