Charades

Heather walked straight through the door into the cabin without knocking. After all, it was her family cabin. But, she wasn’t much in the mood for manners or courtesy, too angry at Shawn, too frustrated at being denied by Zack, and the long drive from Ravers Enterprises out to Azure Lakes hadn’t helped her calm down. Time to think had only increased her fury at Shawn and how he had violated Victoria, how he had done irreparable damage to the reputation of the Walkers and their business. They’d brought down Hannah when she tried to do the same to Heather and her family, now they would have to bring Shawn to his knees as well.

She was a little surprised to find Victoria sitting, quite casually, watching television when she entered. Kurt was sitting beside her, jumping up when she entered, reacting to the perceived threat, though relaxing quickly when he saw it was only Heather. The dark-haired cheer captain rushed to Victoria’s side and pulled her up into a firm, comforting hug. Victoria didn’t say anything, but hugged her back.

“I’m so sorry this happened,” Heather said into Victoria’s shoulder, squeezing her to show the depths of her compassion. “Don’t worry we’re going to get Shawn, and when we do, I’m going to kick him in the balls. When he’s crying and doubled over on the ground, I’m going to take pictures of him and spread those around town and see how he likes it.”

Victoria made a breathy, raspy laugh in Heather’s ear but said nothing else. Something was off, she could tell. Even Kurt was standing nearby, watching the pair awkwardly. Pulling away, Heather held her tall, blonde friend at arm’s length and scanned her face. She looked defeated but Heather didn’t understand why she wouldn’t say anything. “What’s wrong?” She asked a direct question hoping for a direct answer.

Victoria’s hands went up to her throat, as if throttling herself.

“Cutthroat? No…strangling? You want Shawn dead, is that it?” Heather said, slightly irritably, finding this an odd time to be playing games. “Well, yes, maybe a swift kick in the balls is too good for him.”

Victoria shook her head, and pointed to her chest with one finger, jabbing at herself repeatedly while she kept one hand on her throat.

“No? …you? So, not Shawn, something that happened to you. Did Shawn try to **** you, or…” Looking closer she noted that Victoria’s hand wasn’t gripping her throat tightly but massaging it, as if it pained her. “…a sore throat. You have a sore throat, is that why you’re not talking?”

Her finger moved up from her chest and pointed now to her head, tapping her temple.

“Your brain…your have a sore throat in your head…, no, in your mind? You think you have a sore throat, or you’re imagining it…” Heather’s forehead creased as she tried harder to figure out the meaning she clearly wasn’t getting. “Is this some kind of roleplay? If you actually have a sore throat, can’t you just tell me?”

The blonde held up her hands in defeat and looked to Kurt, who was smiling, quite enjoying watching his cousin struggle to comprehend Victoria’s actions. Of course, it was only obvious because he knew what she had been trying to convey. Putting them both out of their misery, Kurt told her, “She lost her voice. Monica Bishop was here looking for Zack earlier, and she said that it was psychological. There’s some kind of mental block in her brain from the trauma that keeping her from speaking.”

“Oh shit, I’m sorry, I thought you were just playing…” Heather said, looking back at Victoria and feeling immensely guilty that she ever felt annoyed at her. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like. I really wish we could have stopped it from happening.”

“Well, it’s not like any of us knew how Shawn was going to retaliate when Victoria left him. We made the mistake of thinking he would come for her directly, when it’s clear that Shawn likes to play mind games,” Kurt admitted, glancing at Victoria as she sat again, her face becoming colorless as stared at her feet.

Heather knelt by Victoria and told her, “This isn’t your fault for getting away from him, okay?” She looked up at Kurt then. “Where are the others?”

Kurt jerked his head in the direction of the other room. “In the dining room.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll sort this out,” Heather consoled Victoria one final time, before standing again and crossing the room towards the dining area. As she neared, she could already hear the voices of the others as they passionately discussed what they should do, though they quietened as Heather entered. She looked around at the people sat around the table, Ashley, Chloe, Madison and Kendra, and asked, “Okay, so how do we stop Shawn?”

