15| tip of the iceberg

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WARNING: This chapter contains explicit details of rape and abuse if either of these is triggering please feel free to skip this one.

I currently found myself lost in my own thoughts as I looked outside the window of Detective Olivia Porter's black SUV. It's been a few weeks since we started working on Macy's case and we haven't seen any type of progress. The DNA results on Macy's dress was a match with Tommy's semen, I was right. Even though that sounds like progress it isn't. That only proves that they had sexual intercourse. Which meant that the defense was going to argue that it was consensual.

Jared has stressed it enough (more than a hundred times) that he wants an airtight case. That meant that we had to have something more than a DNA match and security footage from AJ's showing that they both left the bar together. With no witnesses yet, we were back to square one. I had the video footage I took at Laguna Seca but I wasn't ready to have that conversation with Jared. Because even though it was a smart move, it not only compromised me but it also compromised the boys. Once Jared handed the video to the court, the defense will question its credibility. Which meant that Jared had to put a face to the witness who took the video. And with me as a witness, by law under oath, I had to talk about every single little detail of the events that night.

I didn't want it to come down to that because I knew I would end up losing people because of it. But I also wanted nothing more than to get justice for Macy. That's why I was hoping that the two-hour drive to Sage Forest Psychiatric Institution gave us the answers we were looking for. Olivia tried to get Emily's file from the Dean of Student Affairs but she denied her request with a very poor excuse. Peyton ended up telling me about the place where Emily Cohen was admitted. The girls from the house paid her a visit for the first few months she was there.

When Olivia pulled up at the institution it looked scary, at least from the outside. "Do you know who to talk to exactly about Emily Cohen?" I ask.

"Yes, I spoke on the phone with Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell." Olivia pauses. "She said we reached out just in time, Emily is starting her first round of ECT today. She is scheduled to be sedated later in the afternoon."

The first round of ECT? "ECT as in Electroconvulsive therapy? Won't that affect her memory?"

"Yes, that's why we're here Everest. After the first two rounds, she'll start to forget everything in pieces." Is the school forcing this treatment on her or does she want it for herself?

We walked inside of the institution and Dr. Blackwell greeted both Olivia and I. "Detective Porter, you've arrived just in time. Emily is scheduled for her ECT soon and we have to sedate her. We've been treating Emily for a while now and she doesn't talk much about what happened to her the night of her assault. She just wants to forget it ever happened. Her depression has been getting the best of her lately."

"Is that's why she's going through ECT?" I ask.

"Yes," Dr. Blackwell replies. "She requested it herself."

"In my experience, a victim can heal quicker if they are listened. That's why we are here." Olivia informs Dr. Blackwell. She's not wrong but I'm sure it's not that easy.

"She's been heard Detective Porter, here that is, the way the school handled her assault it completely re-traumatized Emily." Dr. Blackwell frowns.

"Does she have any sort of support system?" I ask. "Any family or friends in particular that we can also talk to?"

"She's been here for almost a year now and aside from the few visits from the girls of her sorority, no one else has been here to visit her." Dr. Blackwell pauses. "She spent most of her life in foster homes. Her mom is in rehab and she doesn't even know who Emily's father is."

"Our intention is not to trigger her, but we really do need to talk to her. Her assailant may have raped again."

"I see." Dr. Blackwell pauses. "She's in her room, down the hall. You can follow me, I've already told her you were going to stop by."

"Judging by your facial expressions I take that she's not in a very welcoming mood," I add.

"I understand where she's coming from, Emily reported her assault more than a year ago and this is the first time I've seen the police getting involved." Dr. Blackwell expresses and you can sense the anger in her tone.

At first, I felt a little attacked but I also understood where she was coming from. If I had known sooner, there's not much I could've done but I would've done something to help her. Either way, what matters is what happens from now on.

Dr. Blackwell took us down the hall and walked us into Emily's room. It was a pretty average room. Nothing from what I was expecting, that's for sure. The walls were painted a deep shade of grey and there were barely any windows. It looked very depressing though. "Hey Emily, Detective Porter is here with one of the students from your school, if you feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed in any way you let me know. They've assured me that they will back off."

