Then I sat and waited, passing the time while Sophie slept reading my news feed and Facebook posts from my family and friends. I was nervous about the interview and went over in my head what I knew about Lisa and Drake’s past.
They had been involved in dungeon play several times. Each time, Drake was asked to take part by Lisa’s then-Master Derek Richardson, a wealthy friend of Drake’s in the BDSM community.
She liked to be dominated and spanked. Drake tied her up and fucked her. That was the end to it. Richardson liked to watch her be taken by other men, and at the time, Drake was in between submissives and was available.
He thought nothing of it.
Seeing Lisa in his class of residents during morning rounds was the biggest shock of his life. Drake had a bad feeling about her being in the group and because of their past relationship, he eventually spoke with the head of the Fellowship program but had been encouraged to stay. That everything would be okay.
It wasn’t, of course. She pushed Drake. And pushed him, insisting that he be her ‘friend’ and that they spend time together. Drake confessed to me how she asked him to come up to her apartment and help her install a heavy flat screen television. How after he was finished, she tried to seduce him, even tried to kiss him but he fought her off. How he did everything he could to dissuade her from any thought that there could be a relationship other than casual colleagues between them.
She didn’t get the picture.
She must have grown more and more obsessed with him and then, when things came to a head, after Drake had gone to Fred Parker with his concerns, she sought revenge.
Attacking me was her way of getting back at Drake. Did she really think that with me and my baby out of the way that Drake would be hers?
If so, she was seriously mentally disordered. Delusional.
I made a pot of tea and then stood at the window, waiting for Lara to come by.
In about fifteen minutes, she arrived and I buzzed her into the apartment. I heard her footsteps on the stairs a
nd stood at the entry and ushered her in. Lara gave me a quick hug and then handed me her coat. She looked stunning, even on a weekday evening, dressed in a women’s business suit and white silk blouse.
“I’m sorry you had to do this without Drake,” Lara said as we sat in the living room and had a cup of tea. “I didn’t want the police to have unfettered access to you so I thought I’d better come by.”
“Will you be my lawyer?” I asked, wondering if I needed one.
“No, sweetie,” she said and shook her head, reaching out to take my hand. “You don’t need a lawyer, but you do need a friend who’s knowledgeable about your rights and about what the police can and can’t ask you.”
I nodded and took a sip of my tea. “I’m sure they’ll understand that Drake had nothing to do with what happened soon enough.”
She shrugged. “Not necessarily. If Lisa can spin a good tale, and convince her lawyer and the jury that Drake was her secret lover and trying to get rid of you, things might get messy. Not that I think Drake would be charged, but there might be enough doubt to ruin his career and reputation. We don’t want that.”
“Of course not,” I said and frowned at the thought, my sense of doom deepening. “Why couldn’t they see right away that Lisa’s delusional? To attack me and think she could get away with it after renting a car in her own name?” I shook my head. “She had to have lost touch with reality.”
“You and I both know that, but stranger things have happened. I’ve seen cases where the one partner in crime wanted to pin a death on the co-conspirator and gotten off because he could convince everyone he was the innocent party. It has happened before so the detectives will be keeping all angles open until the evidence leads them to one conclusion or another. Until then, we have to be careful so that they don’t make any wrong assumptions about Drake and his time in the BDSM community.”
“He’s so not what Lisa has painted him to be. Or Sunita.”
Lara took a sip of her tea and nodded slowly. “That damn video… I wish I had advised Drake at the time to be careful of any recording devices. I thought I knew Sunita well. I was wrong.”
“Why did she do it?” I asked, wondering about Sunita. “Why would she deliberately hurt Drake?”
Lara sighed. “She was a sick woman who wanted Drake to be her father figure. You have to admit he’s one of the best looking Doms around.”
I smiled. “He is. But still, to do something so mean and to lie about things…”
“You’re pretty naïve and very sweet if you think that there aren’t women out there who are a bit broken and want to hurt the man who rejected them in some way. It’s common enough.”
Lara took a sip of her tea. "So, what did Drake say about this meeting with Peterson?"
I shook my head because I didn't know much. "Just that she was offering him a chance to respond before they went to print."
"Poor Drake. It's not like he's done anything wrong."
"I know…" I sighed.