There. My desk was put back together. Better double check and make sure nobody dribbled anything anywhere. Hmm. Couple little spots where Taylor didn't get her mouth in place on time. Some tissue, dab dab dab, aaaand good. Cleaned up. Very good. One thing down.Cassie yawned, the first sound she'd made since I'd pumped her full of Serenex. Somehow it made her look even less alert.Now, what else needs doing...Knock, knock, knock."Can's in the hallway! Testing!" I called once my heart started beating again."It's Candace and Louisa," came the reply.Cassie blinked. Sort of. One eye, then the other a second later. But that was about it.I let them in.Their expressions said they knew perfectly well what had transpired between me and the Stern sisters this afternoon. At least in terms of the carnal, that is. Not the other thing. Even so, their disapproval was apparent."Is she...?"I nodded. These two had never been around someone in a Serenex ingestion trance before, other than each o
"Yeah, Coach." Coach? Oh right, volleyball. I'd forgotten they were already close. No wonder she was pissed. Then again, she'd been the sweet giggly neighbor kid to me for years; amazing how fast goodwill dried up in the face of most of a year's salary in ransom demands. For Candy, though, it was a relief to be recognized. I wanted to assure her that she'd looked just as out of it and she'd come out fine, but I let her go on and learn for herself. "Did either of the Stern girls say anything unusual to you earlier this afternoon?" Cassie nodded. "Yeah." The ladies waited for her to go on, but she didn't. Isa came around, sparing a brief disgusted look for me. Like I was the one who'd made her blackmail me! Her attitude was beginning to annoy me. "What did they say? Cassie? What happened?" "Taylor invited me to use her chapstick. I thought it was kind of gross but I was afraid of her so I said yes. It wasted kinda bad, too. I was just glad she didn't start anything. I heard one time
I relaxed for the first twenty or thirty repetitions, anyway. I hadn't realized at first that Cassie's huge, loopy handwriting was taking a lot longer than it had the others. By the time she was nearing fifty, I decided that was good enough and told her to stop."Can't. Need to do a hundred," she murmured, continuing unabated.Isa and I shared an exasperated look, but I didn't push things. On some level it was a relief. Her minuscule defiance here wasn't confirmation that we couldn't plant contradictory commands in her, but that we'd told her to do something and then been unable to tell her to stop corroborated my suspicion at least. With that, we let her go. Even after the encounter with the Sterns and the conference beforehand, it was still only just past four. Cassie's predecessors had all needed several hours before waking up. Candy had needed over four. We simply needed to be patient. Everything was taken care of now; all that was left was to--My phone buzzed. Cassie was on line
We crossed Route 2. Just over a mile to go. Shit shit shit! What did I do now? I couldn't dose another woman. This was already approaching insanity. If I had a couple more hours, I might be able to use Cassie to talk her mother down, make her see reason. I didn't have hours, though. I had just over four minutes. Isa wouldn't be far behind. My pet policewoman wasn't going to be much help, though. She couldn't arrest Megan for blackmail without the blackmail coming out; if she didn't arrest her, there was no guarantee she wouldn't disseminate a backup of those pictures the moment she and Isa part company. I turned into my subdivision. There was no time for elaborate plans. Nothing left but that damned spray. Megan didn't know I was on to her. I'd go over, knock on the door, then spray her the moment it opened. Then one last no-secret-blabbing indoctrination, and that would be that. And this time, nothing more complicated like that shitshow at Starbucks. Megan scrunched down at my comm
There. My desk was put back together. Better double check and make sure nobody dribbled anything anywhere. Hmm. Couple little spots where Taylor didn't get her mouth in place on time. Some tissue, dab dab dab, aaaand good. Cleaned up. Very good. One thing down. Cassie yawned, the first sound she'd made since I'd pumped her full of Serenex. Somehow it made her look even less alert. Now, what else needs doing... Knock, knock, knock. "Can's in the hallway! Testing!" I called once my heart started beating again. "It's Candace and Louisa," came the reply. Cassie blinked. Sort of. One eye, then the other a second later. But that was about it. I let them in. Their expressions said they knew perfectly well what had transpired between me and the Stern sisters this afternoon. At least in terms of the carnal, that is. Not the other thing. Even so, their disapproval was apparent. "Is she...?" I nodded. These two had never been around someone in a Serenex ingestion trance before, other t
"Taylor invited me to use her chapstick. I thought it was kind of gross but I was afraid of her so I said yes. It wasted kinda bad, too. I was just glad she didn't start anything. I heard one time Taylor was drunk at a party at Maxine Wightman's house and she tried to kiss Ian only Ian was dating Anna so he said no, and she took someone's lighter and burned his arm." It was a small vindication that my suspicion that the chapstick would work and for pretty much that exact reason, though I'd expected her fear would be more social consequence than pyromania. Regardless, with the slow, dreamy way of talking Cassie had taken on, we'd be here all night if we didn't cut to the chase. Candy simply rolled her eyes and went on. "What about Abbie? Did she say anything weird to you?" "No, Coach." Both women turned to me, confused, but it caught me off-guard, too. Was it possible she hadn't heard somehow? "You didn't hear Abbie say anything?" I asked. Why was part of me disappointed? The feeli
She withdrew, and I was amazed at how much easier I could breathe. How could I be so frightened by someone who I knew for a certainty couldn't hurt me? I glared at her shapely backside as she made her way back to the far side of the room.Don't treat me like a pussy! I wanted to scream at her, except what could be more of a pussy thing to do than that?For the first time since I'd dosed her, I approached Cassie, pulling up a desk in front of her, seating us face to face. Her eyes were barely open. Had she fallen asleep? No, when I said her name, those soft green orbs slowly focused on me, a bit dazed and droopy, but focused nonetheless.After jotting down a few words on it myself, I slid a piece of paper across the desk, along with a pen. Inwardly I chuckled; my policy on lending students a pen was to take collateral to make sure I got them back, but I supposed I had reasonable assurances of its return. "Cassie, I want you to read the words I wrote on that paper and copy them a hundred
I tilted the rear view mirror down, but all I could see of her was one hip. The seats blocked the rest of her. "What do you mean, you didn't know before today? Cassie, remember, you have to tell me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We know you sent me those messages. We know you bought that prepaid phone. We know you took those pictures.""I... I don't... My mom pays for my phone. Me and Robby's. I didn't send you any messages or take any pictures of you.""Bullshit. Officer Barbour said it was your credit card that bought that phone.""It wasn't me. I swear."Despite the girl's deadpan words, my mind was on fire. Had Isa lied to me? Was she in on it?! Had I left some loophole, some way she could exploit the situation to--"My mom could have done that though. We both have a copy of the card. She made a big deal about telling me not to go near your house the other day."A car horn blared as I ran through a red light. If either of us had swerved a moment later, they