Page 168 of The Dixon Rule

Percy’s not going to be happy, and I think Detective Wendt recognizes that because she also advises me to get a restraining order against him. Which means I need to repeat the story all over again to another officer and make another statement. By the time that happens, my dad finally arrives.

I don’t know how Shane got his number, but when Dad joins us at the station, he says Shane’s the one who called him. True to his word, Shane hasn’t left my side all day.

The cops said I could get a lawyer, but I didn’t want to wait around for hours on end for my dad’s attorney to show up. Besides, my statement is one hundred percent the truth. If Percy’s lawyer wants to twist my words later, let him. I’ll hire a lawyer once we get to the next step. According to Detective Wendt, this is all very preliminary anyway. She’s really nice, and there was nothing but sympathy on her face when I explained why I waited months to report the assault. She said she understood.

Flanked by two uniformed officers, Wendt approaches as we’re leaving the station. She says they’re going to arrest Percy now and bring him in for questioning.

But it’s not until Dad, Shane, and I are outside on the front steps that my father drops a bomb on us.

Turns out, Percy already has another assault charge on his record.

Shane curses. “Are you kidding me? Why didn’t Detective Wendt tell us that when Diana was giving her statement?”

“They’re not allowed to disclose it at this point in the investigation,” Dad says in a flat tone. “But I got my chief to run Percival’s name through our system at the precinct while I was driving down here. It showed up in the search.”

“Who did he assault?” I ask weakly.

“His previous girlfriend. Chief Stanton didn’t have access to the entire report, so we only know the basics.”

It suddenly gets hard to breathe. “I can’t believe he’s done this before.”

My father hangs his head. “This is on me. I should have done a background search when you started dating him.”

“Dad, come on.” I can’t help but laugh despite the gravity of the situation. “Of course you’re not going to run a background check on my boyfriend.”

“That’s what any good cop would do.”

“Dad, stop.”

“What exactly do we know about the other incident?” Shane presses.

Dad quickly fills us in, but he’s right—there’s not much to go on. Apparently, my ex-boyfriend assaulted a woman he dated when he was doing his undergrad in New York. And while Percy’s lawyer pushed to get the charges dropped on account of it being his first offense, the case went forward because the victim’s mother was some big shot who fought for it. Percy only got probation, though.

It doesn’t surprise me that he decided not to share this juicy tidbit with me. Why would he? Oh, by the way. I smacked my last girlfriend around too.

But this demonstrates a history of violence, and as awful as it is to think another woman might’ve suffered, it does make me feel slightly better about my own situation. Makes me wonder if maybe what happened to me was inevitable.

Although I drove to the station with Shane, my father insists on driving me home. While he goes to get the car, I stand on the curb with Shane, furrowing my brow at him.

“How did you get my dad’s number?”

He hesitates.

“Shane.”

“I asked Gigi for it,” he finally reveals.

Anxiety rushes through me. “You told her what Percy did?”

“Not at first. All I said was that you were at the police station and needed to call your dad. I told her you were okay, but she kept insisting on driving down from Boston unless I gave her some answers. So eventually I had to tell her the truth.”

I reach into my purse for my phone. It was off during the interview, and now I turn it on to a flood of texts from Gigi.

GIGI:

Are you okay?

GIGI:

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