Date Rape New York Read Free

remember having sex.”
    Sophia gently drew the bathrobe around Grazia’s shaking body and helped her back to bed.  “Do you remember where you went last night?”
    “No!”
    “Do you remember who were you with?”
    “I don’t remember anything!” Grazia was struggling to make sense of this, but her brain wasn’t working. “I threw up. What is wrong with me!”
    “Did you go to a bar?” Sophia was wringing her hands in distress. “This is New York! If you went to a bar, it would be easy for some man to put a drug in your drink. He could have brought you here and had sex with you. I should have known this might happen,” she said, her normally sweet face growing hard. “I should have warned you.”
    Sophia went into the bathroom and returned with Grazia’s makeup remover and tissues. “I’m calling hotel security. Mr. Johnson will call the police. This happened to a friend of mine, so I know what to do. But before I call Mr. Johnson, I’m going to clean you up. You need to look respectable, or the police will treat you like a puttana .”

 
    Chapter 2
     
    Grazia drifted up from a dark place filled with shadows. “Francisco!” she screamed but her nightmare voice made no sound.
    “Miss Conti, wake up.”
    Grazia’s body jerked, waking her. She looked up to find a pair of bright blue eyes peering at her from under a thatch of white hair. Her aching eyes drifted downward to a bushy white moustache, blue shirt, and gray jacket open over a broad chest. A brass nametag sat on the breast pocket, but her tired eyes couldn’t make out the words. 
    He pulled over a chair and sat down. “I’m Stanley Johnson, chief of Hotel Fiorella security, Miss Conti. Call me Stanley. I understand you suffered a personal incident. Can you tell me about it?” The deep voice was gentle, kindly, and invited confidences.
    Grazia’s eyes were following the bobbing white moustache. She made a huge effort and gingerly pulled herself up to a sitting position. If she moved quickly, the dizziness returned with a vengeance. “I don’t know what happened. I woke up like this.” She held out one arm to show the bruises. “On my back, too.”
    Stanley winced. “Did you fall? With the snow we’re getting, sidewalks are slippery.”
    Grazia closed her eyes. She couldn’t concentrate and she was terribly sleepy. Far away, she heard Sophia saying “naked” and “sex” and “can’t remember.”
    “Miss Conti, you’re sure about the sex?” Stanley’s voice was loud in her ears.
    “I’m sure,” she whispered.  The effort to reply cleared her head, but now knives stabbed her temples.
    “You normally leave your room like this?” Stanley motioned toward the disarray.
    “Never. Ask Sophia. She cleans every day.” How could she explain her obsession with tidiness when she felt so confused?
    “Drop those towels!” Stanley barked.
    Grazia’s sleepy eyes flew open. Sophia was standing at the bathroom door holding an armload of used towels.  “But Miss Conti threw up on this towel, sir!”
    “Drop it, I said! And stay out of the bathroom!” Stanley’s brow furrowed. “Didn’t I see you working the fourth floor yesterday? Where’s your cart? And why so early? It’s barely eight o’clock. Housekeepers start at nine.”
    “They needed extra help on this floor, sir,” Sophia answered.
    Stanley turned back to Grazia. “Miss Conti, last night were you wearing any of these clothes I see on the floor?”
    Grazia made herself focus on the clutter. “The red silk blouse and the jeans, I think.”
    Stanley addressed Sophia. “Get me three big paper bags from the supply closet. Paper, not plastic, understand? And I want a clean glass jar with a lid from the kitchen.” He got to his feet. “I’ll open the door for you, Sophia. I can do it without messing up any fingerprints.”
    Stanley resumed his seat by Grazia’s bed. His tone softened. “Miss Conti, the fact that you feel sick, you don’t remember anything