“I wish you’d told me you were going, Maude,” Sebe said quietly.
“You were upstairs talking to Amanda. Somebody said she ran upstairs, and you followed,” Maude said, so certain, it seemed, that they were only talking—she and Sebe did have their limits, after all. “And I wanted to go while Amanda was here and not at home. I didn’t want to lose it on Zach in front of her. I knew she’d feel responsible. Besides, you would have stopped me.”
“But Amanda came home while you were in the house?” I asked.
An accident. That had to be where all of this was going. Maude hit Amanda by accident somehow.
“I wasn’t sure at first. I’d stupidly left the door unlocked behind me, and I was upstairs in Zach’s office when I heard somebody come in. I’d only been in there a second; it took me a while to find the office,” she said. “Anyway, as soon as I heard someone I ducked into the closet. It wasn’t until I was in there that I saw the golfbag.”
“Maude,” Sebe whispered, wincing.
“Sophia almost killed herself, Sebe,” Maude pleaded. She looked from Sebe to me. “We have her at an inpatient facility right now. Hopefully, she’ll be okay. Teenagers are resilient. But who knows. And for what? You know, that guy isstillcontacting her, which I guess proves it wasn’t Zach himself, given that he’s in Rikers. I also heard another parent just got one of those blackmailing emails yesterday for the first time. Zach may be in jail, but his soldiers are keeping on with their work. What if they’re doing the same thing to other girls?”
I refuse to lose.I could hear Zach’s voice in my head from all those years ago. But to what end had Zach done all of it? Surely not for cash. He wasn’t going to get enough that way. And Zach didn’t do anything for pure entertainment value. Whatever Zach was doing, I had no doubt his intent was to put himself back on top. And I knew Zach well enough to know: he could care less who had to lose, as long as he was the one to win.
“What happened after you saw the golf clubs?” I asked.
Maude had mistaken Amanda for Zach. It had to be.
“I pulled one out and held it. I imagined swinging it at Zach’s head.” Maude looked squarely at me then, her eyes defiant, fists clenched. “And I know, I didn’t even have actual hard evidence. But in that moment, I felt so, so sure. And all I could think about was how much I wanted Zach dead.”
KRELL INDUSTRIES
CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION
Attorney-Client Work Product
Privileged & Confidential
July 9
To:Brooklyn Country Day Board of Directors
From:Krell Industries
Subject:Data Breach & Cyber Incident Investigation—Critical Event Report
The memorandum should serve to notify the board that the recommended forensic examination of Subject Family 0006 computer is now complete. Numerous pornographic images were located on the computer in question. These images were removed, and placed on a jump drive at FPP request for further investigation within Subject Family.
Despite Krell having conducted the desired forensic analysis, it remains the FPP position that the pornography must have been placed onto the family computer by the hackers in question.
JIA explained that there is clear evidence this is not the case. That the pornographic material was downloaded to the computer over many months preceding the alleged hacking.
However, FPP has continued to threaten legal action, or, alternatively, public disclosure of the security breach, specifically that she will contact local media.
We believe it imperative, under the circumstances, that the board be made aware of the identity of Family 0006, as the situation continues to evolve. They are Sarah Novak and Kerry Tanner.
Amanda
THE PARTY
Amanda didn’t look back over her shoulder or down at her phone again until she’d gotten to her front steps. Luckily, there was no one behind her, and there were no new texts. Amanda dared to hope for a moment that she’d imagined the others. But when she finally got to the top of her stoop and checked, all the disgusting, frightening messages she’d gotten earlier from her dad were still there. She deleted every last one of them.
When Amanda turned her key, the lock didn’t make its usual pop. Zach was home? It wouldn’t be the first time he’d used work as an excuse to leave someplace.
But as soon as Amanda opened the door, she noticed the foyer chair pushed slightly to the side. Like someone drunk had stumbled into it. Zach didn’t drink, and he wasn’t clumsy. There were a couple of lights on—at the top of the steps, and the front of the living room—but it was pretty dark. Amanda’s heart again took flight.
“Zach!” Amanda called out as she headed for the stairs. Not a sound as she made her way halfway up. “Zach!”
