First I want to start off by saying PLEASE, please, please, please! DON'T ask me about last night's (season 10's) finale. I really don't want to go there.
ANYWAY. When I started writing this story ('cause I'm weird and keep track like that) season 6 had just finished and had I known about the next four seasons, I doubt I ever would have started writing it. Big thanks to YaleAceBella12, xxxlirielxxx, decadenceofmysoul, seleneplaysgames, Daisyangel, ItsJustBecca, Taylor Noelle Hood, Pharmergirl, and Sparklesfoxes for all your reviews. It warms my heart to see all of you still liking this story and to the new reviewers, I appreciate you.
Side note, for those of you who have forgotten or can't remember or whatever the case may be, Anna's birthday is September 1st, and she was born in 1996.
Once again takes place between episodes 17 and 18 of season four and has a reference back to chapter 74 during Anna and Jamie's talk towards the end of the chapter.
Jack Boyle ushered Anna to the couch in Sergeant Gormley's office and he sat down next to her. The two SVD detectives sat down in the chairs in front of the desk as Danny leaned back against it. The sergeant himself was noticeably absent. Mitchell had shut the door behind herself before taking a seat. She smiled warmly at Anna. "Why don't you tell us what happened?" she asked. Though she seemed perfectly friendly and appeared to want nothing but to help, Anna couldn't help but wonder about the special treatment.
"Detectives, this case is not about me. This case is about every girl that he actually coerced. I think that's the word, isn't it?" Anna looked at Jack nodded. "Every girl who has been terrified that he'll tank their GPA if they don't. Girls who are scared to say anything because of the backlash. It's going to be high profile and news worthy even if I wasn't involved."
"We know, that's why we will do everything to help these girls and the sooner we get the truth, the sooner we can get this man off the streets and the more young women we can protect," Annetti said. Anna stared at the male detective for a few moments longer.
"Anna, tell them what happened," Danny said. Jack nodded.
Anna sighed heavily. "It started right before Christmas vacation. I um ..." Anna cleared her throat and glanced at her dad. "I got a low grade on my English test. I had been doing really well and I'm decent at English so it was a little odd but it happens sometimes. Over the next few weeks my grades stayed in the mid-range. It wasn't something to be concerned about until one of my friends, Beth, took one of my tests. She compared it to hers and demanded the rest of my tests. Turns out I was doing a lot better than my grades said I was. Same was true of a bunch of other girls she talked to. Then in February I was approached by Sarah Becker. I think you met her today. Anyway she wanted me to sign a petition to get Mr. Ray fired. She told me that it was because Mr.—he was harassing girls and intentionally tanking grades. I didn't know how far the harassment went until Becky, today."
"What tipped you off?" Mitchell asked.
"My friend Becky Stover, she is a horror fanatic. Every horror movie ever made, she's seen it. Every jump scare is predictable to her. She's been to every haunted house in the city including the ones that require a waver and a physical. Those were just mildly scary. She's been banned from six haunted houses for not giving a reaction. Nothing scares this girl. Nothing fazes her either." Anna looked at her dad. "Do you remember a few years back that hostage situation you worked where the hostage taker was a cop who wanted money for his daughter's operation?" Anna shook her head. "We watched that on live TV and she wasn't worried. She is my rock. Totally, completely, unflappable so when I walked down those stairs today on my way to English from History and saw her backed against the wall looking more freaked out than I've ever seen her, warning bells went off. I was raised by four detectives, a lawyer, a beat cop, and an ADA. You notice things. My gut was screaming at me that something was going on that wasn't right." Anna shook her head.
"What happened next?" Annetti asked.
"I was worried that something inappropriate was going on or he was threatening her. I pulled out my phone and turned on the recording app and this is what he said." Anna pulled up the recording.
Jack touched her arm before she could push the play button. He looked at the two SVD detectives. "What you are about to hear is a discussion between Vincent Ray and Anna Reagan. You will also hear Becky Stover's voice on the recording. St. Agatha's is a private, Catholic school but it's a high school that is monitored by surveillance video and I don't need to remind you that New York is a one party consent recording state. Go ahead, Anna," Jack told them. She swallowed, then braced herself as she hit the play button on the recording. Once it finished, Anna turned it off but refused to look up.
"You said the school is monitored by video surveillance?" Annetti asked.
"Unfortunately not in the stairwell," Jack said.
"There is video of it," Anna said.
"What?" Danny asked.
