Part 44 (1/2)
”Was he still holding your hands over your head when he took off his jeans?”
”Yes.”
”How?”
”He kept one hand on my wrists,” Gillian said. ”He used the other one to pull down his pants.”
”So even though you were struggling against him, and he was using his lower body to pin you down and one hand to hold your wrists, he managed to unfasten his jeans and work them down over his hips?”
”Yes.”
”Tell me about how you scratched Mr. St. Bride that night.”
”It was after he threw me on the ground,” Gillian said. ”When he let go of my hands and told me to put on the condom, I went for his eyes, but I missed and got his cheek.”
”Which cheek?”
”His right.”
”Did you use one finger?”
”I used my whole hand.” Gillian made a claw. ”Like this.”
”Did you scratch him with four fingers?”
”I don't know. I just raked my hand down his face, trying to get away. Then he grabbed my hand and slammed me down really hard.”
”You said after Mr. St. Bride raped you, you counted to a hundred, then ran after your friends. Is that correct?”
”Yes.”
”How did you count?”
Gillian looked up, confused. ”What do you mean?”
”Well, how quickly? Was it one-two-three ... or one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi ... ”
He shrugged. ”Maybe you could count to ten for us, today, like you did that night.”
She glanced at Matt Houlihan, who shrugged imperceptibly. ”One,” Gillian said slowly, ”two ... three ... ”
When she reached ten, Jordan looked up from his watch and did some quick math. ”So you waited about eighty seconds before leaving the clearing?”
”I suppose.”
”Did you walk to your friends? Crawl? Tiptoe?”
”I ran. As fast as I could.”
”And it took several minutes to reach your friends?”
”Yes.”
”You're certain about that?”
Gillian nodded. ”It was about five minutes.”
Jordan pointed to the path on the oversize map that led toward the cemetery. ”This is the route you took?”
”Uh-huh.”
”Do you have any idea how long a distance this path is, Ms. Duncan?”
”No.”
”It's fifty-two yards. One hundred fifty-six feet,” Jordan said. ”Can you show me where, along this path, your friends were when you caught up with them?”
She pointed to the edge of the cemetery. ”Right here. Outside the woods.”
”And Detective Saxton found you, right at the spot where you stopped?”
”Yes.”
”While you and your friends were together in the woods, you had no alcohol and no drugs, is that true?”
”Yes.”
”Nothing to eat or drink for the entire hour you were there?”
”I had a snack. Cookies. That's it.”
”Did your friends have anything to drink that night?”
”Yes,” Gilly said. ”Iced tea.”
”Have you ever heard of the drug atropine?”
”Yes.”
”What do you know about it?”
”It's something my father's made in his lab,” Gillian said.
”Do you know how atropine is taken?”
”No.”
”Did you have any atropine that night in the woods?”
”No!” Gillian insisted.