Somewhere in the back of a police precinct lay a box—or maybe only a thin file—holding the investigation of the rape of a girl named Lila Nash. If Yates had interviewed a man with a lisp back then, he wouldn’t have known that it mattered. Was it possible that somewhere in those reports lay the seed of what happened to her in court? Might she find her attackers in those pages?

As a victim, she didn’t have an absolute right to see her case, but she wasn’t just another victim—she was also a prosecutor with connections on the inside. Lila paged through Gavin’s file until she found the business card of Niki Vang stapled to a report. Lila paused for only a couple of seconds before tapping out a message to Niki’s number and hitting send.

*  *  *

They met in the courtyard of the Government Center, a green space in the middle of downtown where people could sit and enjoy the warm August sun. Lila had no sooner claimed a bench in the shade of a tree when Niki appeared at the other end of the courtyard. Lila stood and waved her over.

“I appreciate you meeting with me, Detective Vang,” Lila said, as they took seats on the same bench.

“Please, it’s Niki.”

“Okay…Niki. The reason I asked to see you is that I need a favor. It’s kind of a gray area, so if you have any qualms about it, I want you to refuse.”

Niki considered Lila for a moment and said, “Okay.”

“An active investigation is confidential, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“As a peace officer, you have access to any active file, and you can share that information with a prosecutor.”

“Yes.”

“And technically I’m a prosecutor.”

“Is there a file you want to see?”

Lila leaned forward on the bench, lacing her fingers together, her forearms resting on her knees. “Eight years ago, I was at a party near Uptown and something happened. I was drugged and…raped.”

Her words lingered in the air for a few seconds before Niki said, “I’m sorry.”

“I reported it, but there wasn’t much I could tell the detective. I remember getting dizzy and really tired all of a sudden, but I don’t remember leaving the party. The detective handling the case, a guy named Yates, told me that people said that I was bouncing off walls, trying to walk. They thought I was being my usual drunk self.” Lila looked up at Niki. “I used to drink a lot back then.”

Niki gave Lila a smile that said No judgment and Lila continued.

“I woke up the next morning in the backseat of my car, parked out in a field. I didn’t know what happened. I didn’t understand how I got there. I was naked and confused. They did a rape kit and screened for drugs. I had GHB in my system.”