The Shadow of Venus by Judith Van Gieson Read Free Book Online

know when startling truths hid behind quiet façades. She studied Claire for a while in silence, choosing her words carefully when she finally spoke. “Sure, we’d like to prosecute every man everywhere who ever abused a woman. It’s difficult enough when we’ve got evidence, a suspect, and a victim ready, able, and willing to testify. In this case we don’t have any evidence, we don’t have a suspect, and the victim is dead. We don’t even know who she is, and the truth is we may never know.”
    â€œWhat do you do with the body if you don’t identify her?” Claire asked.
    â€œEventually it goes into a pauper’s grave.”
    â€œI’ll pay for the burial, if you don’t locate a family.”
    â€œI’ll make a note of that,” Detective Owen replied.
    â€œIn all the myths I found involving the constellation Pleiades a group of boys or girls escapes into the sky. Sometimes they’re siblings; sometimes they’re friends. Since the constellation moves around so much it is identified with the homeless. Maybe someone molested other homeless women or Maia’s sisters or girls she considered sisters.” She wished she hadn’t used the word “molested.” The word in common usage now was “abuse.” She had to remember to use the word “abuse.”
    â€œIf someone … molested … Maia, it’s quite possible he also abused her sisters or friends or women she never even knew,” Owen said. “Sexual offenders are a lot like addicts. They tend to keep doing it until they are caught and stopped. It’s important for women to speak out right away so we can catch the bastards before they do any more harm, but there are many reasons why girls keep quiet, especially in a family situation.”
    â€œIf you could find Maia’s identity, it might not be too late to stop the pattern.”
    Owen leaned back and crossed her arms. “You identify with her, don’t you?” she asked.
    â€œI have a daughter.” It was as much as Claire was willing to admit.
    Detective Owen stood up. “My advice is not to get obsessed with this. It’s our job to ID victims and track down abusers. You need to protect the valuable books in the library.”
    In other words, “You do your job and I’ll do mine” Claire thought, as Detective Owen left her office.
    When Claire got home that evening she let the cat out and made herself a bowl of pasta for dinner. When it was good and dark and Nemesis hadn’t come home yet, she went outside and found him rummaging under a rose bush. Claire looked up at the sky and saw that all the stars were in place. Somewhere above her head seven sisters wandered, pinpoints of light in the darkness, huddling together for comfort.
    Claire thought about what Detective Owen had said. Abusers didn’t stop until they were caught and they couldn’t be caught unless a victim spoke up. She would never know how many other girls George Hogan had abused, girls who hadn’t spoken out before Claire, girls who hadn’t spoken out after. Had his own daughter been a victim? Claire didn’t blame herself for not speaking out. She was clear about why she had kept silent. She was only twelve years old when the incident happened. But as time went by and she learned more about abuse, she began to fear she’d protected herself but left George Hogan free to molest other girls, even his own daughter. And why would George Hogan have stopped at molestation? Was that the precursor to rape? It was an issue that would bother her until she knew George Hogan was dead and in his grave.
    The coyotes in the arroyo began to bark and howl. House pets weren’t safe in the foothills after dark. Claire picked up her cat and took him inside.

Chapter Seven
    T HE NEXT DAY C LAIRE TOOK A BREAK AFTER LUNCH and walked over to Lawton Davis’s office. The UNM campus was full of