"What exactly do you hope to find there?" Micah asked bewildered, then he shrugged. "Never mind. Can I make a phone call?"
"You are not under arrest," Natasha said, walking with him to the outside of the building. "This is just a routine search for evidence."
Micah snorted. "I really can't believe this." He dialed his father's number.
Bancroft came on the line swiftly. He usually took Micah's calls in a hurry. He was programmed to expect them to be bad news.
"My house is going to be searched," Micah said simply. "Deidra told the police that I raped her."
Bancroft could be heard gasping over the phone. "I am sending over the family lawyer!" he screeched down the phone. "Don't you dare say a thing and incriminate yourself!"
Micah hung up the phone and decided to call Taj. He wanted him to know what was going on. "Your girlfriend is locking me up," he said when Taj came on the line.
"I am not!" Natasha said loudly. "I am going to search his house because a criminal charge is filed against him."
Taj was in his new office. He jumped up from the chair. "What's going on? Something to do with Deidra?"
"Yup." Micah chest was aching with the effort not to scream. "That witch accused me of raping her." There was the sound of suppressed violence in Micah's voice.
"No, don't call her any names," Taj said hurriedly. "Give me directions to where you live."
Micah gave him directions and then got into his car, which was parked at the front.
"So you guys are accompanying me back to my place?" he asked
Natasha nodded.
He slammed his car door loudly and reversed from the parking lot.
Micah had never in his life felt such a sense of fear. It was taking him over, even though he constantly told himself to be calm. He did not do anything. Deidra was a spoilt over-sexed girl who was bitter because she did not get her way.
So then, why were his hands trembling when he turned into his pothole lined driveway, and why did he feel so weak and frightened? Even his knees were trembling. When he got out of his car, he felt guilty, and he hadn't even done anything wrong!
He took deep breaths and waited for Natasha and her partner to stop near his car.
They got out of their car briskly and Micah looked at Natasha with new eyes. One night a couple weeks before, he had walked a student worker to her dorm and Natasha had been standing outside. He had called to her several times; eventually he touched when she didn't answer him. She had reacted lightning fast, almost bending back his thumb.
So, she was a police and she was also good at self-defense. His mind wandered back to the present. She stood in front of him with no emotion on her face and handed him a search warrant.
"Want to wait on your lawyer?" Natasha asked.
Micah shrugged. "Sure, why not? You do realize that Deidra has serious issues, don't you?"
Natasha and Tony looked at each other and then Natasha cleared her throat. "Micah, you don't have to tell us anything without counsel present. I just want to say though that rape is a serious offense and her father is on his way back to Jamaica from Barbados. He wants you locked up."
Micah shook his head. "She's lying."
"We will see what happens after the search," Natasha said quickly.
The lawyer was making his way up the driveway in his SUV. He eventually stopped near them and got out.
"You waited for me?" he asked, surprised.
He looked at Natasha and Tony. "I am not used to certain common courtesies from the police. The name is Fritz Gordon. He shook Natasha and Tony's hand."
"Okay, let's go." He patted Micah on his back as he headed to the front door and opened the house.
Micah stood on his wide verandah with the rotting boards and waited as they searched his house. There wasn't anything much for them to search. He didn't have much furniture. What he had in there were actually bits and pieces of damaged stuff from the previous owners. The only thing that he really had for himself in the place was a double pillow top king-sized bed.
He could hear the floorboards squeaking as they tramped over the noisy rotting boards. The search wouldn't take long, he was sure.
He sat on the rail of his front stoop; it was made of wood and rocking slightly. It was on the very bottom of his list of things to fix on the house, there were just so many other more important things to do. He could hear the willow trees with their mourning tune as the wind picked up.
Taj arrived in his new silver Subaru. He had bought it just last week. Micah had gone with him to pick it out.
Taj got out of the car and looked at him with sympathy. "What's up bro?"
Micah hung his head. He suddenly realized when Taj called him bro the kind of backlash that this whole fiasco would have on him and his family. It wasn't just his father's job. His mother had an old age home that she started a few years earlier—everyone loved and respected her in the community. His brother Marcus was a track star, and well known internationally. Pretty, soon the media would be digging into his life and hounding his family.
He wondered, resentfully, if Deidra realized the real damage that she would do to the Bancroft family and then he concluded that she probably did.
"They are in there searching." He hooked his thumb and indicated to the house.
"This is not a bad place you have up here," Taj said shaking the post and deciding not to join him by sitting on it.
"Thanks," Micah said. "Sale is supposed to be finalized tomorrow. I hope it is finalized before news gets out that Dr. Bancroft's son is a rapist."
"Nice view too," Taj said with a soothing quality to his tone. He looked over into what Micah fondly thought of as his farm and then pass that to the rolling hills beyond, all the way to where he could see fog hugging some mountainous areas in the distance.
"They say the place is haunted," Micah said, "because of the sound of the willow trees lining the driveway and a story about a man killing his wife here. The claim is that she is the one wailing in the night. Some people have even claimed to have seen her..." He stopped mid sentence.
