Jake joined the huddle of people watching the scene through the two-way glass, and he noted with surprise that Hal Buckley was already there. Dressed in tennis whites, with his hands shoved in his pockets, Hal cut an odd figure at police headquarters. Chief Whitman was beside him, along with a woman who performed victim psych evaluations. Hal shot Jake a look, but he didn’t say anything.

Jake had gotten the call from Murray only two hours earlier when he was in one of the northernmost towns of Hart County, trying a DUI who’d been too stupid to plead out. According to Murray, a girl had been brought into the station by her parents, claiming an assault. Murray thought that it might be the assault from the party but that was all that he’d been able to say before he was called into the room. As soon as Jake finished, he hightailed it back down to New Falls.

Chief Whitman turned to Jake to fill him in. “Her name is Madison Martin. She claims she was assaulted at that house party. She doesn’t remember very much, but she’s firm it happened. The parents brought her in after the school guidance counselor called and told them she’d been missing a lot of school. Apparently it all came out during the meeting.”

The Chief flipped a switch, and sound filled the anteroom. “So the last thing that you can recall is that the boy was on top of you, and you couldn’t get up?” Officer Boyd asked gently.

“Yeah,” the girl confirmed. “He was trying to take off my underwear.” She glanced at her father and her big eyes looked miserable, but she kept going. “I wanted him to stop, but I couldn’t make him.”

“And why couldn’t you make him?” Boyd asked.

“Well, he was on top of me and I . . . I was pretty messed up,” she admitted, her voice small.

“Can you tell me what you mean by messed up?”

Maddie’s father tightened his fists but didn’t say anything.

“I had a few beers,” Maddie said quietly, and then, when Boyd kept looking at her expectantly, “and some E. Ecstasy.”

“Okay. And did he manage to remove your underwear?”

“No. I don’t think so. After a certain point, I can’t remember anything else. I’m sorry. But a lot of people saw. They were . . .” Her voice trailed off, and when she spoke again, it was almost a whisper: “They were watching through a window. Everybody saw. Everybody knows.” Her voice cracked.

Maddie’s mother cut in: “That’s when the boy broke the window. To get her out.”

“Which boy was this?” Boyd asked, and Maddie’s mother looked over at her daughter.

“Will O’Connor,” Maddie said, her voice flat. “He broke the window and then he beat the kid up. I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t done that.”