Page 31 of Reversal of Fate

Julie looked at the video. It was dark, but of good quality.

“See here, he doesn’t even look into my room, and then he opens the door to yours and goes in.”

Julie watched as the tall man walked into her room, which was directly opposite of Emily’s. He left the door open, and with Emily’s door also being open, the computer had continued recording the intruder’s movements.

In Julie’s room, he switched on the bedside lamp and rummaged through her things. Julie felt violated. How dare he?

“What the fuck was he looking for?” she hissed and looked closer, but the man’s face was still hidden by the darkness. The light of the bedside lamp wasn’t sufficient. And for most of the video he had his back turned to the camera.

At some point there seemed to be a second light source behind the stranger, while he sat down on the bed, his back to the door. But Julie couldn’t make out what it was. Maybe a flashlight?

Then suddenly he turned, and for a short moment, the bedside lamp illuminated his face.

“There, we’ve got him,” Emily said triumphantly, just before the intruder charged out of the room and closed the door behind him. “I’m sure the police can run this through some facial recognition system or something, right? I mean, you’re the techie here.”

But Julie couldn’t speak. She felt paralyzed.

“Yeah, I’m furious too,” Emily said, seeing her shocked face. “And he didn’t even go into my room.”

“Yes,” Julie said, her voice weak and scratchy.

She’d recognized the intruder. It was Carter.

For a moment, she tried to make sense of his actions. She knew he’d gone upstairs to look for an intruder when he and Julie had found the front door open. Was that what the video was about, Carter checking if anybody was there?

“Can you go back a few seconds?”

“Sure.”

Emily went back, then resumed the video. That’s when Julie saw what she was looking for: the timestamp.

Carter had left her room at 9:02 p.m.—when Julie had been at the party, well before he’d rescued her from Todd.

Rescued? Was that really what he’d done? Or had all this been some elaborate plan he’d concocted to get close to her? It had to be.

Carter had set her up, manipulated her, and gotten her into bed.

Julie pushed back the tears until she reached the privacy of her room, but when the door shut behind her, she couldn’t hold them back any longer.

Carter had deceived her.