Jane Cannon

To: Margaret Arioli

Hi

October 2 at 11:02 PM

Hi, Margaret. I’ve been worrying I pissed you off with my last email, since you don’t know me and since I’m bringing up something you most likely (if you’re anything like me) are trying hard to forget, but today I heard you left school on a leave of absence. I don’t know if you got my last message. Maybe CC suspended your email account. Anyway, if you are receiving this, I just wanted to tell you I don’t blame you for going away. I want to go away, too. I hate it here. I can’t concentrate, and I’m already failing half my classes, even conservation bio, and that’s for my major. I avoid everyone. I’m scared all the time. How did you make it through last year? I don’t think I’m going to last a month. And I still don’t know if I should tell anyone about what happened. I heard you were put through the wringer, and not just by the police, but the college, too. Was it even worth it?

Was it?

Maggie let go of the phone. It landed in her lap. She dropped her head in her hands. Her skin was damp with sweat. Is it worth it? How many times had she asked herself that question? She dried her face with the bottom of her shirt.

Jane was right: Even the college disciplinary proceeding had been a nightmare.

She drew the covers over her head and tried not to think about it. Breathing fast, she scrambled out of bed and paced around the loft. Don’t think about it.

But it rushed back to her.

“Where’s the evidence?” The college’s chief legal officer threw up his hands. “Until the police release their statements—”

“Mr. Rhine, you know full well Dean McGrath has a duty to investigate this independently,” the court chair said. “The Police Department can pursue its own investigation. It doesn’t have any bearing on this occasion.”

He slapped the table. “Well, that’s just stupid. We’re pushing this off. We need to. We’re talking about expulsion here, Sue; we’re talking about something pretty damn big. We have an obligation to consider anything in the police statements that might influence the final decision.”

Susan Brown gave Maggie an uneasy glance, then scowled at Ted Rhine. “Margaret wouldn’t be here today if the police had handled her situation in an appropriate manner.”

He dismissed this with a wave. “It’s my job to guarantee that all parties comply with the law, and I’m telling you, we need to hold off until we get those statements.”