Page 29 of Kiss Me Now
“What happened?” A complicated shift in my emotions was taking place, one I wasn’t sure I could fully describe. My contempt for Brooke wasn’t dissipating so much as it was transferring to the senator as Ellen’s story unfolded.
“He groomed her. Brooke is about action, so pretty words have never done it for her. But when the senator began to hand her plum assignments on top of the compliments he regularly paid her work, she was thrilled. She felt like she was ‘in the room where it happened,’ as the saying goes. He began to defer to her opinions and include her in his inner circle of aides. It caused a lot of friction with the other staff, and it bothered her, but she pushed on, excited about getting a chance to work on her ideas on a bigger stage. And then the tone slowly began to change.”
“Let me guess,” I said. I’d sat through too many depositions not to know what came next. “The compliments went from professional to personal. The meetings went from small to just the two of them.”
“Bingo,” Ellen said. “One night when they were on a fact-finding trip in Chicago, he called her to his room to give her a copy of a report.”
I winced, knowing what was coming next.
“He came onto her strong, but it wasn’t Weinstein-level. She called me, shaken up, but decided it was because he was drunk, and they were on the verge of getting the bill co-sponsored, so she decided she would give him another chance. I told her she needed to resign immediately, that she would have no problem finding another job, but she said she wanted to wait until the bill made it to a vote and then she would quit.
“But a couple of weeks later, the chief of staff called her to the office one night, said they wanted to go over the senator’s speech introducing the bill the next day. When she got there, it was only the senator. And he did not believe that she didn’t want a chance to sleep with one of the most powerful men in the country.”
“Did he...” I couldn’t even force myself to ask the words.
“He tried,” Ellen confirmed, voice grim. “Brooke left with a ripped skirt, some missing buttons, and some red marks. She called her mother in tears. Her mother made sure they had pictures of the physical marks. That was her lawyer training, I expect. But she also advised Brooke against going to the police. Said she’d only be dragged through every newspaper and TV broadcast as a trashy headline with no guarantee of justice.”
I wished I could say that I didn’t understand her mother’s cynicism, but I did. Many good people worked in the criminal justice system, but it was a crapshoot to get a sexual assault conviction. Those odds grew far worse when someone as powerful as the senator was involved.
“Instead, her mother hired Jansen Davies.”
I gave a low whistle. Jansen was the toothiest shark in East Coast private practice.
“Yes,” Ellen confirmed. “And he made Rink pay. Dearly.” She fell quiet, then added, “I’m ambivalent about the NDA. I think speaking out—even if some didn’t believe her—would do a lot to warn women in the future that the senator’s predation is ongoing.”
“Yeah. I get that.” I’d often had the same thought when our firm had tied up women in NDAs to protect the reputations of powerful men. Did it just enable more of the same? “It sounds like a sizable settlement.”
“Over a million,” Ellen confirmed. “Brooke never cared about the money, but she knew that no matter what she did, rumors about the settlement would make the rounds. She wanted to ensure that the amount was painful enough to force Rink to make sure he never preyed on anyone again for fear of future lawsuits. She’s still angry that all this cost him only money, while her reputation took the shot. Some days, she feels like it only underlines her mother’s wisdom in not pursuing a criminal case. Some days, I think she wishes she had burned it all to the ground, no matter what the consequences. But most days, I think she tries very hard to forget. And still, the rumors pop up that the gorgeous young aide seduced the senator.”
I cleared my throat, knowing I was going to do something I had rarely had to do in my career. “I was wrong about Brooke.”
“You were,” Ellen confirmed. “Do you know what she did for the first several months after she quit? She went to stay with her uncle to pull herself together and to get off Rink’s radar. Then she moved in with her mom and volunteered as a tutor every day in one of DC’s underperforming high schools.”
More and more pieces of the puzzle fell into place. “That turned her on to teaching.”
“It did. Brooke is a woman who needs a purpose, and she felt like she made a real difference there. When she discovered she’d partially inherited her uncle’s house around the time she completed her teaching credential, she took it as an opportunity to escape all of the lingering capital gossip.”
“And then I showed up.”
“And then you showed up.”
I thought about Gran in the next room, ready to finish tearing me up over my misjudgment of Brooke. It was time to listen to the wisdom of these two women. “I’ll apologize to her.”
“I think if you just left her alone, that would be enough.”
But I wasn’t so sure I could. I really did owe her at least the apology. And Ellen Brown too, I realized. “I’m sorry about the false pretenses of the first call. I thought I was protecting my grandmother from a scammer, and there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for her.”
“It’s partially my fault,” Ellen said. “I knew Brooke had a teaching job. I should have called and asked her about this supposed reference check myself, but she often comes to see me when she visits her parents, and I guess I figured we’d catch up then. And it’s good you keep an eye on your grandmother.”
“I’m not sure she thinks so right now,” I said, and Ellen laughed at my tone. “She likes Brooke and I’ve scared her into hiding, so I’m in the doghouse.”
“You definitely deserve it,” Ellen answered. “But I suspect she won’t stay mad at you for long.”
I apologized again and thanked her for her time, then hung up, took a deep breath, and tried to figure out how I was going to face Gran.
