Chapter Forty
Excerpt from Testimony of Kayla Johnson
Ada Olson: This man who attacked you in the field when you were training at The Palace—he wore a beaded necklace, correct?
Kayla Johnson: Yes. It was very distinct. Black and white beads.
Ada Olson: And he smelled of pine?
Kayla Johnson: Yes—like from a car air freshener.
Ada Olson: And you told all of this to Ana the night it happened?
Kayla Johnson: Yes.
Ada Olson: But you didn’t report it to the police? Or to anyone other than your friends at Avery Hall?
Kayla Johnson: Only Emile Dresiér.
Ada Olson: When was that?
Kayla Johnson: The next day, when he took me to the clinic for emergency contraception and testing. I told him everything. Including the necklace.
Ada Olson: And what did he say?
Kayla Johnson: He said hundreds of truckers used the rest stop near the field. He said they’d probably never find him with no physical description—just some necklace the guy probably threw away. I asked him about evidence he might have left—on me. On my clothes. DNA maybe.
Ada Olson: What did he say to that?
Kayla Johnson: He said he threw my clothes away in a dumpster. They were gone. And he said it was too late to go to the police. It would just be a story, and no one would believe a girl like me. I had no idea at the time that there might have still been evidence on my body—after the bath.
Ada Olson: How does that make you feel?
Kayla Johnson: I don’t really have words for it.