"Like Mr. Boyle said, New York is a one party consent recording state and St. Agatha's is a high school. This is the video from that incident." Anna pulled it up on her phone then handed the phone to Annetti. "Just tap the screen."
When the video stopped, the two detectives looked up. "Do you mind if I email this to myself?" Mitchell said.
"Not at all. I'm sure that TARU can prove that it's real if you doubt it."
"Is this the first time you've actually heard him proposition a student?" Mitchell asked.
"From his own mouth, yes. It's high school; you hear rumors."
"Has he mentioned other schools he's taught at?"
"He mentioned that girls are the same at every school but he never said anything about what schools he's subbed at."
"He's a substitute teacher?" Annetti asked outraged. His partner glanced at him and he cooled his jets.
"Yeah, our actual teacher, Mrs. Maryland, is on maternity leave. He's only been there since December and she's scheduled to return in April."
"Thank you. We know it is very difficult to come forward in a situation like this. You are very brave. And it's nothing to be ashamed of. We need to get him off the street. If we have any more questions...?" Mitchell asked.
"You can reach me here," Jack said, offering the detectives a business card.
"You probably can't tell me who else came forward, can you?" Anna asked.
"I'm sorry, we can't. Though you're all over the age of consent, you're all still minors," Annetti told her.
"If you need anything this is the number for the Office of Victims Services," Mitchell said.
"I am not a victim!" Anna insisted.
"Of course not, but it can help you support any of your friends who were touched by this," Annetti soothed.
Jack took the number from the detective. "Thank you, Detectives. I believe I speak for both Anna and myself when I say that we both appreciate the way you've handled this."
"We'll be in touch," Mitchell said. Anna nodded. All three detectives left the office and Jack turned to his former niece.
"Talk about this with your family. Don't bottle it up. It's good to be brave but it's better to not suffer alone," he told her.
"Yeah, I'll consider it. Thanks again."
"Sure. You'll get my bill in the mail."
"How about I prepay?"
"I'll take that." Jack and Anna both stood and she hugged him.
Anna spent the rest of the afternoon at the precinct studying next to Danny's desk. Occasionally, her hand moved to Danny's wrist, fingers pressing against his pulse point. The dull beat of his heart was enough from time to time to pull her back from the edge of tears. The first few times, Danny would look at her as if to ask her a question but Baez's subtle shake of her head cut him off. The final time Anna did it, he put his hand over hers and she looked up at him. "Your uncle is on his way to pick you up. He'll take you home and I'll see you there later."
"Uncle Jamie?"
"Do you have another uncle in New York?" Anna took a deep breath and slowly let it out "Yeah, Jamie will come get you. He'll probably even stay if you ask him to. Until your mom gets home at least."
"What happens next? With the case I mean?"
"You watch cop shows; you grew up hearing police work. You know what comes next."
"Evidence gathering, interviews, interrogations, and then ..."
"Presenting it to the Richmond County DA. From there, if he finds enough evidence, he'll file charges. If he doesn't take a deal, which with the recordings he should, it will go to trial."
"We'll have to testify. Do you think Aunt Erin ..."
"What?"
"Do you think she'll hear about it? That it will look bad for her?"
"Your aunt loves you. She would take the hit for you any day. Just like I would for Nicky. I think she's going to keep an eye on the case. What about your friend Beth? Isn't her dad an ADA?"
"For Manhattan. And he lives in Tribeca. He may have friends in the Richmond County DA's office because before they divorced, he lived in Staten Island. Becky never mentioned the coercion before so I think this is the first time it happened to her. Beth never said if he approached her."
"I'm sure she'd mention something. You two have been friends for a long time."
"I know but she's very considerate. She wouldn't want to burden me. I just wish I knew so I don't hurt her if what I went through was less than what she went through. She doesn't need that."
The corner of Danny's mouth twitched up and for a moment he looked almost proud. "I looked into it. Beth did come forward and admitted he approached her but took her no for what it was."
"Probably because her dad is a lawyer. The school's name is going to come out in this anyway."
"It's going to be okay," Danny insisted.
"Hey," Jamie said, walking up. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah," Anna said. She put her stuff away and stood, watching Danny who made no move to stand as well. She bit back her disappointment and looked at Jamie. She flashed him a smile before she walked over. "Let's go." Anna glanced at Danny once more then followed Jamie out of the precinct house.
"Wanna tell me why I'm picking you up from a police precinct? Danny didn't say," Jamie asked.
"Before we go home, can you take me to 1PP? I know he's probably really busy but I think he needs to hear this from me. Before it hits the fan." Jamie eyed her at the dodge of his question but nodded.