Natasha came out of the house, a somber expression on her face. Tony had two clear-plastic evidence bags, with what looked like a g-string panty and the accordion file with the wedding books in them and a bigger bag with his sheets.
Micah's heart picked up speed. His lawyer was not looking as jovial as when he went inside.
"Micah Bancroft," Natasha said seriously, "you are under arrest..."
Micah barely heard Taj's gasp or his lawyer's entreaty. "Don't cuff him. He's not dangerous, and I will follow you down to the station."
He didn't really register when they reached the blue and white Mount Faith police station or the fact that Natasha had said something to him.
He heard after she said it when he was coming out of the car. "Watch your head."
He barely registered that Taj was looking at him reassuringly.
He just knew that one moment he had woken up in the morning as happy as his melancholic soul would allow and the next moment he was behind bars at the station while his lawyer worked on his bail for the rape of Deidra Durkheim.
Chapter Ten
"He has a court date two weeks from now," Natasha told Taj as they watched the last fumes from the lawyer's vehicle disappear down the hill.
"Did you have to treat him like that?" Taj asked angrily. "It's as if you became a different person. Cold and impersonal."
Natasha rounded on him, her eyes flashing angrily. "I am a police officer. I was just doing my job! My job description does not involve mollycoddling criminals!"
"You looked like you enjoyed making him sweat," Taj said. "I saw a sneer on your face."
"Rape is no joke," Natasha said, "and if he did it he should pay for his crime."
"He didn't rape that girl," Taj hissed, "and you and I both know that. Micah has always tried to avoid her."
"When he is before us," Natasha snorted. "But who knows how he was with her behind our backs."
Taj sh
ook his head vehemently. "Listen to me. Deidra has some serious issues. I don't know what they are because I am not treating her, but trust me, any sane man who has it together can spot those issues from a mile off."
"She is a victim!" Natasha spat.
Taj ran his fingers through his hair. "No she is not. She is the perpetrator of a crime here and the crime is against Micah. Stop thinking like a woman and start thinking like the police officer you claim to be!"
Natasha screwed up her eyes at him. "Run that by me again!"
"You heard me!" Taj said. "You have seen Deidra flirt and cajole her way, trying to get a reluctant Micah to notice her…hoping for his affections. You know that Micah is not the type to commit a rape. He is a loner…a man who thinks his way through things. He is no rapist!"
"Is that a medical conclusion or is it fueled with emotions because he is your recently discovered brother?" Natasha snarled. "If it is medical, maybe you can be a part of his defense team when this case goes to court, but let me tell you something mister…too long have girls reported rapes and the police, who should do better, turn the other way.
I have always vowed that under my watch, rape won't be a minor offense. Did you get that? I don't care who it is, or where the person is from, or what class they are in life. They deserve to be punished if they rape someone! Now, I have three rapes to investigate and one suspect. Let me do my job!"
She huffed when she finished. "If you will excuse me. I have work to do."
Taj watched her storm off. Her head held high, a certain aggression to her step and he sighed deeply. He got into his car and decided to go visit Micah. When he left here he had looked like all the stuffing had been pounded out of him.
He turned and headed in Micah's direction.
***
Natasha was so angry she felt as if she could punch something. The old gym that was at the back of the station had a punching bag and some weights. She headed to it, hauling on her gloves first—savagely pushing her fingers down into them.
"Where are you going?" Tony asked her as she walked down the corridor.
She growled in answer.
He looked alarmed but followed her at a measured pace and watched as she beat the daylights out of a 250 pound punching bag.
When she was done she was dripping with sweat and her anger was spent. She hated rape with a passion. Her very first case as a detective had been a rape case. The victim had been a ten-year-old girl. She had been afraid to talk at first because her rapist had threatened her life. They had gathered the limited evidence that they had at their disposal and found that the rapist was her father. Natasha had made excuses for him at first. He had cooperated with them and had been angry when they told him about the rape—he was almost livid, when all along he had been the one. She could see his face now in her mind's eye.
She thought about how shocked she was when she found out who the real rapist had been. Then and there, she had decided that she would not make excuses for anyone. After all, how did rapists look? They looked like everybody else and the people who denied the claims at first were usually the worst.
She had been giving Micah the benefit of the doubt until she found that pair of panties on the floor under his bed—and those wedding books that she mentioned had been thrown down on a table, as if she had run and left them there.
Maybe Deidra was a raving nymphomaniac, but she had a case and Micah's claims that he hadn't even touched her was bordering on the unbelievable.
"I got the information you asked me for," Tony said when she came back from the rickety shower dressed in fresh jeans and a polo shirt. Her head had sweated so profusely that she had washed her hair as well and combed it off her face, slicked back.
She sat in her office chair and looked at him quizzically. "Really? When did you find the time?"
"I was up at the crack of dawn." Tony grinned, his straight white teeth glistening.
"What do you have?" Natasha asked.
"Well," Tony looked through his papers, "Penelope Harris, the first victim, is pursuing her bachelors degree in Mass Communication and Media Studies. This is her final year. She works for the school's cable channel, Mount Faith Television. Along with two other co-hosts, Gilbert Hibbert and Dane Biggs, she has a segment on the channel called Wake Up Mount Faith.
