Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
I took them back, going through the ones he had left for me. One caught my attention. “This guy.
Raised by a single aunt. He was sent to the therapist because she was killed in a domestic violence situation. Sadly, the string of abusive partners could’ve started way before then. Maybe he was put through it too when he was sent to live with her.”
“There’s no maybe,” Jacques replied. “He came to school with bruises more than once.”
“Fuck’s sake,” I breathed, massaging my temple. “I could be holding Dante’s notes in my hands, but it’s still awful if years of bastards beating on him turned him into this. Monsters aren’t born, Jacques. They’re made.”
His eyes glazed out of focus. I could only imagine where that comment took him. But I didn’t ask, and he didn’t say.
“So, you think it’s possible he fell prey to Cavendish?”
“How is he connected to Cavendish?” I asked.
“Same way Blake Jensen was. The after-school program.”
“Shit, yes, then. Definitely. The kid likely signed up to delay the time he had to go home for as long as possible, and there’s Cavendish noticing the bruises, and seeing another victim to make his victim. After all that time feeling helpless, Scott swoops in and tells him the legacy of men who were behold to no one. They took what they wanted, and nothing could hurt them. He convinced this kid he’d get his power back by becoming the one people feared. Does he have friends or other family?”
“No family. I have seen him around campus with a group of guys, but some of us get good at leading a double life.”
I placed his sheet beside me—the start of my possibles pile. “Here’s another that got my attention. Why did you include her?” I asked, showing the page. “This says she wasn’t sent to the therapist because she went through something traumatic. She was there because she caused trauma.”
I read the page, putting “she” where Jacques blocked out the name. “Accounts say she was the ringleader of the hazing. It was her idea to force pledges to give blowjobs to members of the brother fraternity. It was also her idea to secretly film it and threaten to upload the videos to the internet if they didn’t go on to do more degrading acts to get into the sorority.
“Ugh,” I spat. “This person isn’t a socially isolated victim of bad self-esteem. It says right there that she was laughing during the sessions, and didn’t feel a lick of remorse. The only reason she wasn’t expelled is because they couldn’t prove she made those videos, and they didn’t end up on the internet either way. This girl is a grade-A bitch.”
He chuckled. “I don’t dispute that, but don’t you think that’s exactly what would draw her to Cavendish? And her to him? She gets off on pain, control, blackmail, and manipulation. Zoey laughed about the night they murdered your sister. Were the others enjoying themselves too?”
My throat tightened. “Yes,” I forced out. “They were definitely... enjoying themselves.”
“I figured I should include the ones who became monsters long before they met Cavendish.”
Saying nothing, I put her on the possibles pile. For the next hour and a half, we worked through the stack, discarding the unlikelys and discussing the possibles. By the end, we have nine students who could be running with Dante, or Dante himself.
“What will you do now?” Stretching, I slid off the bed and began gathering my things. “How will you confirm they’re in the Black Letter Crew?”
“I admit, it’d be easier if they sent their threats through texts or emails. Gave us something to trace. But I have ways of finding out what I need to know.”
“You’re trying to find the descendants of the Men of Honor too. Did you get in contact with Gold’s colleague?”
“I got an automatic email response saying Dr. Lopez was currently on sabbatical and would return my email at her earliest opportunity. That was weeks ago. Gold gave me her professional contacts. I need her personal email to get through to her.”
I paused in checking my books. “Are you sure we need her? She can’t be the only genealogist.”
“She’s the only one in Hunter’s Crest,” he said, swinging his desk chair. My attention drifted to his pants, and the thigh muscles bulging as he swayed side to side. I thought Jacques couldn’t deliver a punishment harsher than his belt. Then he discovered celibacy.
“I’ve been doing my own research, but Gold was right,” Jacques continued. “It’s slow, painstaking work. Work that a local genealogist might’ve done already.”
“Especially if she’s the one the Ellis family hired in the first place.”
“Exactly. Gold gave me the right recommendation. He just gave it at the wrong time.”
I found myself back on his bed. “Do we know where she’s doing her sabbatical?”
“Some remote town in Scotland. She works in HCC’s history department. Her fool of a teaching assistant didn’t remember the town she’s in, let alone where he put her contact information.”