“I can give you a sedative if you want one.”
Vigorously, she shook her head. Returning her attention to the deputy, she supplied unemotional responses to his routine questions.
“Now, about tonight,” he said after clearing his throat, “you told Dr. Harvey that three men attacked and forcibly raped you.”
“That’s right.”
“Were they armed?”
“No.”
“No? They didn’t hold you at gunpoint or anything like that?”
“They overpowered me and held me down on the ground.”
“Hmm. Did they all achieve penetration?”
“That’s in my report, Deputy,” Dr. Harvey said helpfully.
“I’m doing the questioning, Doc, thanks. Answer the question, Miss Sperry.”
“Yes,” Jade said. “They all… penetrated and… and completed the act.”
“Were you sodomized?”
“No, she wasn’t.” The doctor answered for her again when Jade appeared too stunned by the question to speak.
“Were you forced to have oral sex?”
She shook her head as she slowly bowed it. “No.”
“Where did this alleged attack take place?”
Alleged? The word annoyed her, but she responded to his question. “Near a channel off the coastal highway. I don’t believe the turnoff has a name. It’s only a dirt track. I could lead you straight to it. Unless they took them, you could find articles of my clothing there.”
“Can you provide the department with a description of the alleged assailants.”
“I can do better than that, Deputy. I can name them.”
“You know their names?”
“Oh yes.”
“Well, hey, that’s a real break for us. Shoot.” His pencil was eagerly poised over the spiral notebook.
“Lamar Griffith.”
The pencil lead scratched noisily against the paper. Then, cocking his head to one side in puzzlement, the deputy read the name he’d just written down. He looked up at Jade.
“Myrajane Griffith’s kid?”
“Lamar Griffith,” Jade repeated firmly. “Neal Patchett.” The blood drained out of the deputy’s face. Nervously, he wet his lips. “And Hutch Jolly.”
For several moments he stared at her. Then, leaning forward, placing his nose inches from hers, he whispered, “You’re shittin’ me, right?”
She snatched the notebook and pencil from his hands and printed the three names on the ruled paper. Jabbing the bold message with the tip of the pencil, she cried, “Those are the names of the men who raped me. It’s your duty to see that they’re arrested and locked up in jail.”
He swallowed visibly and glanced at the doctor, as though seeking help. “Miss, uh, uh—”