My heart started to race and my mouth went dry. I pulled over to the side of the road and picked it up. The bear stared at me with its familiar expression. Those black, staring eyes. It was ordinary-looking in every way. Why did Eden want me to have it so bad? I squeezed it in the hopes some clue would pop out, maybe some words in French would be whispered in my head, but nothing happened.
It was just a stuffed bear.
It was heavy for a stuffed bear.
I turned it over in my hands. There was a Velcro strip hidden under the fur on its back and I tore the fabric away to investigate. Below it was a battery pack.
A talking bear? Mystified, I pried the plastic door of the battery hatch open. Inside, there was a white sticker printed with instructions in a tiny font.
Thank you for purchasing Happy Nanny Bear!
To view captured video, go to the website and enter password.
Charge bear using enclosed cord, USB, or AAA batteries (not included).
Camera is motion-sensitive. Only 30 minutes of video is stored at a time.
Remember, Safety “Fur”st!
Below that was the URL of a website and a password. I turned the bear over in my trembling hands. The black staring eyes—had they been watching me all those years? Had they watched me dress? Sleep? Worse: who had seen what the bear saw?
My three years under Ramona’s roof took on a new layer of horror.
The fabric under my arms got damp as my body literally vibrated with rage. I opened the browser on my phone and entered the URL.
A black screen appeared asking for the password. I entered it and waited.
Another window appeared. Text on the screen read “Welcome back, Ramona Crawford! Please select from the following new videos.” She had never changed the password.
To my utter shock, four thumbnails listed by date appeared, with the most recent first.
The first two thumbnail images were clearly from the pool house at the Crawford’s.
The bear had been recording that night.
My stomach churned and blood pounded in my ears as I tapped on the first video. It was short. A pretty girl opened a box and her face loomed closer as she lifted the bear towards her. I gasped when I realized it was me. I was all made up, with my long hair flowing down my shoulders. There was no audio. Caleb walked up behind me in the background, then the bear fell to the ground and stared up at a corner of the room.
When the video ended, I was hyperventilating so much that I thought I’d faint. It was the proof I needed—it had been him.
I gritted my teeth and tapped to play the next video. It was just three seconds long. I saw Caleb from the shoulders up, leaving the room, the door opening and closing.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I wouldn’t have to see him actually having sex with my unconscious body. That part the bear had not seen.
The thumbnail image for the third video showed the same blank white corner of the room.
But the third video was over twenty minutes long. The bear was motion sensitive, so it wouldn’t have stared at nothing for that long.
I had to force myself to tap the play button. I watched as the door to the guest room opened. In walked Trevor Blazick and Brett White. Cressida’s friends. The bullies who had tormented me for years.
Shock and disgust smashed into me like a cannonball. I screamed out loud as the video played. Brett pointed to something on the side of the room—me, presumably. Trevor high-fived Brett. The two of them walked in and out of the frame for a minute or so, then Brett left. The video just showed a tiny corner of the bed, and it moved like someone sat down on it.
At one point, a piece of clothing was thrown in front of the bear, obscuring the view even more. But it was clear that I was not alone on that bed.
I skipped forward and stopped when I saw Trevor walking out of the frame with his shirt unbuttoned. Then he walked back towards the bed and disappeared. A few minutes later it looked like he left the room, and then the bear was moving. He stuffed it between the metal posts of the headboard and for a terrible second I saw my unconscious face, eye makeup smeared, skin pale white, wisps of hair stuck to my cheeks.
My lip gloss was smeared.
Then the bear’s relentless gaze shifted to the blank white wall and the video ended.
I clapped my hands over my eyes and sobbed.
It had been Trevor Blazick.
Trevor Blazick who’d tried to assault me on New Year’s Eve at his house, when I was 14. He’d finally gotten what he wanted. I suddenly remembered the things that didn’t make sense that night. Like feeling so strange in that room. I remembered the drink Brett gave me right before. The Lana, he’d called it. Had he put something in it? There had been that strange metallic taste in my mouth the next morning. Had it been blood—or a drug of some kind?