Ashley sighed. “That’s what we can’t decide.”

“That’s because there’s nothing we can do,” Madison argued, her temper flaring up again from the debate that had just ended. “We don’t know where Shawn is and we have no good way of finding him.”

“You,” Heather barked, looking at Kendra. “You’re bound to know something that can help.”

“I don’t. I already told Kurt everything yesterday, and even he agreed nothing was particularly actionable,” Kendra snapped back, leaning back and folding her arms. “He uses abandoned warehouses, but never the same one. You won’t find him, so the only option is to lure him out. He won’t come for me, he doesn’t care. The only thing he’ll stick his neck out for is Victoria…”

“And we’re not doing that,” Ashley finished the thought. “Did you see her? Zack’s mum was here and examined her. The mutism could last anywhere from days to decades, and could get worse if she’s unduly stressed out. We can’t ask her to be bait without breaking her completely.”

“Not to mention, it likely just wouldn’t work,” Madison noted, pouting as she begrudgingly gave Shawn a modicum of praise. “Shawn isn’t dumb, he isn’t just going to actually come for Victoria unless it was for real.”

“Madison’s right,” Kendra agreed. “It’d have to be genuine.”

“Ashley said she told the police about him, so really, we shouldn’t do anything,” Chloe reminded the other girls. “Let them find him and put an end to this.”

“Oh yeah, the same police who were knocking on my door this morning trying to talk,” Heather scoffed, taking a few uneasy steps along the length of the dining table. “She seems real competent.”

“Detective McClane spoke to you too? I bet you lawyered up as well,” Ashley said with a slight smirk before returning to the topic at hand. “At any rate, I don’t think we can simply wait on the police when Shawn could keep terrorizing her for only God knows how long. It’s better to be proactive.

“That’s all very well and good, if you can do it,” Kendra said abruptly. “But we can’t stop him without knowing where he is or where to find him, so our hands are tied.”

“So, we’re just supposed to sit around and wait for him to stick his head up and hope that next time offers better clues? Some one is bound to have a better idea than that,” Heather mused, as she looked around at the four other girls, all of them falling quiet at their inability to meet the challenge. “Grrrr,” Heather growled. “How is ‘waiting’ our best option?”

“There’s something else you need to know,” Ashley said, speaking tentatively. “About the video Gavin deleted.”

“What about it?” Heather’s eyes shifted to her blonde teammate, her irritation quickly solidifying as anger. “You told me last night that it was taken care of. That Hannah’s confession would be given into the police, which I know happened, because, again, they were at my house this morning asking questions about it.”

“Right, and we did delete all the videos in Hannah’s possession, but…” She hesitated, wishing she could Heather this when she was in a better mood. “Unfortunately, there was one copy of the video that Gavin wasn’t able to get, because it wasn’t synced.”

“So, Hannah hid an extra copy somewhere,” Heather concluded hastily. “Where is she now?”

“Gone,” Ashley confessed. “She ran away.”

“You mean you let her go,” Heather deduced furiously.

“It wasn’t Hannah,” Chloe half shouted, her voice tinged with bitterness. “She told us she had no idea about it, and she was being sincere. She told us there was someone else who had access to the computer. A hacker with the username ‘k3Y$Tr0kE’ set up the encryption.”

“Okay, then we need to find this ‘k3Y$Tr0kE’, whoever they are,” Heather suggested, bouncing from foot to foot restlessly. “If they took the video then they probably have some beef with my father and the company as well.”

“If they do, they haven’t made it known yet,” Ashley noted, and adding, “Gavin is currently looking into it. Hannah couldn’t remember the name of the girl who put her in touch with ‘k3Y$Tr0kE’, only that she had a very common last name and she’d won an award at Ravers Enterprises. Gavin said it sounded like Grace Smith, so he’s gone to talk to her this morning.”

“Alone?” Heather asked incredulously.

“Grace is the President of the Computer Club,” Madison reminded her. “How much trouble could he possibly be in?”