Symbiotic

Chapter Ten

The two girls sat, staring at each other, until Eve figured out how to make her mouth work again.

“What do you mean, it’s Chase?”

“You asked what all these girls have in common. It’s Chase. He’s dated all of them.”

“No way. He hasn’t dated Ness… Oh. Oh wait. Yes he did.” They had only been together for a week, and Eve had tried not to think about it afterwards due to the cognitive dissonance of her best friend dating someone she hated. But now that she thought about it, Vanessa and Chase had definitely dated for a very brief time.

“But what about the Bible quotes? Chase doesn’t exactly strike me as a God fearer.”

“He’s not, but he does own a Bible. We messed around with it once when we were hanging out. Is it that unlikely that he could’ve looked these up?”

“I mean… I guess…”

“And whoever killed them has to have known them on some kind of personal level. I mean, look at this quote. It’s personal. It’s not just some vague commentary about sin.”

“Christ, I think you might be right. His dad’s a lawyer, so he probably knows how to get away with this crap. And then there’s the photos… Rox. You saw the photos, right?”

“A couple of them. Why?”

“Did you happen to see if he had photos of the victims?”

“I mean, he did date all of them. Wouldn’t it be weirder if he didn’t?”

“You know what I mean. Creepy photos.”

“Oh. Oh damn. Come to think of it, he totally had one of Renee. It was the one right before the one of you. I didn’t see if he had any of Vanessa or Blair, though.”

Eve’s hands slammed onto her thighs. “Well that’s it, then. We need the police to see that phone.”

“Shouldn’t we get it off him first? What if we’re wrong?”

“They won’t take it from us. Illegally obtained evidence can’t be used in a case. Going through someone’s social media, using evidence from the crime scene… That’s different to actually stealing.”

“How? I mean, we’ve broken the law a few times. So by that logic, a lot of the evidence we have is unusable.”

“Except it’s not, because the cops would have to prove we got it illegally. That’s not the same as going ‘hey, we stole this dude’s phone. Take a look at it.’ Besides, the last thing we want is for them to accuse us of falsely implanting evidence. It’s not exactly unheard of for teenagers to pull that kind of crap.”

“You have a point,” Roxie sighed, resting her chin in her hands. “So we need the police to confiscate it directly from him. How do we convince them it’s worth looking into?”

“I guess we talk to them. Accuse him. My Mom and Dad said they were going to bring the whole photo thing up with them. So if they actually follow through, and then we accuse him of a crime, surely that’s enough evidence for them to at least look. If there’s a link to the murders, it won’t take long for him to be named as a suspect.”

“So, what? We just take a backseat to all this? Hand it over to the police and go about our normal lives?”

“Nope. We keep looking into this ourselves. We still don’t know what’s on there, remember. We barely have probable cause right now, let alone a smoking gun. We’re not done here.”

“Good,” Roxie purred, as she ran her hand across Eve’s leg, “I don’t think I want to be done with you yet.”

Eve shoved her. “Easy, tiger. There’s time for that later.”

The next afternoon, the two girls tried to avoid strange glances from the people around them as they leaned against the wall catching their breath. Eve chuckled, holding her stomach.

“Ok, we probably should have checked what time the police station closes before deciding it was a good idea to go after school. I’m pretty sure the secretary thought our lives were in danger.”

“Oh quit whining, we made it!”

“Yeah, barely. I don’t think I’ve done that much exercise since… ever…”

Roxie slapped her on the back, damn near making her fall. “It’s good for you! You should join my soccer team. You’d get fit in no time.”

Eve straightened her posture, finally able to slow her breathing back to normal rates. “Yeah, I think I’ll have to pass. I don’t really do activities that make you sweat.”

Roxie shook her head. “Wasn’t I supposed to be the high maintenance one?”

“Aha, little did you know.”

A police officer approached them, and they made a concentrated effort to not look quite so disheveled.

“You’re the two girls who had a report to make, right? Come with me.”

Roxie’s hand closed around Eve’s, tighter than she would have liked. They followed the man down a narrow hallway, to a door about a minute’s walk away. He held it open for them as they entered.

Eve had been expecting to see something along the lines of a stereotypical interrogation room. A double sided mirror, a cold and unfeeling atmosphere. Maybe a couple of harsh lights to point in their faces. But the room before her looked nothing like that. It was warm, and inviting, and the walls looked completely normal with nary a mirror in sight. The chairs he gestured for them to sit in were still uncomfortable and stiff, but she’d take it. She glanced over at Roxie, who while still fairly tense, was definitely calmer than she had been a few minutes ago. The officer took a seat across from them.