Cressida had to have known. Had they drugged me to get me away from Caleb so she could lure him back into her lair? Or was that too dark, even for her?
Caleb, though. He was innocent. He’d committed no crime. He was guilty of cheating on me in an extremely painful, humiliating way—but he hadn’t raped me. I’d falsely accused him—and he needed to know I knew the truth.
He needed to know right away.
But first, there was one more video to watch. The oldest video, it was shot the year before. I tapped play, holding my breath.
I instantly recognized my old bedroom. Eden had told me that after I left, Cressida used my room as a closet and a lounge. The camera pointed directly at the bed. There was a flash of blonde hair in the corner of the room and then Cressida, long spiral curls flouncing behind her, appeared with her back to the camera. She was wearing her Briar school uniform—a short-sleeve white blouse and a short gray skirt.
She looked nervous and worried. Two expressions I’d never seen on her face.
The screen went black—someone else filled the frame and stood right in front of the camera. The figure walked towards Cressida. I let out a loud gasp when I recognized the tan uniform and bald head of the man in the room with her.
It was Officer Wade Jenner. My eyelids snapped to their widest setting. He stepped towards her and she backed away, gesticulating, alternately laughing and shaking her head. What was going on? My stomach twisted into a greasy knot watching them. He put his hands on her waist and whispered to her, then he ran his hands up her blouse to her shoulders. In horror, I watched as she stood still and let him kiss her. His hands gripped her shoulders, and she dropped out of sight in front of him.
The video ended a few seconds after that.
Holy shit.
Cressida and Wade Jenner. I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t fight him off or run away. There was no way she was that desperate for male attention. Or was she? Did she have some kind of crush on him? Or was he coercing her in some disgusting way?
HOLY SHIT. Was Cressida a victim, too?
What had he done to her?
I felt an unfamiliar emotion towards Cressida. Pity.
I mentally added Jenner to my Kill list.
Time to pay a visit to my former stepsister.
#
I made it to the Starbucks in downtown Sonoma in record time. Sometimes it really is good to have a Ferrari. I’d called Maya and told her to meet me there—and to bring Caleb.
Then I’d texted Alexander and told him I’d be late. I didn’t want him anywhere near what I was planning to do—I didn’t need him to get arrested trying to protect me or defend my honor.
He’d been through enough because of me.
When I walked up to the outdoor patio, they were already there. I actually hadn’t prepped myself to see Caleb Weaver. I stopped short as our eyes met. He almost dropped his coffee and stood up, banging the table to various drinks sloshed onto the table. Evan and Maya waved to me, but all I could see was Caleb. He looked thinner, and had dark circles under his eyes. His blond hair was cut shorter and looked darker than it had been. The cocky, tan athlete I’d known seemed diminished, shorter
somehow.
I forced myself to walk over.
“Hi, Lana,” he said. “Like the haircut.”
My hand flew up to my haircut. “I know. Long story. Or, short story, as you can see.” I impulsively gave him a hug. “I’m so happy to see you.”
He stood stock still. “You are?”
Maya and Evan exchanged looks. Evan cleared his throat.
“Do you want us to leave you guys alone to chat?” Maya asked. I shook my head.
“No. It’s okay. I need you guys to hear what I have to say. Thank you for coming, I know you had a party to get to.” I sat down and pulled the bear out of my bag. “This is the bear Eden gave you to give to me. It was in my room when I lived at the Crawford’s house, and Eden wanted me to have it. But guess what? It’s a nanny cam, Maya. They were watching me the whole time.”
Evan let out a low whistle. “That’s dirty.”
“It gets worse. Caleb, do you remember the bear was being stored in the guest room the night of Cressida’s party? Remember I took it out of the box and showed it to you?”
Maya clapped a hand over her mouth.
Caleb regarded me coolly. “Are you telling me there’s video that proves I’m innocent?”
I nodded solemnly “Yes. You’re innocent. I was wrong and I’m so sorry.”
