House on Fire

35

Seven years ago

“Somebody hurt you,” I said to Maggie.

A long, long silence during which my mind revved.

“I was raped.” She said it in an oddly affectless, far-away-sounding voice.

“My God.”

“It’s the kind of thing that can mess with your mind.”

I put my arm around her. “Of course it is. Talk to me. How long ago did it happen?”

“Five months ago.”

“Did you report it?”

“He... he’s a four-star.”

“Who?”

She shook her head.

“Why don’t you want to tell me who it was?”

“Is it okay if we don’t talk about this?”

“I don’t know, is it really okay? Because, Maggie — maybe you should talk to someone.”

She remained silent.

“What happened to the guy?” I said.

“Nothing.”

Over the next half hour it came out. She hadn’t filed any reports. She finally told me the name of her attacker. General Garrett Moore. Of course I’d heard of him.

“He called me and asked me to come to a meeting in his hotel room. This was in Vienna.”

“Don’t tell me he was in a bathrobe.”

She nodded. Attempted a smile. “Almost. Just a pair of gym shorts and an erection. I thought I was there for a business meeting. Silly me.” She lowered her voice to a murmur. “He said he’d been thinking of me a lot. He — wouldn’t stop. He physically restrained me — he wouldn’t stop.”

“Jesus.”

She sobbed silently, convulsively. I held her. After a while I said, “Are you in his chain of command?”

She shook her head.

“Pretty... ballsy to go after an investigator like you.”

“He didn’t think it was rape.”

“What?”

“He said he was just doing what I ultimately wanted. What he knew I wanted. Thing is, he’s done this with other women. I’ve heard the rumors.”

“You’ve told people?”

“You’re the only one I’ve ever told. Promise me you won’t do anything,” she said.

“You haven’t said anything to anyone? Why not?”

“Because... Heller, I like what I do, okay? I don’t want to be the girl who brought down General Garrett Moore. That would turn into my entire identity. You know how many enlisted guys would take a goddamned bullet for General Moore?”

“But couldn’t you file a restricted report?”

“And then you think it’s prosecuted? It’s ignored, and I’m ostracized. Do you know how powerful a general is? He can influence promotions, assignments, fitness reports, investigations, all sorts of things.”

“I know.”

“You file a charge against a general and you’re teasing a snake.”

“If he raped you — if it comes out—”

“It’ll be my word against his. He’ll deny it, of course. Oh, sure, if I insisted, we could move forward with a legal claim. And it would blow up my life here. I’d be radioactive. So, yeah, after the rape I made a decision. I didn’t want to be that girl. I just wanted to put it behind me.”

“Maggie,” I said softly, “this is not behind you.”