Page 91 of Devious Gambit

“Ben?”

“Benson Vanderbilt.” Benson Vanderbilt was a name I was unfamiliar with, but planned to Google him later.

“Is he a jock?”

She laughed. “No, definitely not a jock.”

“Do you know why they targeted you?”

“I have no idea.” She glanced off to the side. “Maybe it’s because I’m a wallflower, practically invisible. I know I’m not that pretty and-”

“-No, Becca, you misunderstand me. The police don’t seem to be getting anywhere and I’m eager to prevent more attacks, so I’m asking these questions hoping you’d say something that would strike a chord.”

“That’s why I feel terrible because I just didn’t see much, and if another attack was to take place…well…I’d feel so bad.”

“None of this is your fault, Becca. Please don’t feel guilty.”

“Yeah, but all I told the police was that they were big and strong, wore black and it was dark.” She paused to exhale.

“What about their voices? Did you recognize their voices?”

She cringed. “Sounded like robots.”

“Ick. That’s creepy.”

“There was one guy, the ringleader, who was calling the shots and told the other three to keep a lookout.”

“That would be Sweeney,” I assumed.

“No,” she shook her head of bouncy curls. “When you screamed ‘No’ two guys ran after you and the other two ran in the opposite direction across the field. The ringleader ran in the opposite direction. I told the police that too.”

I fell quiet analyzing what she was saying. The words ‘king in his castle and the dirty rascal’ circled in my mind like a hamster on a wheel. Round and round. The king in his castle was the ringleader and his dirty rascal was maybe was his sidekick or lackey. I thought about those big lugs in the Vault, Jace and his buddies. He’s got eleven dorm mates in that building, nine now Sweeney and Greene were gone, but I wondered which one would be a ringleader for devious activities such as a planned rape.

“You didn’t see them make the Bloodz sign?” I asked her.

She frowned. “The detective asked me that too. It happened so fast, yet it was in slow motion if that makes sense. They appeared from nowhere, grabbed me, pinned me down on the ground and ripped my jeans and panties off. Two guys held me down while one guy kept watch, the forth guy kneeled between my legs and then…you screamed out. They didn’t really get a chance to do any hand signals or take photos or anything else for that matter.”

I wasn’t particularly good at comforting people. I wasn’t a natural born hugger or knew how to touch someone in way to make them feel reassured. However, when I placed my cold hand over hers, tears came to her eyes and she grasped my hand as if it was only thing keeping her alive.

“Do your parents know about the attack?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “No way. I don’t want them to know about it.”

Just like I wouldn’t tell my mom about Greene and Sweeney attacking me. It’s easier not to. It’s easier to let them believe life was a field of summer flowers here in KV.

“Do you live on campus?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“I’ll walk you home when dinner is over, if you want me too.”

“I’d like that,” she answered.

I spent an hour staring at the wall of my apartment going over the conversation with Becca in my mind, comparing notes, searching desperately for a clue. The snow continued to fall heavily and the pipes were freezing over. My skin prickled from the cold even though the heater was on high and my fingers and toes were numb. After pulling my eyes away from the stark wall, I picked up the collage running my blue finger over Dante’s words On the first page of the chapter that is the day when I first met you…

I reached for my phone and replied to the only Merry Christmas message left unanswered.

Me: Merry Christmas to you too.

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