James Patterson - Filthy Rich

D:Okay. Let me bring you back a little bit.

V:Sure.

D:When did things start to escalate as far as things happening when the massages were given?

V:They escalated whenever he wanted. I don’t clearly understand the question.

D:Okay. The first time you went, you were naked-

V:Are you asking for a date?

D:Oh, no, no, no-

V:…and the little steps that things progressed?

D:Right.

V:Well, I went and I wouldn’t take off my panties at first. And then he got me to get naked. Then he got me to let him rub me. Then he got me to let him stick his fingers in me. Then he got me to let him go down on me. Then, um-that was pretty much the gist of it, except this one time, where he bent me over the table and put himself in me. Without my permission. And I flipped out. I’m sorry, I didn’t ask you, but I don’t count that as me having sex with him… ’Cause I just told you that I never had sex with him. I never did. Even though, I don’t know what you’d consider that. But he then-I go, “What are you doing?” He goes, “Oh, I just wanted [redacted] to see this.”

D:Okay. Let me back you up. When you were completely naked, the same things happened? You went in, you massaged him?

V:Sometimes I didn’t even do that. Sometimes he just asked me to take off my clothes and-he’d have to do work, he’d be sitting at his desk or something, and I’d just be naked there, watching television or reading a book, but I’d be naked. Or, um, sometimes he wanted to just watch TV or read, and he’d lay in his bed and ask me to take my clothes off and lay with him. And that’s it. Not touch him or anything…Sometimes he’d just invite me over for breakfast, for dinner, or just to use the swimming pool, and I’d get paid for that, too. I’d get paid just to hang out with him. That’s it. And if the money wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have ever been in that house.

D:Okay. When he started to touch you-

V:I have a question. Before I say anything else. Um, is there a possibility that I’m gonna have to go to court or anything? Like, that’s a possibility, right?

D:Well, here’s the thing: When this is all said and done, we’re going to sit down, we’re going to discuss this. I mean, what he did to you is a crime. I’m not gonna lie to you.

V:Would you consider it rape? Like, would you consider that to be rape, what he did?

D:If he put himself inside you, without permission-

V:I didn’t say that, or anything. I was standing up and the table is about, like, my hip length-he just put me down-

D:That, that is a crime. That is a crime.

V:I don’t want my family to find out about this. My family doesn’t know any of this. My mom thinks I was his secretary, for two years, or however long-a year and a half. My mom thinks I made phone calls for him and that’s how I was making my [unintelligible] money. That’s it. I don’t want her to know anything.

D:Well, you’re an adult. You’re an adult now…When we’re done with this interview, we’ll discuss this further and we’ll decide the best course.

V:’Cause Jeffrey’s gonna get me. You guys realize that, right? He’s gonna find-he’s gonna figure this out. And he’s gonna-I’m not safe now. You understand that, right? I’m not safe.

D:He is not this person that he is portraying himself to be-

V: Well-

D:Why do you say you’re not safe? Has he said he’s hurt people before?

V:Well, I’ve heard him make threats to people on the telephone, yeah. Of course.

D:You’re gonna die? You’re gonna break your legs? Or-

V:All the above! But that’s not the point.

D:Who’s he talking to?

V:I don’t know. I don’t know, I heard those conversations, I mean, I’ve been in the room when he was on the phone and [unintelligible] threatened. Like, I witnessed lots of things. I just don’t know what, specifically, you all [want to know].

D:Everything.

V:I used to go there every day, like I w-I don’t, I don’t know how many other girls he was saying, “You’re my favorite, and I want you to live with me” to, but I was in about as deep as you can get.

D:He had quite a few girls he would say that to.

…

D:Do you have any formal massage training?

V:[Giggles.] Hell, no.

D:All right, I was just asking.

…

V:He would kiss me and stuff, too. I remember that. And when he kissed me, if he was jerking off he would, like, rub himself on my breasts. And I…I was extremely uncomfortable. I would maneuver myself away from that activity. I’d get up and I’d move somewhere else, or I’d-I don’t even remember. I would stop whatever was going on without saying, “Can you get the fuck off me?” I would stop it without saying stuff like that.

D:Okay.

…

V:I wouldn’t let him put anything in me until one day he did just out of nowhere. And I said, “Wait a second: my boyfriend, you know, we had this thing, you can’t do that. You know, I’m-I’m allowed to work here as long as you don’t do that.” And he said “okay.” Well, a couple months later I guess he assumed me and my boyfriend had broken up, and he just did it one day; he just did it without asking or anything. And then I said, “What are you doing?” I said, “You know that’s not cool,” and he goes, “Oh, I thought we did that last time.” And I said, “No, we did not do that last time.” And then he goes-uh, and then he just offered me more money. He’s like, “Well, why don’t I just give you something extra, and we can try this out?” And I was like [sigh], “All right.” Very hard guy to say no to. I don’t know if any of you guys ever talked to him…

…

Oh, yeah. Well, if you talk to him, I mean, he straight up tries to control the situation. Every-every word that comes out of your mouth, it seems like, he knows what you are going to say. Like, that’s his job; that’s how he made his money is knowing what people are gonna say and what people are gonna do.

D:What did he tell you he does for a living?

V:Well, there’s a couple of things. Things that I found for myself, things I looked up on the Internet. What he specifically told me when I asked him the first time was, “Oh, I’m a brain scientist.” And I said, “What the fuck is a brain scientist?” I was like, “That’s not a real job-tell me the truth.” But anyway…his explanation was, “It’s my job to know how people’s brains work.” And I said, “Whatever the fuck that means. Whatever. You’re like some old guy who [unintelligible…]” You know what he promised me? Here’s the reason I held on so long is, he promised me that I would get into NYU. That I would get into NYU and he would pay for it. And I waited, and I waited, and I scored great on my SATs, I would get 4.0-like, I did great in school. I filled out my application and he told me that it wasn’t good enough. So I filled it out again, and it was like three times. So I’m pretty sure he wasn’t checking into it, he was just telling me that he was. But I think that had a lot to do with the reason I stayed there so long, ’cause my dream was right in front of me, you know? And it’s so far…

D:Aside from having been with [redacted], was there anybody else that you brought to the house?

V:I brought a few people…Because it got out that I did this. Like, everyone at school knew. You know, everyone talks-

D:It was a circle, and-

V:It was a little circle, yeah…Not that I would want anybody to get involved…I brought girls I didn’t like and, frankly, did not give a shit about. Girls that I knew were skanks. That would do anything. Girls that would just, like, suck dick in the bathroom at school. Like, not even people I was friends with. I’d just hear a rumor about a girl and be like, “Hey, I know a way you can make two hundred dollars. How about…” I would tell them flat out, like, “This is what you’ve got to do. Are you cool with this? ’Cause I’m not gonna take you if you’re not.” So I told them. They all know that I got paid to bring them. It was actually [redacted]. She took off her shirt. She was a little overweight, so he didn’t want anything to do [with her]. She was my best friend. But, you know, she was another story. I did care about her. But, um, she lost her house and stuff and really needed money. She had-she was homeless, she had nowhere to go. So she did it out of desperation.