Caleb shook his head disgustedly and rolled his eyes. “You admit it? You admit that you made up a totally bogus rape accusation and tried to ruin my life because you were hurt I cheated on you? See, I told you, Evan! Nobody touched Lana that night—it was all a lie!”
Evan glared at me, like Caleb was confirming his worst suspicions.
Maya slowly closed her mouth, which had dropped open. “Wait you guys—Lana’s not finished.” She peered at me. “Something did happen to you that night. Did the bear see anything else that night?”
I nodded. She clapped a hand over her eyes. “Oh my God.”
“After Caleb left, someone else came in the room and stayed for a while.”
“WHO?” Maya practically shrieked. Caleb’s intense blue eyes widened and his brow furrowed. It reminded me of how much I’d liked him.
“What the fuck!” Caleb said. “Who was it, Lana!?”
It made me sick just thinking about what Trevor had done—so I didn’t allow myself to think about it. Not yet. I was just so grateful I didn’t remember any of it. It was a small mercy that tethered me to sanity.
“Cressida’s friend Trevor.”
“I knew it!” Maya screamed. “He was always a total slime. He always liked you, too.”
“You gonna call the cops?” Evan asked.
I shrugged. “The video doesn’t actually show him doing anything. But he was the one at the scene of the crime.”
Maya shivered when I said that word. She stared at me with her eyes like saucers. “Ah, Lana, I’m so so so sorry that happened to you!” Tears streamed down her face.
Evan handed her a napkin and then leaned closer to me. “If you think the cops won’t help us, maybe we’ll just administer a little street justice. Caleb, you down?”
Caleb threw an empty paper coffee cup down on the table. He’d crushed it to smithereens in his hand. “I’ll do anything Lana wants me to do.”
“Tell her about the test,” Evan said.
“What test? I asked. Caleb set his elbows on the table.
“I got my hair tested for drugs after the party. I suspected someone had slipped me something—I was not myself that night. And guess what?”
Now it was my turn to clap my hand over my mouth. “Oh my God.”
“Tell her,” Evan prodded.
He shot an annoyed glance at his older cousin. “They found a combination of Rohypnol and ecstasy. Which explains what happened to me that night. Lana, I told you. I would never, EVER have left you there . . . ” His voice trailed off and he put his face in his hands and shook his head.
I reached over and yanked them away. “Hey! Look at me.” His eyes were so sad, so different than the boy I’d known. I hated the people who had done this to us—to both of us.
“Caleb, I believe you and I forgive you. You have to stop feeling guilty. I’m fine! I’m more than fine—”
Well, I wasn’t ever going to be a hundred percent fine, but I’d certainly come out the other end with a few things that could expedite my recovery—like a few hundred million dollars and the love of my life.
Maya smacked her hand down on the table. “Do you think Cressida know they were going to do that?”
Had Cressida known? Did it matter? “I don’t think she told them to attack me. But she may have known about the drugs. Who knows, maybe she just wanted me asleep and out of the way.”
The bright summer sun glinted off the glass table and a warm, fragrant breeze ruffled the edges of the napkins on the table.
“Once Caleb and me are done handing out beatdowns, we’ll deal with that psycho bitch,” Evan said.
Maya was frantically scrolling through her phone. “Oh my God. Look, Lana! Look!”
She held her phone up. It was Cressida’s Instagram feed, where she’d posted a video of herself lounging by her pool. I spotted Trevor floating on a raft behind her. “She posted this twenty minutes ago. They’re both at her house!”
Caleb stood up, shaking the table again. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 27
Lacus Temporis ~ Lake of Time
Cressida’s Range Rover was parked in the circular driveway and a new red Mustang was parked behind it.
“Should we climb over?” Maya asked.
“Let’s do it,” Evan said, and stepped up onto the tall iron gate.
“You don’t have to. I know the code.” I punched the four-digit security code into the keypad and the gate creaked, then slowly rolled to the side.
