Chapter Ten
Terry swallowed hard as he stared at the investigator. He could think of a hundred million other places he'd like to be right now. His nerves were so jumpy, achy, he felt an overwhelming need to shake his arms.
"Mr. Iverson, a sexual harassment accusation has been brought against you."
Terry nodded. "I know."
"You understand that these things have to be investigated?"
"I do."
"Good, good. So, what can you tell me about the alleged incident?"
Terry stared. Hard. "What incident?"
Clausen frowned for a moment before pulling a tablet out of his bag. His fingers slid across the screen a couple of times before he glanced up. "The one where you allegedly sexually harassed Mr. Jacks."
"Who?"
"Mr. Wilson Jacks."
"Will?" Terry asked. "You're talking about Will, the guy who rides with Jamie Kent?"
Will had lodged a complaint against him?
"But he kissed me," Terry insisted.
Clausen's eyebrows rose. "So, you admit there was an incident?"
"If you want to call it that." It was barely that.
"Can you tell us what happened in your own words?" Clausen asked.
Terry sighed as he tried to remember exactly what had happened. "I was giving Will a ride back to his truck, and we were talking about Cade Creek. He seemed amazed at how open everyone here was about being gay. He asked me if I was gay. Once I said I was, he admitted he was too. Then he asked me out for a beer. I thought he just wanted to hang out, so I said sure. Then he kissed me right before jumping out of the rig and running to his truck."
Clausen typed away at his tablet while Terry talked. When Terry stopped, he paused and looked up. "Is that everything that happened?"
"No, not exactly."
"Please, continue."
"I really thought Will just wanted to go out for a beer. He's new to town and doesn't know that many people. So, when—"
"How do you know he's new to town?" Mr. Clausen asked.
"He just started working with Jamie like a week ago, and he was talking about being from back east and how different Cade Creek was. I naturally assumed he was new to town."
Clausen nodded before typing away at his tablet.
"After he kissed me and jumped out of the rig, I realized he was asking me out on a date. The next day at work, I took him aside and told him that I couldn't date him, but we could still be friends."
"May I ask why you felt you couldn't date him?" Clausen asked.
"I'm already seeing someone."
"And who would that be?"
"Don't answer that, Terry," Elijah said before glancing at Clausen. "Who Terry is dating is immaterial to your investigation."