Just like Macy, you could see the pain in her green eyes. She remained calm and assured Dr. Blackwell that she was okay with us asking her questions. "I'm okay Dr. Blackwell, if anything triggers me I will let them know."

Dr. Blackwell nodded and she left us three in the room. Emily shifted from the position where she was sitting in on her small bed and she signaled us to sit in the bed in front. "Did Dr. Blackwell tell you why we're here Emily?" Olivia asks.

"Yes," She replied coldly. "Now that someone else was raped, you need to pretend you actually care about me."

"We know you've been through a lot Emily," I try to say but from her facial expressions I know she wasn't having it.

"You have no idea." She replies.

"Well then, why don't you start by telling us what happened the night of your assault Emily," Olivia suggests.

"I told this story a dozen times and no one would believe me until I ended up here. Until someone else got raped." Emily expresses in anger.

"I'm sorry it took so long for us to find you," Olivia says and Emily rolls her eyes. "I know it's hard to talk about what happened, but I promise you that things will be different this time. You have my word."

"You don't get it do you?" Emily asks in a heated tone. "I've talked and talked about it. It has gotten me nowhere. I keep reliving the same night over and over again. The only thing that will make it better is frying my brain until I can't remember any of it."

"Tommy Scott, the boy who assaulted you, he assaulted a freshman a few weeks ago. Her name is Macy, Macy Kingsley." Olivia tells Emily.

"The best advice I can give her is to shut up about Tommy or they will go after her," Emily says and you could see the fear in her eyes. What is she so afraid of? Is that why she took the pills?

"What do you mean by they?" Olivia asks. "The fraternity Tommy is in? The school?"

"No, the gang Tommy is a part of," Emily says, it took Olivia and me by surprise. That must be why Macy didn't recognize the other four boys. "But it doesn't stop there, Chancellor Scott too. When I reported my assault he made it seem like it was my fault. That place, nothing is going to change there."

"What they did to you would push anyone over the edge Emily," I add.

She turns to look at me. "You think? They put me through hell, they put me in here to make me go away."

"We want to hold Tommy and the school accountable, but Emily we can't do that if you don't help us. Otherwise, in a few months, Tommy is going to Brown. He will be graduating with honors."

Emily softens her expression. "Okay, I can do this."

"Your assault, it happened a year ago right?" I ask.

Emily nods. "It happened during rush week, I was rushing the Kappa Kappa Delta house. There was a party that night, one of the girls from the house introduced me to Tommy. He was sweet at first, he offered me a drink and we hit it off pretty well. We played beer pong with some of his friends but right before midnight, he suggested that we go up to his room. He said he wanted to talk, I was pretty stupid. I fell for it."

"You couldn't have known Emily," Olivia says trying to reassure her. Emily's eyes were watering up.

"I should've known better than to go up to his room," Emily says and the tears start rolling down her cheeks. "We sat on the edge of his bed once we got to his room, we did talk at first, but then it escalated. It was nice, when he kissed me that is. Back home, I wasn't the typical girl boys went after. So it felt nice to feel wanted by someone else for one. But right after he kissed me, he shoved his hands down my jeans. I tried to push him off, I swear."

"Emily, did you tell him to stop?" Olivia asks.

"I did, but he wouldn't listen. He slapped me, he grabbed my hands and put them above my head. Then he unzipped his pants and the bastard told me that he knew I wanted it." Emily breaks down. "I tried to scream but nobody could hear me. The music downstairs was too loud. After that he raped me."

"Did you tell anyone about what happened that night?" I ask.

"No," She pauses. "After Tommy left the room, I just walked back downstairs and blended in with the crowd. I drank and danced my feelings away."

"Emily is there anything specific that you may remember about Tommy's room or about him?" I ask. If Emily gave us specific details that are similar or exactly like Macy's story, our case was even more solid.

"I actually do," Emily pauses. "There were posters in the ceiling and I noticed a tattoo on Tommy's chest. It was a name, the name of his gang. Azrael Sylla."

"How do you know it's the name of a gang?" I ask out of curiosity. I mean it was a strange name, but how could she be so sure that it was a gang. Olivia's facial expression told me everything I needed to know before Emily even answered my question.