Students like to tune in to the show because Penelope and Dane have a very acerbic rapport. Apparently, she puts him down and he retaliates giving viewers the best of the male and female viewpoint on things.
Natasha raised her eyebrows. "We have to check him out."
Tony nodded. "And Gilbert Hibbert too. His role is to act as pacifier when the two of them flare up at each other.
Next is Jiselle Newman, our second victim. She is a second year student in Journalism. Her father is Reverend Newman of the Stony Place Baptist Church. A couple miles up the hill. Her mother lectures here in the Psychology Department.
Natasha shook her head. "She had to be sedated last night. She was so distraught."
Tony scratched his chin. "I see no link to Micah Bancroft here. Neither of them has worked in the business center but of course, we need to explore further, how he could have come in contact with them. The glaring similarity with these two girls is that both are in the same area of study.
Natasha nodded. "What about Deidra? Managed to get any information on her?
Tony nodded. She's the daughter of government Senator, Edward Durkheim, who was a past student of Mount Faith and a very wealthy patron. He used to sit on the school board. Deidra is doing a Bachelor in Fashion Design. She is in her third year and doing extremely well, grade wise."
Tony looked over his paper again. "Her reign as beauty queen for the parish ends next week and she is a hot favorite to win Miss Jamaica Universe when she enters next year February."
Natasha smirked. "She's really pretty."
Tony frowned. "And maybe she is also lying? I may be fairly new at this detective thing but I am almost sure I can spot a fake rape report."
"And what if she's not lying?" Natasha asked. "What if Micah Bancroft snapped and attacked her? Are we just going to let it rest because she was the one chasing him?"
Tony shrugged. "It could have been consensual sex and not rape. She has no discernible bruises or even looks shaken up. Her stepsister did say that her story was mainly false. It's Deidra's word against Micah's. If his lawyer has any sense this will not see court."
Natasha sighed. "You are right. When I saw the panties under Micah's bed I almost exploded."
She put her face in her hand. "I quarreled with my boyfriend. I might have called him names. I don't remember. I was so incensed."
Tony grinned. "That punching bag really got a beating though."
Natasha sighed. "Senator Durkheim is high profile. He is going to put pressure on us to find evidence on Micah."
Tony crossed one leg over the other. "The Bancroft's are not without influence though."
"Well, back to the case that we are clear about." Natasha looked over Tony's papers. "We have to interview Penelope's two male co-hosts and check to see if there are any CCTV camera's near the Psychiatry Center."
"Already checked," Tony said. "There is none. The chief of security said that the area was not being used so there was no reason for cameras."
Natasha tapped her fingers on the desk. "That sucks. What were the common things that the girls said about this attacker?"
Tony pulled a piece of paper from the folder he had on the table. "They both said his voice sounded hoarse and that he smelled like gum."
"That's not really a lot to go on, is it?" Natasha leaned back in her chair. "They also said that he called them highhanded bitch."
Tony nodded. "That too."
Natasha snapped her fingers. "Did Penelope and Jiselle have any classes in common?"
Tony grinned. "Good point. Let me see."
He had a print out of their class schedules. He looked at both schedules in a timely manner. "No classes together." He shook
his head disappointedly.
"Let's go find out if they have anything in common at all," Natasha said stridently.
Chapter Eleven
After the lawyer dropped him home, Micah slowly walked into his house feeling angry and bewildered. If he saw Deidra right now he would squeeze her skinny little neck until she couldn't speak. Then they would definitely have a real reason for locking him up.
He considered calling her in his agitation but he thought better of it. His lawyer had warned him, in the car on his way home, that any conversation between him and Deidra will have to be monitored and that he shouldn't call or contact her. The lawyer had hatched a plan to get her to confess and then force her to drop the charges, which of course could get her charged with falsifying a criminal report. Of course, her father would get her off that one, Micah thought resentfully.
Micah gritted his teeth. If he didn't have a lawyer, what would have happened to him? If he weren't Dr. Bancroft's son, he wouldn't be out of jail now, walking free. He was sure of that.
For the first time in a long time, he appreciated his father's position. From his youth he had been scoffing at his father's drive to excel and his constant absences from home, but now he was extremely grateful.
So grateful that when he heard a vehicle drive up near his door and he saw that it was his father's red Pajero he found himself glad to see him, and when he looked and saw his mother's concerned face in the front seat he opened the door quickly.
"Oh my baby." Celeste advanced toward him hurriedly. "Why did that evil girl accuse you of rape?"
Bancroft was leaning on the car; looking at him with a stormy expression on his face.
He looked over his mother's head at his father's frown and grimaced.
"I thought we had a deal," Bancroft said frankly, "you would pretend to go through with the marriage and then let her down gently after."
Celeste looked around at her husband fiercely. "What kind of subterfuge is that? I have been saying this for a long time. If Micah doesn't want to marry this girl he doesn't have to and he should not be forced to."
Tattered Tiara (The Bancrofts: Book 2) Page 7