eighty-year-olds. Older people are more likely to have moved several times, changed their names, or died."
Mish looked at Jeannie. "And then you study them."
Jeannie said: "I specialize in identical twins who have been raised apart. They're much more difficult to find." She put the coffeepot on the table and poured a cup for Mish. If this detective was planning to put pressure on Lisa, she was taking her time about it.
Mish sipped her coffee then said to Lisa: "At the hospital, did you take any medication?" "No, I wasn't there long."
"They should have offered you the morning-after pill. You don't want to be pregnant."
Lisa shuddered. "I sure don't. I've been asking myself what the hell I'd do about it."
"Go to your own doctor. He should give it to you, unless he has religious objections - some Catholic physicians have a problem with it. In that case the volunteer center will recommend an alternate."
"It's so good to talk to someone who knows all this stuff," Lisa said.
"The fire was no accident," Mish went on. "I've talked to the fire chief. Someone set it in a storage room next to the locker room - and he unscrewed the ventilation pipes to make sure the smoke was pumped into the locker room. Now, rapists are not really interested in sex: it's fear that turns them on. So I think the fire was all part of this creep's fantasy."
Jeannie had not thought of that possibility. "I assumed he was just an opportunist who took advantage of the fire."
Mish shook her head. "Date rape is usually opportunistic: a guy finds that the girl is too stoned or drunk to fight him off. But men who rape strangers are different. They're planners. They fantasize the event, then work out how to make it happen. They can be very clever. It makes them more scary."
Jeannie felt even angrier. "I nearly died in that goddamn fire," she said.
Mish said to Lisa: "I'm right in thinking you had never seen this man before? He was a total stranger?"
"I think I saw him about an hour earlier," she replied. "When I was out running with the field hockey team, a car slowed right down and the guy stared at us. I have a feeling it was him."
"What kind of a car?"
"It was old, I know that. White, with a lot of rust. Maybe a Datsun."
Jeannie expected Mish to write that down, but she carried on talking. "The impression I get is of an intelligent and completely ruthless pervert who will do whatever it takes to get his kicks."
Jeannie said bitterly: "He should be locked away for the rest of his life."
Mish played her trump card. "But he won't be. He's free. And he will do it again."
Jeannie was skeptical. "How can you be sure of that?" "Most rapists are serial rapists. The only exception is the opportunistic date-rapist I mentioned before: that type of guy might offend only once. But men who rape strangers do it again and again - until they're caught." Mish looked hard at Lisa. "In seven to ten days' time, the man who raped you will put another woman through the same torture - unless we catch him first."
"Oh, my God," Lisa said.
Jeannie could see where Mish was heading. As Jeannie had anticipated, the detective was going to try to talk Lisa into helping with the investigation. Jeannie was still determined not to let Mish bully or pressure Lisa. But it was hard to object to the kinds of things she was saying now.
"We need a sample of his DNA," Mish said.
Lisa made a disgusted face. "You mean his sperm."
"Yes."
Lisa shook her head. "I've showered and taken a bath and douched myself. I hope to God there's nothing left of him inside me."
Mish was quietly persistent. "Traces remain in the body for forty-eight to seventy-two hours afterward. We need to do a vaginal swab, a pubic hair combing, and a blood test."
Jeannie said: "The doctor we saw at Santa Teresa yesterday was a real asshole."
Mish nodded. "Doctors hate dealing with rape victims. If they have to go to court, they lose time and money. But you should never have been taken to Santa Teresa. That was one of McHenty's many mistakes. Three hospitals in this city are designated Sexual Assault Centers, and Santa Teresa isn't one of them."
Lisa said: "Where do you want me to go?"
"Mercy Hospital has a Sexual Assault Forensic Examination unit. We call it the SAFE unit."
Jeannie nodded. Mercy was the big downtown