She Never Knew (28 page)

“I—I think you have the wrong person.”
Kat continued to hold her hands in the air, backing away slowly in the
direction of the entrance to the church. If Daniel was in the sound booth, he
would probably not hear her from inside. “I don’t know who—”

“You know exactly who I am, don’t you,
Katarina Richards-Brennan?” the man screamed as he taunted her, his eyes wild
with rage. Kat gasped when she heard her name.
Who was this lunatic?

“You ruined my life, and now you’re
gonna pay!” His face red with fury, he whipped the object from his pants pocket
and lunged at her again, but fell flat on his face against the pavement. Kat
screamed and bolted for the entrance to the church. When she reached the door,
she pulled on the handle, but it was locked. She screamed again as she pounded
on the door. The man caught up to her and pulled her away and swung her body back
toward the direction of the parking lot. His breath was awful as he huffed and
puffed over her. Overwhelmed by the foul odor of alcohol emanating from his
body, she kicked her feet wildly in an effort to gain control. Despite his
drunken stupor, the man had a strong grip on Kat.

Kat knew she had to act fast. Her self-defense
skills began to kick in and she forced her body to become limp. When she felt
her attacker’s hold on her loosen, she grabbed his arm and pulled him down with
her to the ground. Fortunately for her, the man was so inebriated that any
sense of balance he had was long gone.

With both of them on the ground, Kat
began to pummel her attacker. She screamed again as he grabbed a hold of her
foot. By this time, Daniel had charged outside and sprinted toward them. He pulled
the madman away from Kat and tossed him aside like a piece of garbage. When the
man stood up again, his face met Daniel’s fist and he fell backward onto the
pavement.

Breathing heavily, Daniel stood there
watching him, ready to strike again if needed. But as the lunatic lay there in
a stupefied daze, the effects of his alcohol consumption finally began taking
its toll on his body. He rubbed his head and mumbled something unintelligible
before passing out.

Sirens could be heard approaching in the
distance. When Daniel freed Kat from the crazed drunk, she had retrieved her
cell phone from her car and called the police. As she stood near Daniel, she
observed the pitiful figure on the ground and wondered who he was. Was he the
man who raped her six years ago? Was what he said to her true? Did she know him
from somewhere? He knew her name yet she had no earthly idea who he was.

“You okay?” Daniel asked Kat, looking at
her with deep sadness. She was visibly shaken and on the verge of
hyperventilating.

Tears popped from her eyes as Kat
realized what could have happened had Daniel not been there. She buried her
face in his chest and began to wail. They stood there as Daniel rested his chin
on top of Kat’s head, holding her and stroking her hair. It wasn’t until after
the police arrived when Daniel slowly extricated himself from her.

When Kat and Daniel gave their
statements, one of the officers removed a wallet from the man’s back pocket to
check for identification.

“Darryl Baker. You know him?” The
officer looked at Kat.

“Oh my God!” Kat gasped, her hand
covering her mouth. Daniel raised his eyebrows at her reaction. “Yes, I know
him—I mean, I know who he is.” She quickly explained to the officer that Darryl
was a student in her online class who cheated on his assignments. He had been
very upset to learn that he could be expelled as a result of her reporting him
to Academic Affairs.

“He wouldn’t back off. He wouldn’t
accept that I was obligated by university policy to report his actions. He kept
sending me emails saying that his job promotion hinged on getting his degree.
He begged me to reconsider.”

It was clear now to Kat that Darryl
wasn’t her rapist. His driver’s license revealed that he lived quite a distance
from her. It was just a case of a disgruntled student who wanted to confront
his former teacher, but somehow in the process, he lost focus of his life when
he began drinking. Unfortunately, he lost his family and now, probably his
freedom.

The police found a pocketknife with Darryl’s
initials near the area of the struggle. Even though he missed Kat when he
swiped at her, he would be formally charged with aggravated assault. His
threatening nature and bodily force against Kat warranted the felony charges. More
formal charges would be added later. Additionally, he would be charged with
public intoxication. Beer cans were found littered in the back seat of his car.
His vehicle would be towed from the parking lot the following day.

Kat declined medical attention as she
wasn’t hurt, just mostly shaken up. She had minor scratches and bruises but
otherwise she had managed to calm down.

It took both of the responding officers
to lift Darryl into the back seat of their cruiser. When the police left, Kat
looked at Daniel somberly and said softly, “I don’t know how to thank you. It
seems as though you’re always rescuing me.”

Daniel shook his head as if his heroic
actions meant nothing to him. “Are you going to be all right driving home?”

“I—I was hoping we could talk.”

“I’m not so sure now is a good time,
Kat. You just had a bit of a scare.”

Kat thought about this for a moment
before answering. “You’re probably right.” She glanced at the man she cared
deeply about and wondered why there seemed to be a wall between them lately. As
she studied his face, she was unable to determine where their relationship
stood.

Sighing, she slipped into her car and
rolled the window down. Daniel hadn’t moved as he wanted to make sure she was
safely secured in her car before returning inside.

“Thanks again.” Kat offered a small wave
as she started the car. Daniel nodded and turned back in the direction of the
church.

Kat bit her lip as she pondered her next
move.
Actually, you know what? Now is a good time
, she muttered to
herself, turning off the ignition.
I came here to talk to him and that’s
what I’m going to do.
She got out again, locked her doors, and jogged to
the entrance. She noticed Daniel hadn’t locked the door this time. Perhaps this
was a sign from God. She stepped inside and strolled down the hallway.