"I looked it up, they are wanted for many crimes involving rape and murders. They call themselves the rapist factory."

"When did you decide to finally report it to the school Emily?" Olivia asks.

"A month after, but by that time, the head of campus security told me I was too late to report it." Emily cries. "When I met with Chancellor Scott, he asked me about my family, my grades, and if I had had other hookups gone wrong." Just like he did with Macy.

"How did you end up here then?" I ask.

"It was a week after I reported the assault, I was at a party at the house and Tommy showed up with a couple of friends I hadn't seen before. I tried to avoid him, but when I went upstairs to the bathroom, he cornered me with his friends. They got physical with me and Tommy threatened to kill me if I ever filed a report against him with the police." Emily pauses. "I didn't know what to do, I just wanted the pain to end, I was so scared, so I took some sleeping pills with alcohol. Campus security showed up when one of the girls found me lying on the bathroom floor. I started screaming and they took me out of the house in a straight jacket in front of everyone. After that, they forced me to commit myself here."

"I'm so sorry Emily," I say.

"Now you understand why I want the ECT?" Emily asks whilst she wipes away the tears from her pink shaded cheeks.

Dr. Blackwell walked in a few minutes later, interrupting the short silence that filled the room. "I'm afraid your time is over, Detective Porter, it's time for Emily to get sedated."

I knew there was nothing we could do about it, it was Emily's decision after all but I hoped that she would decide later on to stop her ECT treatment. We were going to put Tommy Scott and the bastards he called friends away for good. Maybe that could give her the closure she was looking for.

Olivia and I headed out the door to the parking lot. We were both clearly emotionally drained. It broke me having to listen to what these girls have been through. And the fact that nobody has done something about it, infuriates me even more. There was something going on behind closed doors.

"What are we going to do now Olivia? We can't just let Emily go through that."

"Trust me, Everest, I want nothing more than to give that girl the closure she needs. But we need to talk to the school first before arresting Tommy Scott. It's not that I don't believe her, it's formal procedure to corroborate her story. We want to do this right, there's no space for margin of error in this case or Tommy Scott walks." Olivia pauses when her phone rings. "And it looks like we're in luck, Dean Myers is ready to talk."

.

"Emily Cohen is still saying she was raped?" Dean Myers asks.

"She is, you don't sound so surprised Dean Myers," Olivia says.

"Emily is a troubled girl Detective, issues with drugs and alcohol. I mean, the lists goes on." That's bull and she knows it.

"Was she trouble before or after she was assaulted on your campus?" I ask trying to be as composed as I can be. Dean Myers was agitating me with her ignorant response.

"Before actually," Dean Myers replies. "She comes from a broken home, she did overcompensate by getting admitted with a scholarship by being a great student, but she's had a hard time fitting in. That's what we like to call a miss-match here at BGU."

"With all due respect, we are not talking about being on the school's good side. We are talking about the second girl who says she was raped on your campus by the same guy." I add. The thing that infuriated me most was that this attitude was coming from a woman herself.

"We would just like to see your files on the incident," Olivia says but Dean Myers shakes her head.

"Those files are sealed Detective, I've already informed you of this." Dean Myers pauses. "Emily Cohen made and then withdrew unsupportable accusations against a fellow student."

Olivia interrupts. "Unsupportable accusations?"

"I feel sorry for her, but aside from damaging someone else's reputation, we've done everything we can to help her." I wanted to punch her right in the face. Unsupportable accusations my ass.

"Did you even interview Emily about her assault Dean Myers?" Olivia asks.

"I did," Dean Myers replies. "And so did our counselor Samantha Campbell. I can call her if you would like to speak to her as well. We've got nothing to hide Detective."

I wasn't so sure about that. Emily's and Macy's case was just the tip of the iceberg and we were just getting started.

A/N

hey everyone! I'm so happy to be back, I missed you guys too much! Last week was rough, between my exams and assignments I couldn't catch a break. I'm glad it's finally over with and I can get back to our regular updating schedule. Before I go, I wanted to thank you guys for being patient with me and for supporting me along with my story. Thank you so much, I know I always say it but it means the world to me! ✨

ps. we've reached more than 600 reads! from the bottom of my heart, thank you! 💛

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