Maya looked at me in wonder. “Did the . . . ghost tell you the code?” she whispered.
“I texted Eden on the way up,” I said. Maya looked extremely relieved.
I led Maya and the two guys away from the front door to the gate at the side of the house. I punched the code into the keypad and the lock clicked open. My stomach flopped over a few times and I took a deep breath. I turned and put a finger to my mouth. Maya nodded.
Caleb’s mouth was set in a steely line. He didn’t say anything.
Evan was jittery. “What’s the plan?” he hissed. “You girls distract her while we take him?”
Maya smiled and looked at me. “Just follow her lead.”
With a small burst of renewed confidence, I pushed the gate open and led them down the stone path towards the expansive lawn behind the mansion. It was early evening and the sky was turning pink and red. We rounded a bend in the path and arrived at the pool deck. Towels and empty cups were scattered near the lounge chairs, but the only sign of life was the giant inflatable unicorn that bobbed in the water.
The water in the pool was still moving.
“Where do you think they are?” Evan asked.
“Follow me.”
We walked in a single file line past the pool. The only sound was the gurgling of the pool filter. Then I heard soft music coming from the pool house.
The curtains in front of the French doors were drawn shut.
I slowly pushed down on the silver handle to the door and it gave way. The door was unlocked.
“Ready?” I whispered, glancing behind me. They all nodded.
I pushed the door and it swung open slowly. For a long moment, we stood in the doorway, our eyes adjusting to the dim light. The smell of stale cigarette smoke stung my eyes.
Cressida was crouched on the sofa in jean shorts and a ripped tank top. She was leaning over the glass coffee table and her long, wet blonde hair hung in front of her face like strands of spaghetti.
Trevor Blazick sat cross-legged on the rug looking at his phone.
He glanced up.
“What the fuck!”
Cressida saw us and shrieked. She jumped up and ran towards the bathroom.
“Trevor, get them out of here!” she screamed.
Evan stepped forward. “Yeah, Trevor. Get us out of here.” Trevor was tall, but lanky and pale. Evan could have picked him up with one hand.
Trevor scrambled to his feet. He was shirtless and wearing a damp bathing suit. His eyes darted to each of our faces. His eyes went wide as he recognized me. Vomit rose in my throat thinking about what he’d done to me. If I’d had a gun, I would have executed him on the spot.
“Oh, shit. Hey, Lana. What’d you do to your hair?”
“It got cut off during a knife fight with the murderer Cressida’s mom sent to kill me.” His mouth dropped open and he appeared stunned. “I won.”
Maya glanced over at me. “Lana?”
Cressida screamed from the bathroom, “Trevor! Get them the fuck out of here or I am going to call the police! They are fucking trespassing!”
Trevor grimaced and then smiled. “You heard her. Can you guys please fuck off? Thanks.”
He turned and strolled casually to the bar. I noticed there was a cutting board with a lemon on it and some wedges had been cut. A knife was lying next to it.
I had to stop him before he got to that knife.
I called, “Hey, Trevor. I need to talk to you about the night of prom.”
He froze. Without looking at me, he said, “What about it?”
“You always liked me, right? You liked me so much you told Brett to put something in my drink that night so you could do whatever you wanted to me. Too bad for you, there was a camera in the room. I’ve got the video. I know what you did.” His eyes flicked to the ground and then to the knife. He licked his lips and turned to face me, but took a step back towards the bar.
“You’re going to prison, Trevor. You’ll fit right in. Lot of other rapists there. This time maybe you’ll be on the receiving end.”
He pressed his back against the bar and his hand reached up. The knife was just a few inches from his hand. I could sense Evan and Caleb right behind me.
I felt unstoppable.
There was a moment of terrible tension when I could almost hear the high-pitched hum of our nerves tugged taut, and then in a flash Trevor had the knife, Evan and Caleb were tackling him, there were high-pitched screams coming from Maya and an anguished yell from the pile of wrestling limbs.
Valley of Fire (Valley of the Moon Book 2) Page 25
