An Emblematic Woman ● S. Reid | ✓

20- Socio

Morgan

Jeremy Rand was still in his hotel room, laying in his bed with an IV hooked into his hand. His wife sat in the room with him. "Well, I have to say, I'm flattered that the FBI is taking interest. But the state police said they had this under control, what's this about?" he asked.

"We're had a break through in the case; do you know Max Russo?" Rossi asked him. Rand scratched his chin in thought.

"Ah yes! Maxie! Great sniper back in the day. How does he fit in all this?"

"He confessed to your attack earlier today," I told him. He seemed generally shocked.

"Max Russo? We weren't always close in the field, but we were professionals," he said.

"Mr. Rand, do you remember Kennedy Russo?" I asked him.

"That's his daughter, isn't it? Yeah, she was a nice kid," he replied.

"You were her unit chief ten years ago, she was assaulted during her period there," Rossi said.

"...Oh, that's right. I felt awful about it. I punished the officers involved," he said.

"But before you did, you had Kennedy kept in a room for three days? Now, I was in the marines. We didn't send women out into the field during that time, but I don't believe that locking them in a room for over 72 hours after a sexual assault is standard procedure these days," Rossi said.

"Officer Russo was placed in that room for her own protection. We had to sort out the situation," he replied.

"Sort it out?" I asked.

"Russo received a bit of verbal harassment from her superior officers, those young men were a few of her tormentors. We had to make sure we had our ducks in a row before we could begin our investigation," he replied.

"And much did you investigate?" Rossi asked.

"We interviewed our soldiers, and they gave their side of the story. Kennedy was drunk, lucid, she was a pretty girl; I've found that many young girls get into the military just for the thrills...they find it sexy," he replied.

"Jeremy!" his wife scolded him.

"Pardon my language, but I find it to be true," he said. I didn't like this guy from the beginning, and now he was just fueling my rage. "What does Kennedy have to do with this?"

"Max told us he attacked you out of revenge for Kennedy's assault, does that strike you as odd?" Rossi asked.

"Wha-why? I didn't attack his daughter!" he exclaimed.

"But you didn't do a good job of investigating the matter," I said.

"Excuse me? Agent, she saw a doctor, she had a kit done!" he said.

"So why'd the investigation end?" I asked.

"There wasn't enough evidence to produce a full case. Plus, these were honest, hard-working men; they didn't need some...Playboy Bunny to ruin their reputation," he replied.

"Kennedy was a Playboy Bunny?" Rossi asked. Rand sighed and looked at his wife.

"Paula, I'm feeling a little parched, would you get me some water?" he asked her.

"Of course," she got up and left the room, and as soon as she was out of ear-shot, Rand looked at us.

"Six months after Kennedy started, she came into my office. She told me how she wasn't happy starting at novice officer, and she wanted me to move her up in the chain. She offered to pleasure me with oral," he said. That came as a shock, but I couldn't believe it. Kennedy isn't the type of girl to leverage favors in exchange for sex!