The City Held Its Silence byIrel Knx 81

81 Rebecca’s Nightmare 

After almost 10 minutes of waiting Rebecca texted that she was in the cafe. I got up from the table to look for her. Once she came to view my arms raised to signal to her where I was. I recognized her from the pictures on her stargram. A look of recognition appeared on her face once she caught sight of me. I assumed she recognized me from my stargram as well. 

“Rebecca pleasure to meet you,” I greeted and shook her hand once she arrived. I then 

had us sit down at the table. 

I then signaled for the waiter to come serve us. I told Rebecca to feel free to order anything she wanted as it was on me. I took a cappuccino and she took some matcha drink. 

“Thank you for taking the time to meet with me,” I said to her. 

“You said you work with the CEO of the restaurant?” she asked me as she looked me up and down. I made sure to dress extremely professional and smartly to look the part I also had a notebook open and held my pen. 

A small cough escaped my mouth, recalling my lie from last night. “Yes,” I told her. I then reached into my pocket took out a business card I had put together and printed the night before. I took inspiration from Louis‘ business card that I had seen lying in his home. 

“What sparked the investigation?” she then asked me. 

“Well, we’ve been hearing whispers of incidents that have occurred concerning Mr Gatwick. However, no one has ever come forward. It’s why the CEO began an investigation to find out if it’s true,” I explained. 

Her eyes softened at this information. 

“No one comes forward because that man threatens,” she said. “I never imagined that the company would ever be aware though. Why did you reach out to me specificallyly? Why on Stargram? I never told anyone anything.” 

I had to quickly come up with some explanation. 

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions about this and I completely understand. You see this investigation is being kept tight–lipped. Mr Gatwick has no knowledge an 

12:24 

< 

81 Rebecca’s Nightmare 

investigation is being conducted on him because we first want to confirm the facts. I contacted you on Stargram because I thought it would be less likely to be found out by him compared to if I contacted you through more formal means. I mean we both work with the CEO after all,” I quickly came up with a lie. 

If I couldn’t convince her I worked closely with Louis she wouldn’t talk to me. 

“As for why I reached out to you specifically. From the rumors we’ve heard Gatwick typically targets young female workers. Across all the restaurants you’re the recent youngest female worker to quit or leave the job.” 

Now this fact was actually true. From the files I had gone through last night she was the most recent young female worker to either quit or leave the job. 

She processed my answer and then slowly nodded in acceptance. “Okay,” she replied. 

“Now I didn’t know if anything had happened to you but from your response last night when I contacted you, you confirmed that something had happened.” I went on. 

Her lip quivered and she nodded her head. 

I then took out my phone, opened the recording app. 

“Do 

you mind if I record this conversation?” I asked her. 

She skeptically looked at my phone. 

“I promise you it’s all to get you the justice you deserve,” I reassured her. “I won’t use it 

against you.” 

“Okay,” She then accepted. 

“Now, take me through what happened, if you’re not comfortable with some details of course you don’t have to force yourself,” I told her not wanting to put pressure on her. 

Rebecca looked at her matcha drink for a moment as she contemplated. 

“Take your time,” I told her to try to get her to feel less pressured. 

I could tell this was a sensitive topic for her which was understandable considering the nature of the situation. 

“It started about a year ago. I worked part–time at the restaurant since I’m a university student. Whenever Gatwick would come to the restaurant he would flirt with me or make sexually suggestive comments in front of everyone,” started her voice was shaking. “At first I just found him to be weird and decided to avoid him as much as I 

12:24 

29 

could.” 

81 Rebecca’s Nightmare 

It was the same experience as Megan basically. 

“I was hopinghis advances would stop at some point but it never did. There was even a time he slapped my ass when I crossed paths with him alone. There was nothing I 

could do about it,” 

“Then three months ago, there was a time I was getting some supplies from the basement. I tried to run away but he cornered me. told me that if I tried to–that if I—” she said then broke down and began to cry. 

I was quiet and let her cry. My heart began to feel heavy as I listened to her. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she had gone through as well as how she felt when in that moment. I took out some tissues from my pocket and handed them to her. 

She took them and wiped away at her tears and nose. 

“He said if I told anyone he would have me sued for defamation so bad and have my family drowning in debt,” she told me. 

“He was flirting with me and I was begging him to let me go. He tried to touch me and I told him to stop but he told me he would have me fired and threatened to ruin my life” she continued fighting tears. “He then told me to kneel down and… suck him off,” she proceeded to say. 

My facial expression changed to one of disgust and shock. I expected what she had to say to be bad, but this was still horrific to hear. 

“I tried to refuse but again, he reminded me of how he’d ruin my life,” she continued choking up won each word. ” I knelt as he said and just as I was about to begin the manager walked in. He begged Gatwick to stop and promised I wouldn’t tell anyone. Gatwick agreed and released me. I immediately left the restaurant that day without another word and quit the next day.” 

12:24 C