“Alright ladies, I’m Officer Caulson. It’s nice to meet you two.”

The girls introduced themselves, shaking his hand in turn. He addressed them with a somber expression and a notepad at the ready.

“What did you want to report, exactly?”

“We have significant reason to believe that a student at our school is taking pornographic photos without consent.”

“Now girls, I’m sure you realise how serious this accusations are?”

“Of course we do,” Roxie insisted. “I used to be… on good terms with this student. I wouldn’t be accusing him of a crime like this without a good reason.”

“And what is this good reason?”

Roxie fell silent, giving Eve an uncomfortable look. Eve rolled her eyes and leaned forward.

“We saw them on his phone. One of the photos was of me, and I promise I did not consent to it being taken.”

He started scribbling on the notepad. “Ok. So you’re one of the victims, is that right?”

She nodded.

“And if it’s ok with you, would you mind describing the photograph you saw?”

Eve flushed, but gave a brief description of the offending photo. Roxie’s hand sat on her knee the entire time, giving her strength.

The officer continued scribbling. His face bore an impassive expression, but one that seemed more born out of respect and professionalism than boredom. He asked if the girls had taken any action with their school, at which point they detailed the incident that had taken place. Roxie conveniently ‘forgot’ about the part where Eve had physically assaulted Chase; Eve, chagrined, added it back in for the sake of honesty. After all, she knew that if Chase were to be arrested his first words would be to accuse her. It was better for them to hear it from her first.

“Wait, so you punched him?”

“Yes, Sir. I have already faced consequences for it, and I do regret it.”

“Well, since it’s already being addressed by the school and they haven’t filed any official assault charges, I suppose I can let that slide.”

He continued to write down a few more details regarding the incident, waiting to make sure they had finished before speaking again.

“So here’s the issue, girls. I can ask him for his phone, but he doesn’t have to give it to me unless I have a warrant. What I can do is try to get a warrant.”

“How do you do that?”

“I need to have probable cause. Basically, I need a good reason to believe he committed the crime you’re accusing him of. I also have to be able to convince my superiors that he might have done it. Luckily, you’re not the only ones to report this. There was an older couple who came in the other day and reported a similar event. It’s possible that I could even get a statement from the school principal, since this is an issue that was addressed with him and you did mention that the accused was behaving suspiciously around him. The fact that you did attempt to address this with the school does help your case, as well. It shows that you’re not reporting this to police out of the blue. You tried talking to the school, they found they couldn’t really do much, so now you’re talking to us.

“So it looks good for a warrant at the moment. After that, we’ll have the authority to officially confiscate Mr Bancroft’s mobile device, and we will be able to search it for the photographs in question.”

“What if he deleted them? I’d consider that more than likely, since he’s now aware that someone knows he has them.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. We have the necessary equipment here to check his deleted material. Nothing is ever permanently deleted from a device. I would advise that you remember that, if you ever plan on committing a crime,” he joked.

“Ok. And if you find the photos?”

“If we do find the material in question, Mr Bancroft will be in quite a bit of trouble. The behaviours you’ve described today are definitely illegal. There could even be grounds here to accuse him of stalking. So rest assured, I plan to look into this as fast as possible for you.”

The girls thanked him profusely, gave and signed official statements, and were then directed back into the foyer. As the door swung closed behind them the station’s lights finally started to dim, signalling that it had closed. Roxie turned to Eve with a worried expression.

“What do we do if he can’t get a warrant?”

Eve’s nose scrunched up. “I don’t see why he wouldn’t. After all, he has a lot of evidence to work with, and we can count on my parents backing us up.”

“Really? But they didn’t see the photos, right?”

“No, but they’re totally paranoid. Especially Mom. And I’m their precious little angel. They’ll back me up if it means keeping a potential creeper away from their daughter. The police should have more than enough to justify searching his phone, and that’s the hard part over. It’ll take a few days, though.”

“A few days?! Are you kidding me?”

“Well yeah, anything that involves official paperwork takes time. Why are you so worried about it?”

“What if Renee’s dead by then?”

“Come on, it took at least a week for the other victims to die. She has time, Rox.”

“I guess you’re right…”

Roxie rubbed her arms. “It’s weird, you know?”

Eve leaned back, resting one of her feet against the wall. “Being at school with him, you mean?”