As she swung the double doors that
opened into the sanctuary, she saw Daniel sitting in the sound booth. A small
toolbox sat open in his lap as he made adjustments to the sound board. He
didn’t appear surprised to see her standing there.

“And I’ve been told
I
was
stubborn.” Daniel remarked, shaking his head.

Kat didn’t say anything. Instead, she
slowly walked to the back of the sanctuary and focused on a portrait that was
mounted on the wall next to the sound booth. It was titled,
The Lamp of the
Body
and in the picture, a lamp sat on a table, brightly light. Below it, a
plaque contained a verse from Luke 11:33-36 that read:

³³
“No one lights
a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead
they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.
³⁴
Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy,
your
whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy,
your
body also is full of darkness.
³⁵
See to it, then, that the light
within you is not darkness.
³⁶
Therefore, if your whole body is full
of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a
lamp shines its light on you.”

 “Powerful stuff, isn’t it?” Daniel
remarked, plugging a cable into the sound board. He adjusted the sliders and lightly
tapped a nearby microphone with his finger. No audio could be heard.

“Look, hear me out.” Kat began, holding
her palms up. “I know what you told me before, but I’m not imagining things
here. We’ve had some really good conversations and you’ve helped me through
some of the toughest times in my life and now it seems like there’s this wall
between us.”

Daniel selected a tiny screwdriver from
his toolkit and began unscrewing the cover of the sound board. He avoided eye
contact with Kat as he continued to work. Kat refused to let this go until she
got some answers from him.

“Will you look at me, please?” she
demanded, staring at Daniel. She inched closer to the sound booth.

Daniel raised his head and leaned back
in his chair. He was well aware of the friction between them. “I’m listening.”

“What happened between us? Did I do
something to upset you?” Her eyes pleaded for an explanation.

Daniel gave her his full attention. “No,
you didn’t. I just got a little uncomfortable when we were talking about
Tyler’s father. It brought up some painful reminders of my childhood.”

Kat nodded. “I think I get that. In
fact, it’s all I’ve been thinking about since that day at the park.” She
paused, recalling the advice Mary had given her.

“I talked to my sister about telling
Tyler the truth about his father someday, when he’s older, of course. She gave
me some things to think about and I can see that what I’ve been telling him
about Michael may not be in his best interest.”

Daniel put a hand on his chest and
leaned forward in his chair. “From personal experience, I believe he would be
better off knowing the truth. Nobody said it was going to be easy, you can
count on that.”

Kat looked shyly at Daniel. “What about
us?”

“You don’t give up, do you?”

“No, I don’t. And this time, I’d like an
answer.”

Daniel sighed. “It’s like I told you
before. I just don’t think it would work between us.” He looked down at his
hands, avoiding her eyes again.

“Why do you think it won’t work?” Kat
leaned against the wall and waited for a response. “Daniel, I think you know
how much I care about you. I didn’t imagine what happened between us that day
you found Tyler after he went missing.” They had shared a tender moment
together and neither one of them had forgotten it.

“No, you didn’t imagine it.” Daniel was
quiet as he set the toolbox on the floor. He remembered their first kiss very
well.

“Do you share those same feelings?” Kat
whispered.

He looked up at her and thought she was
the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. It hurt him to see the pain in her
eyes, the confusion. It hurt him to know that things could never work between
them. After what he had done to her? No, it would never work.

“Yes, I do. I care about you very
deeply.” He had never lied to her and wasn’t about to lie to her now. But he
had to make her understand somehow that they would never have a romantic
relationship, ever.

“Then what is it?” she prodded. “Daniel,
what’s holding you back?”

A full minute passed before Daniel
answered. His eyes suddenly became bright with tears as he choked on his words.
“Because it was
me
, Kat! It was
me
in your apartment that night.”
He dropped his head between his knees and began to sob. His shoulders shook as
he rocked his body back and forth.

Kat gaped at him in disbelief as she absorbed
the meaning of his words. She backed away slowly as she tried to process the
information she just heard. Daniel was the one who raped her? No!

Gasping for air, Daniel raised his head
and looked at Kat. Tears streamed down his face as he sat there trembling. Kat
stood a good distance away, frozen in her spot, her eyes wide with distrust.

“I—I was a drug user back then. Both
Jenny and I were addicted to meth. We were all shooting up the night before our
wedding was supposed to take place. Our friends threw us one big party, so
everybody was there. After a couple of hours or so, I ended up leaving. I don’t
remember why or where I went, probably to score more drugs, but when I came
back, it—it seemed like everybody went crazy. There were orgies and before I
realized what was happening, I found Jenny in bed with my brother.”

Kat remained guarded at her post, vividly
remembering how her rapist had mistakenly assumed she was Jenny. She scrutinized
Daniel very carefully as she wanted to hear this. She wanted to know the chain
of events that led to her rape. She
needed
to know what happened.

Daniel began to wheeze as he struggled
for words. He hung his head to get his breathing under control before
continuing.

“At first, they didn’t even see me
standing there. They were doing it right out in the open in front of everybody
and they didn’t care. In fact, they laughed and suggested I join them.” Daniel spat
with disgust. He took a deep breath, his hands beginning to shake. His face
became flushed with anger as he recalled the events of that evening.

“I—I felt so betrayed. I remember I
couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I drove home to my apartment and—” He
abruptly paused to look at Kat. “I lived on the north side of The Commons.”

Kat remained stoic. The north side was a
mirror image of the south side where she used to live.

“I couldn’t deal with what had just
happened, so I went out looking to score. I drove into the bowels of the city
and got my hands on some heroin. I did all of it right then and there on the streets,
not caring if I died.”