Free The Mentor by Rita Carla Francesca Monticelli Page B

Thompson’s past, I found an old accusation for rape.”
    She was now out on a four-lane road and became more relaxed behind the wheel. “Oh yeah? How come it’s only surfacing now?”
    “Because it dates back to when he was still a minor, and the charges were dropped, so they don’t show up in the system. I asked a friend over in the juvenile sector to check him out, just to be sure, and then this thing popped up.”
    “Tell me more about it,” she said as a drop of sweat threaded its way down from her temple. Miriam wiped it away with one hand and turned up the air-conditioning. The sun was right in her face, bothering her.
    “A schoolmate he’d gone on a date with during his last year of high school came back home in tears and confessed to her parents that Thompson had forced her to have sex with him.”
    Miriam patted her pockets, searching for a pair of sunglasses, before realizing that they were perched on her head. She put them on. Much better.
    “But it was his word against the girl’s, and she didn’t exactly have the reputation of a saint, if you catch my meaning.” There was a deep breath on the other end of the phone. “Besides, we’re talking about more than forty years ago . . .”
    “So the girl decided to drop it,” murmured Detective Leroux. Her head twitched a little with her tic.
    “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t true.”
    Nauseated, Miriam closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again she was facing the red brake lights of the car in front of her. She slammed on her brakes, barely stopping in time.
    The voice on the other end of the phone continued. “And if he was raping women back then, maybe he’s done it other times. It’s hard to know exactly what he’s done. All we know is that he’s never been identified and caught before.”
    “That’s possible. What about the girl? Can you track her down?” Miriam’s stomach churned. She opened the glove compartment and took out a little foil-wrapped package of pills and stuck one in her mouth, dropping the packet in her lap.
    “I did,” said Mills in a discouraged tone. “She died six months ago. Cancer.”
    “Fuck . . .” Miriam shifted into first and took off again.
    “Yeah.”
    “Did she have a daughter, by any chance?”
    “Hmm . . . I don’t have anything on that, but if you want I’ll double-check.”
    “Good. Do that. We’ll catch up later.” Miriam ended the conversation and turned onto a side street.

CHAPTER 6
    The video ran quickly across the screen, colors from the images brightening the room. The sun had already gone down, and the last faint rays of daylight barely illuminated the window frame.
    Eric flipped the light switch. When the fluorescent overheads flickered on, Stern jumped in his seat.
    “Jesus, boss! You scared the shit out of me!”
    “Sleep much, Martin?” asked Shaw, a hint of disapproval in his voice.
    “No, no. Of course not!” Stern leapt to his feet, practically standing to salute. “I was watching some surveillance video we picked up from a camera near the building where Thompson’s apartment is. There’s footage from a jewelry store right next to the building’s entrance.” He pointed to a screen in front of him.
    “The other stuff is from an ATM machine across the street.” He adjusted his shriveled T-shirt. It was as if he’d thrown it on as soon as it came out of the dryer. There was an enormous silhouette of Darth Vader on the chest. He nodded at the other screen, which was darker and displayed close-ups of a man withdrawing cash. “The building door is right in line with the video camera, but it’s always out of focus. Unfortunately, that’s all we’ve got.”
    “Have you found anything?” Eric put one hand on Stern’s shoulder and squeezed, pushing him gently into his chair and back to work. He enjoyed putting the screws on Stern. Even though he had been with the department for four years, he continued to kowtow to Eric, which only