Once at 1PP, both Abby Baker and Jim Nuciforo looked up from their desks at the pair. "Is he in?" Jamie asked.
"He's in a meeting," Baker answered.
Jamie looked down at Anna. He could see tears were starting to build up in her eyes. "Maybe you could let him know we're here? I think this is important," Jamie said.
"You and probably Deputy Commissioner Moore should keep an eye on the news over the next 24 hours," Anna said softly. "There's probably going to be a story about a teacher sleeping with his students out of St. Agatha's Secondary Catholic School in Staten Island. He's being investigated by the NYPD's SVD. I know that it can't be seen as the Commissioner playing favorites or pulling strings but I need my grampa and it can't wait." Anna took a deep breath.
Baker instantly stood. "Are you ..." Baker trailed off. She knew the girl went to aforementioned school and what SVD stood for; she just really hoped the girl hadn't been hurt. Jamie also looked at the girl in shock, his mind going to where the detective's had.
"No. I'm the one that got the cops involved, but ever since I did it feels like ..." Anna rubbed her chest. "It feels like my world is crashing. I should go but—"
"It's okay," Baker cut her off. She motioned to the conference room door and Anna and Jamie made their way inside. Baker took a deep breath then walked into the office.
Anna refused to look at Jamie when they entered the conference room. Jamie wanted to say something but he didn't want to push her. He knew that would just make her angry or push her over the edge. Instead, he decided to just wait. She'd come to him when she was ready. They didn't have to wait long; Frank entered the room shortly after they did. He looked at them both and Anna couldn't control it anymore. She felt her emotions overcome her and bolted across the room, throwing herself into his arms. Frank hugged her back and glanced at Jamie.
"You should hear it from her," Jamie said, tucking his hands in his pockets.
"It's alright, I've got ya." Frank told her as he rubbed her back. He continued to rub her back and comfort her until she finally pulled back. There were a few black mascara smudges around her eyes but no streaks ran down her face. He thought about it for a second but remembered something Nicky had told him. Waterproof mascara was a girl's best friend. He handed her a handkerchief and waited until she was done. "Okay, can you tell me about it?" Frank asked, sitting in a chair at the head of the table. Anna looked at him then at the door behind him. "They can't hear us in here." He offered her a hand and when she took it, he pulled her into his lap. "Tell me what happened."
Anna leaned her head on his shoulder and told him everything. "And then I punched him," she finished.
Frank looked to Jamie then looked down at his oldest grandchild. Frank believed all of his grandchildren were strong, they had to be to grow up in this life, but despite that he wanted all of them to grow up innocent and carefree while they could. To see his granddaughter go through this at this age, it hurt. As police commissioner he couldn't get into the police side of it but his grandfather side needed to make sure his granddaughter was safe and not hurt. "You know that violence is not the answer," Frank said as gently as he could.
"I know. I regret that it came to that but sometimes, I'm too much like my father." Both Frank and Jamie smiled.
"I am proud, like I know the family will be, that you brought this to light and it will help get this man off the streets. I take it the Special Victims' Division is looking in to this?"
"Dad called them. I didn't mean to interrupt the meeting you were having."
"Deputy Commissioner Moore can wait. This is more important. How do you really feel about everything that happened?"
"I wasn't scared once I got Becky away from him. I was worried about her but I wasn't afraid of him. I don't hate him, you have to care to hate and I don't care about him as a person, but at the same time I don't really know how I feel," Anna said.
"I'm sure you do," Frank pressed.
"I am worried about the girls he's done this to and disgusted by what he's done and I feel betrayed. We're supposed to trust him but to find he's used this trust to ... that's disgusting. I'm hurt that this kind of thing still happens. Mostly, I'm scared that it's not going to take him off the streets. Yeah, we've got audio where he admitted it and a video of me punching him and being in my personal space but all the testimony that he did this is he said/she said and it could get thrown out. His lawyer can argue that the testimony is buyer's regret and get it thrown out." Anna stopped and looked down.
"Anna?" Jamie prompted.
"I know Uncle—My former uncle Jack is really good at his job, has to be, but what if he's not good enough and this jerk comes after me for breaking his nose? I've seen it before, breaking his nose is assault. Any lawsuit for that will cloud the case of what he did."
"Pretty sure that's witness tampering," Jamie said. "Especially if he's only bringing this suit so you don't testify against him."
