Date Rape New York by Janet McGiffin Read Free Book Online

resignation. Her face and neck were damp with sweat. It seemed as if her identity had been sucked out of her and deposited into tubes and bottles.
    Janine had taken two types of samples—toxicology and evidentiary, she had explained. Toxicology samples would pinpoint the drug Grazia had swallowed and any diseases she had acquired from her assailant. Evidentiary samples were what the rapist left behind—his hair, fingerprints, sperm. The lab would get his DNA identity off these samples.
    Janine had done a pelvic exam to find sperm or other fluids. She had run a cotton swab over Grazia’s abdomen, thighs, and inner legs to pick up DNA in semen, spit, blood, sweat, or skin cells left during sex— “touch DNA”, she had explained. She had scraped under Grazia’s fingernails in case Grazia had fought and scratched.
    Grazia had stood on a large paper drape while Janine combed her head and pubic area to release hair or skin left by the man who had raped her. Every sample and test result went into the rape kit for the police to use as evidence when Detective Cargill found him.
    Now, as Grazia tiredly pulled on her clothes, she blurted out the question that had been tormenting her since Sophia had whispered the word that morning. “Am I pregnant?”
    Janine stopped clicking the computer keys and swiveled the stool around to face Grazia. “We did a pregnancy test to see if you were already pregnant when you were assaulted. If you were pregnant, we can’t offer you the Morning-After pill. The lab reported you weren’t pregnant. To find out if you got pregnant when you were raped, you need to wait six days and do a pregnancy test. You’ll be in Italy then so buy a home pregnancy test. It is ninety-seven percent accurate. Or go to your doctor and get a blood test for pregnancy. Or I can give you the Morning-After pill.”
    “Give me the pill.” Being pregnant by a man she didn’t even know was unthinkable!
    “We also tested you for HIV. Negative. You didn’t have AIDS before you were raped. But you might have got AIDS when you were raped. It takes some time for HIV to show up in a blood test.” Janine folded her hands. “Many women who have been raped take one month of HIV medications—just in case—to prevent themselves from getting AIDS.”
    “I’ll do it.”
    “Then you need to start today or tomorrow. I have to warn you—the side effects are bad. You will feel nauseated and tired. But you won’t get AIDS.”
    “I’ll take the medicine,” Grazia repeated.
    Janine nodded and tapped into the computer. “You will need an HIV test in three months and another test in six months to make sure the medicine worked. Talk to your doctor as soon as you get to Italy.”
    Cindy cut in. “No sex until the results show you’re clean.”
    Sex. The thought was appalling. Still, Grazia mustered the courage to ask, “Can I still have children?”
    “Your pelvic exam showed no damage. You should be able have all the babies you want.”
    Relief was so profound that tears filled her eyes. The fear that had brought her to the emergency room—that she had been physically damaged by the rape—was easing. She still didn’t know if she had got pregnant or acquired diseases, but those answers were coming from the lab. She asked the next hard question. “What was I drugged with, do you think?”
    “The toxicologist will know by tomorrow. You don’t have a doctor in New York, do you? I’ll have the lab send me the results. Call me tomorrow afternoon.”
    “Which drug do you think it was?” Grazia was desperate for one fact to cling to in this sea of unknowns.
    “Rohypnol. You came in with typical Rohypnol symptoms—drowsiness, confusion, and dizziness. You had trouble coordinating your arms and legs, and you kept forgetting where you were. And you have anterograde amnesia—you lost your memory of what happened after a certain time. Rohypnol remains in the urine for seventy-two hours and you came in after twelve so the lab