“I didn’t feel like one. I was fourteen, and I looked even older than that. At least that’s what he told me. Look, I’ve read a lot about this since then, so I understand now that he was grooming me. But at the time? I felt complicit. He would tell me a joke, and if I laughed, he’d say I understood his sense of humor better than his wife did. He gave me a copy of his favorite book. He’d practice the high school Spanish he remembered, but it was always something like ‘Eres tan bonita’ or ‘Me allegro de que somos amigos’—You’re so pretty, I’m so glad we’re friends. I liked the attention. We had kissed a few times before that, and I have to be honest—it was thrilling in the moment.”

“You were fourteen, at a summer camp,” Lindsay said. “And you said this person was a grown man. He had a wife and a wedding ring.” Lindsay noticed that Emilia still had not spoken her abuser’s name.

“Of course. But I was just old enough that I was willing to take on some of the responsibility. To see myself as participating in it. I realize in retrospect that’s exactly what he wanted. He manipulated the mixed emotions any girl that age is starting to feel about love and sexuality. But he was supposed to be there to guide us and help us, and instead . . . well, he followed me inside and tried to take my virginity.”

“But Alex stopped him, and then told your parents.”

“He wanted to call the police and file a report, but my mother and father—we couldn’t risk it.”

“Because of their immigration status,” Lindsay said, completing the thought.

Another call was coming through on her phone. She glanced at the screen. Scott, pressing her to get to the courthouse, but she wasn’t about to cut short her conversation with Emilia. Even if she managed Hope’s release, police in both Long Island and Wichita would continue to probe her possible connections to Alex Lopez.

“Alex had a mentor at the camp and told him everything. He said he couldn’t promise that our immigration status wouldn’t be a problem if we filed charges. According to him, the volunteer I was accusing was very powerful and could use his influence against our family, so he offered to investigate quietly on his own. If he found any other victims in a pattern, perhaps the other girls could be the ones to testify and I wouldn’t need to be involved. But then he came back and said he was squeaky clean, and that really sealed the deal for my parents. It was clear they thought I had done something to encourage his attention.”

“I’m sorry. That must have been awful.”