“In the bathroom.”

“Oh, okay. You and David were in the bathroom together?”

She blushed.

“Were you having sex with David in the bathroom?” I asked.

“No … just … you know …” She smiled and made chirps with pursed lips.

“You two were kissing?” I asked.

“Yeah … we were kissing.”

“Then what happened?”

“The bad boys came in.”

“Did the bad boys say anything to you?”

“Bad words.”

“What kind of bad words?”

She looked down. “The F-word.”

“I see.” My brain was scrambling for the right order to ask my questions. “And after they said the words, what happened?”

“They hit David hard. His nose was bleeding—”

“My God!” exhaled Louise. She turned away and put her fingers over her mouth. “This is …”

“Am I doing something bad, Louise?”

“No.” She smiled and wiped her eyes. “No, you’re doing something good. You’re doing the right thing. Go on, Sarah. Tell them what happened.”

Sarah dropped her head. “They put him in the trash can. He didn’t like it. He was yelling. But then they turned the can upside down”—she closed her eyes—“and one of them sat on it, so David was stuck inside. And every time he yelled, the boy would kick the trash can hard and tell him to shut up.”

She was flinching as she related the incident. I said, “And after David was put in the trash can, what happened next?”

Her voice was as soft as new snow. “They pushed me down and tore my underpants. Then … the first one did it … the sex. It hurt real bad. I wanted to yell for him not to do it, but I didn’t want to make him mad … because when David yelled, it made them all mad. I didn’t want my nose to bleed. So I closed my eyes and didn’t say anything.”

“That was very smart,” Decker said. “See, I told you, you were smart.”

Her chin was pressed against her chest, her eyes still shut.

Decker said, “Do you remember how many boys had sex with you?”

Slowly, she held up two fingers.

“Two boys had sex with you.”

She held up three fingers.

Louise blanched. I took her hand and squeezed it. Dad said, “Three boys?”

She nodded.

“Okay, Sarah. Now this is very important. What happened after they were done with the sex?”

“That’s when they made me promise not to tell. They said if I told the police, they would kill me. I believed them!”

“Yes, of course. And then did the bad boys leave the bathroom first or did you?”

“The bad boys did.”

“And what did you do?”

“I pushed the trash can over to help David. It was real heavy and I hurt from the bad boys and I was crying. …”

“You must have been very scared,” I said.

“I was!”

“But you don’t have to be scared now because you’re safe,” Decker said. “Sarah, I want you to tell me this. When you pushed the trash can over, was David all right?”