The Kept Woman (Will Trent 8) Read Free Page A

said, including that she never saw the victim at the party.’
    ‘Hm.’ Faith sounded even more skeptical.
    Will added, ‘And people who saw the victim that night said she was drunk and falling all over every basketball player she could get her hands on. Which, if you look at the GIF of her puking and combine that with the tox screen, makes sense. But then you look at the rape kit and you know that she was brutally raped, and the victim knows that Rippy was sitting on that bed, totally naked, when she came out of the bathroom.’
    ‘Devil’s advocate?’
    Will nodded, though he knew what was coming.
    ‘I can see why it fell apart. It’s he said/she said and Rippy gets the benefit of the doubt because that’s how the Constitution works.Innocent until blah-blah-blah. And let’s not forget that Rippy is filthy rich. If he lived in a trailer park, his court-appointed lawyer would’ve pled him down to five years for false imprisonment to keep him off the sex-offender registry, end of story.’
    Will didn’t respond, because there was nothing else to say.
    Faith gripped the steering wheel. ‘I hate rape cases. You don’t throw a murder case to a jury and they ask, “Well, was the guy really murdered or is he lying because he wants the attention? And what was he doing in that part of town? And why was he drinking? And what about all those murderers he dated before?” ’
    ‘She wasn’t sympathetic.’ Will hated that this even mattered. ‘Her family’s a mess. Single mom with a drug habit. No idea who the dad is. She had some drug issues in high school, a history of self-cutting. She was coming off academic probation at her college. She dated around, spent a lot of time on Tinder and OkCupid, like everybody her age. Rippy’s people found out she had an abortion a few years ago. She basically wrote their trial strategy for them.’
    ‘There’s not much daylight between being a good girl and a bad one, but once you cross that line—’ Faith blew out a stream of air. ‘You can’t imagine the shit people said about me when I got pregnant with Jeremy. One day I was a junior high school honor student with her entire life ahead of her, and the next day I was a teenage Mata Hari.’
    ‘You were shot for being a spy?’
    ‘You know what I mean. I was a pariah. Jeremy’s dad was sent to live with family up north. My brother still hasn’t forgiven me. My dad got forced out of his Lodge. He lost a ton of customers. None of my friends would speak to me. I had to drop out of school.’
    ‘At least it was different when you had Emma.’
    ‘Oh, yeah, a single thirty-five-year-old woman with a twenty-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter is constantly praised for her excellent life choices.’ She changed the subject. ‘She had a boyfriend, right? The victim?’
    ‘He broke up with her a week before the assault.’
    ‘Oh, for godsakes.’ Faith had worked enough rape investigations to know that a defense lawyer’s dream was an accuser with an ex-boyfriend she was trying to make jealous.
    ‘He stepped up after the assault,’ Will said, though he wasn’t a fan of the ex-boyfriend. ‘Stayed by her side. Made her feel safe. Or at least tried to.’
    ‘Dale Harding’s name never came up during the investigation?’
    He shook his head.
    A news truck sped by, dipping into the oncoming traffic lane for twenty yards before taking an illegal turn.
    Faith said, ‘Looks like news at noon has its lead story.’
    ‘They don’t want news. They want gossip.’ Up until Rippy’s case had been dismissed, Will couldn’t leave GBI headquarters without some well-coifed anchor trying to bait him into a career-ending sound bite. He got off light considering the death threats and online stalking Rippy’s fans lobbed at his accuser.
    Faith said, ‘I guess this could be a coincidence. Harding being found dead at Rippy’s club?’
    Will shot her a look. No cop believed in coincidence, especially a cop like