Blind Date by Jerzy Kosinski Page B

be formally entered in the record of the investigation.”
    â€œLet it be in the record, then,” the director said indulgently. “Come to my office in an hour.”
    After roll call, the boys surrounded Levanter.
    â€œYou couldn’t have raped her,” said one of Levanter’s bunkhouse mates. “You were sick and slept the whole afternoon. I saw you!” he exclaimed. “We all saw you in bed,” added another, and two or three nodded in agreement. “Maybe you dreamed about raping a girl,” said one boy, and others laughed. “There’s not much any of us can do for Oscar now,” one of them said with a snicker.
    Levanter did not know what to say. “What if you’re all wrong?” he finally asked. “What if I did do it?”
    â€œBut I saw you sleeping” another boy yelled. “And I saw you going to the shower after you woke up, just before supper,” shouted another.
    At the director’s office, he was introduced to a young police lieutenant, who patted Levanter on the shoulder and directed him to a chair.
    â€œThere’s no use, Levanter, no use at all in what you’re trying to do,” he said. “When the local police summoned us last night, we already had our suspicions. Then, early this morning, faced withthe evidence, your friend Oscar admitted that he has raped many girls before, though, for some reason, he still denies that he raped this one.” He paused and looked hard at Levanter. “Could it be, Levanter, that he asked you in advance to take the blame for it?”
    Levanter did not respond.
    The lieutenant continued in an even voice. “What’s more, we found his diary, in which he describes, in his own handwriting, dozens of his past assaults. These rapes match the police files. What more can we ask for?”
    The director handed the lieutenant a sheet with Levanter’s statement. The lieutenant glanced at it, then, to indicate that he refused to accept it, gently pushed it across the table to Levanter.
    â€œOscar might have raped other girls,” said Levanter. “But I raped the one yesterday. I can identify the girl and the exact spot where I did it.”
    The lieutenant appraised him thoughtfully. “Of course you can,” he said. “Oscar might have pointed her out to you. He might even have showed you his raping grounds.”
    â€œI can provide all the details of how I did it,” said Levanter insistently. “I can show you exactly what I did to make this girl —”
    â€œOf course you can,” the lieutenant cut him off softly. “But you don’t have to. You see—” He paused. “We know all this already. There’s no doubt that the poor girl who was raped yesterday was attacked by the same man who raped a dozen others in our town. In each case he used the same tricks — grabbing the victim’s hair from behind and wounding her in the same perverted way.” The lieutenant spoke in an even, controlled voice.
    Levanter leaned on his hand and breathed in the girl’s scent that still lingered under his nails. “But I can give you a precise recollection of what went on in the forest,” he argued. “Minute by minute. Where I stopped her, how I shoved her. What and how I touched. I can tell it all, and you can ask her to verify my account.”
    The lieutenant gave him another thoughtful look. “Let’s leave this girl alone, Levanter. She’s suffered enough; she’s still in the hospital and, as a friend of the man who raped her, you’re the last person in the world she would want to hear from.” He looked atthe director. “They say she’s going to need surgery, you know,” the lieutenant said quietly.
    The director nodded. “I’m sure Levanter realizes that his claim, however honorable his motives, is an attempt to obstruct justice,” he said. Without allowing Levanter to