Did King David rape Bath-sheba?

[John V]

I missed it. So it seems to have been consensual, since the story doesn't tell us what she did. I think it's safe to assume that someone would have heard.

Agreed.

So we are left to wonder why there is no accusation of adultery.

There is. The accusation of taking another man's wife, which you mistook for a charge of rape, is therefore a charge of adultery.

That's what makes it an interesting question. I am wondering what sort of details would be important enough to keep, and what sort would be important enough to leave out. And what that might tell us about the men who wrote the story. Bath-sheba is treated as little more than a prop throughout the tale, which makes it so we need to find more context to get a better idea of what they may have missed.

David had another child by her, and made that child his successor despite him not being the eldest. This indicates to me that David had love and/or respect for her, and is further reason to doubt rape.

The child's death is described as punishment for David's sin: "because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of Jehovah to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die." There doesn't seem to be any reason to believe that this is referring to Bath-sheba or any part she played, since this is the discussion Nathan is having with David about his crimes, and is part of his response after David repents for his actions.

This is again an argument from silence. David could have been punished in many ways that would have had no effect on Bathsheba. The death of the child presumably hurt her. From this we can infer that she was being punished as well. It's circumstantial, but as you agreed above that it was likely consensual and not rape, this explanation fits well.