But then you think, no, you and Robert and the IU team did as much as any small-town officers with limited resources could reasonably be expected to. The crimes were too carefully planned and executed, too confusing, to be quickly and easily resolved. Even in this day and age, with all the electronic and forensic tools at law enforcement’s disposal, apprehending felons can take weeks, months, even years. And sometimes it can’t be done at all. All too often perps of every sort of crime remain unidentified, go unpunished.
What bothered me most of all, and would for a long time, were the dark consequences of the crimes. They hadn’t been, couldn’t be, erased by the solutions—the pain and sorrow, the bitter regret, the physical and mental damage so many had suffered at the hands of Martin Torrey, Royce Smith, even Nicholas Dexter. Not only the four women Torrey had violated and the one, Eileen Jordan, he had condemned to death as surely as he had condemned himself. Members of their immediate families, their friends. Angela Lowenstein. Ted Lowenstein. Liane Torrey. Holly Dexter. All violated in one way or another; all with wounds that for some might never heal.
When I got home late that night and shared all of this with Jenna, she said, “You left yourself and Robert off the list, Griff.”
“Neither of us was hurt anywhere near as badly as the others.”
“Badly enough. None of us came through this unscathed.”
“You’re right. Everyone involved, directly or indirectly, paid a price. Including you.”
“Yes. But there are compensations for us.”
“Such as?”
“You still have your job, for one.”
“Well, there is that. Delahunt won’t be able to get rid of me now.” I smiled a little. “For that matter, if Ted Lowenstein has his way, it’ll be Delahunt and his bunch who are hung out to dry.”
“Let’s hope so. But that’s not the only positive, for you or for me. I’ve learned some things about myself, how selfish I’ve been.”
“You’re not selfish, Jenna.”
“I was. Not anymore.” She took my hand, held it between hers. “I’ve known about this for some time, but I didn’t tell you before because I couldn’t make up my mind what to do about it. Now I have. The right decision to make both of us happy.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“I’m pregnant,” she said.
A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR
Bill Pronzini is the author of more than eighty novels, including several in collaboration with his wife, the novelist Marcia Muller, and is the creator of the popular Nameless Detective series. A six-time nominee for the Edgar Allan Poe Award (most recently for A Wasteland of Strangers), Pronzini is the recipient of three Shamus Awards. He received the coveted Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in May 2008. He and his wife live in Northern California.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My thanks once again to Mike White for his help with matters of police procedure and criminal law; and to Barry Malzberg for suggesting a more apt title than my original.
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First published 2017
This electronic edition published in February 2017
© by the Pronzini-Muller Family Trust 2017
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ISBN: HB: 978-1-63286-660-8
ePub: 978-1-63286-662-2
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Names: Pronzini, Bill, author.
Title: The violated / Bill Pronzini.
Description: First edition. | New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016025590 | ISBN 9781632866608 (hardcover: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781632866615 (paperback) | ISBN 9781632866622 (EPUB)
Subjects: | BISAC: FICTION / Crime. | GSAFD: Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3566.R67 V56 2016 | DDC 813/.54—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016025590
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