"I'm sure Jack won't let him but Mom and Dad can't afford that. Especially with me going to college next year." Anna shook her head then rested it back against Frank's shoulder. "I just can't stop thinking about what he said ... How can someone we're supposed to trust take advantage of us like that?"
"Were you afraid of saying no?" Frank asked.
"No. I grew up with cops it takes a lot to intimidate me. I mean," Anna pulled away and looked up at Frank, "you know my dad. I have yet to meet a person who can intimidate me other than him and my mama. When he said that all girls are the same and he confirmed exactly what he had done, I knew there was no going back. No matter what he tried to say, cops were getting involved. Even if Dad didn't believe me you or Uncle Jamie would." Anna took a couple deep breaths and Frank waited quietly for her to continue. "I'm also ... concerned. Nothing really happened to me. He tried to coerce me but that was just a try and there were girls out there that he actually succeeded with this. Girls who were essentially ... raped because they couldn't say no for fear of backlash. What's my confrontation, my battle of words compared to the trauma they went through?"
"Don't do that, Anna," Jamie said. "Don't play the pain Olympics. Your pain is just as bad as theirs."
"He tried to scare you and while that doesn't leave the exact same kind of scars, it will still hurt. I know you," Frank said, tipping her head up so she'd look at him. "I know that for the next year or so you're going to wonder what you missed, what you could have seen, what would have happened if you had just seen it earlier. You did everything right and you stopped him, now. You doing what you did, is saving a lot of girls who might have been affected in the future by this man. You are a good person and this will weigh on you for that reason alone. There probably wasn't anything you could have done to stop him sooner. He's stopped now and even just the accusation will keep him from most jobs dealing with teenage and young girls. At the very least it'll bring it to attention."
Anna nodded and rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you. I know you can't get involved and you probably shouldn't be talking about this but thank you for listening."
"I can't influence the investigation and I can't speak about the investigation to you but I can listen to you. I know that you won't consider yourself a victim, you're a survivor, and you need your family. We will support you for whatever you need."
"I know and I appreciate that," Anna said. Anna rubbed her eyes again with the handkerchief before folding it up. "Uncle Jamie and I should go. Mom will be home by the time we got there. I'm in enough trouble as it is. I shouldn't make it worse."
"Trouble?" Frank asked.
"For punching him, my headmistress has given me in-school suspension for two days. Violence isn't the answer."
"Are you only saying that because you got punished for it?" Frank asked gently. Anna sprung up and glared at her grandfather.
"You're starting to sound like my father. I know the difference between right and wrong and I don't need to be reminded. Even doing the wrong thing for the right reason makes some sense."
Frank frowned but she didn't back down. He tried to decide what to say next. "Anna," Jamie prodded. Anna turned to him and stared at him. She knew he was telling her to cool off and though she didn't want to, she had to. So she turned back to Frank.
"I know that violence isn't the answer at any time. There is always a better way to handle things. However, I'm still a teenager and my emotions do get away from me at times. I apologize for snapping at you." Frank smiled slightly. "We should go, Uncle Jamie," Anna said.
"I'm glad you're safe. I'll see you on Sunday." Frank also stood. Anna studied him then walked over and hugged him. Frank held his granddaughter firmly and close to make sure she knew how much he loved her.
"I love you too, Grampa."
The moment the private elevator doors shut behind them, Jamie wrapped Anna in the same comforting hug his father had. Anna didn't say it out loud but for some reason that hug felt better than the one from Frank.
"Concentrating on yourself and what happened to you is not selfish or self-centered and while it may not be as bad as what other girls faced, it's still something no girl should ever have to face. No one should ever have to face. As long as you listen and try to help the other girls facing this, then talking about your pain is okay too. You're allowed to be a little selfish."
"Thanks."
"I also want you to know that you are one of the strongest people I know and you don't have to face it alone. I will always have your back. You have nothing to be embarrassed or scared about and I will do everything in my power to help you out. This is one battle no one should fight alone."
"Don't quote me to me, Uncle Jamie."
"You said it is what you'd want to hear. However, nothing I said wasn't true. I'm not just saying it to make you feel better. I've never done that for you. You wouldn't want that from me."
"I know and I do appreciate it." Anna said.
"You let me know if you need anything."
"Of course."
Want to say thank you to everyone who is reading this. I wish I was better about consistently updating, especially with the way my job is still cutting back hours, you'd think we were losing sales but I can guarantee you we aren't at the rate they're cutting hours.
Also please don't feel too guilty if you've been away from reading/reviewing this story, I know real life happens and things change. It will be here if/when you come back to it. Thanks again.