“Well, yes and no. Being at school without him, more accurately. We’ve been friends as long as I can remember. We helped each other with our steps, our first words, our first day at school. This is the first time I’ve ever not had him to rely on.”

“Must be hard,” Eve murmured. “I guess there’s not much you can do, except avoid him as much as possible.”

“Easier said than done when you share the same group of friends.”

“So hang out with me instead.”

Roxie’s eyes widened. “Uh, yeah. Maybe.” Picking up on the dismissal in her voice, Eve looked over.

“Something wrong with that? I thought we were a thing now.”

“We- we are a thing now! It’s just…”

“It’s just what?”

She shook her head, playing with her braids. “It’s nothing. We’ll see, ok?”

Eve’s lips pursed, but she voiced no active discontent. Instead she just nodded and stepped forwards off the wall.

“Well, I should get home. My parents are already going to be pissed.”

“Didn’t you say we should keep going over the evidence, though?”

“Yeah, but later. I seriously have to go. I’ll see you… when I see you, I guess.”

Roxie looked away, sensing the tension in Eve’s posture. She knew she had to be frustrated about the situation, and she was right to be.

“Yeah, we’ll work something out. See you.”

Eve had mostly been lying about her parents being upset when she got home. She certainly hadn’t been expecting what she ended up coming face to face with – the second she stepped inside her home, her mother was there. In place of the warm, patient expression that Mrs Verbeck was usually known for was an almost violent aggression.

“Whoa. Everything ok, Mom?”

“Where. Have. You. Been?”

“Oh come on. I wasn’t that late, was I?” Her eyes flickered to the clock, and she flinched.

It was that late. She hadn’t realised she had spent that long at the station.

Guess time must fly when you’re reporting crimes.

Her mother was still glaring at her, tapping her foot. “And where exactly were you this whole time?”

Eve’s head felt light. She swallowed, trying to lubricate her throat, but it remained as dry as a desert. She already knew her parents wouldn’t be happy if they found out she had gone to the police by herself, especially since they had already told her they would handle the situation. But not one excuse was coming to her mind that would save her from having to reveal the truth.

In that moment though, Eve truly did believe that a God existed. Because her father could not have chosen a better moment to take mercy on her.

“Calm down, Louise. We know that she’s alright now, isn’t that all that matters?”

“What are you talking about? She’s never been out this late before! Aren’t you going to back me up?”

He appeared in the doorway with a tired expression.

“Yes, but she’s eighteen. She’s hardly a child. Maybe you should get a mobile phone so that she can actually text you, instead of having to organise everything ahead of time, and then this won’t be a problem.”

Eve stayed where she was, unsure how to react to this situation. She had never even seen her parents disagree, let alone fight like this.

“You know I don’t like phones, Steven. Those things are so expensive, and the news the other day said they cause cancer!”

As the adults continued to argue, Eve took a single step backwards and waited. Neither of them made any attempt to reprimand her, or indeed seemed to notice at all. She took another step. When this elicited the same lack of response, she turned tail and ran upstairs to her bedroom.

Sliding the door shut with as little noise as she could manage, she leaned back against it and waited for her heart to slow down. She wasn’t sure what had just happened, but she didn’t like it. In her short time on this Earth, she had lived with one single constant. No matter what happened, what other parts of her life went to Hell, her home would always be a sanctuary of relative peace. Today it was if a bomb had exploded, and that fragile sanctuary had been violated. There was no assurance left that she had somewhere safe to return to, not now.

Standing against her door, Eve had almost perfect view of the endlessly evolving art final she had been working on. She realised with a jolt that the pounding of her heart, the crippling chill running down her back, was an opportunity she might not have again for a while.

Mixing some paints together and finding an empty space on the canvas, she painted her frustrations onto the unfinished artwork. The voices of her parents arguing continued long into the night, past the time when Eve’s inspiration finally ran dry and she collapsed onto her bean bag, falling asleep not long afterwards.

Several days passed in a blur, with little to no progress in any area of her life. Her work on her art had ceased, and her meetings with Roxie had become… unproductive, to say the least. Increasingly, the coveted police reports that Roxie had printed from her mother’s computer were forgotten by the wayside in favour of other pursuits. Eve couldn’t say that she didn’t feel a pang of guilt every time she thought of Renee, and how little they were doing to save her. But as each day passed she also become more and more convinced that the police would have the situation under control before long. After all, they would surely have the warrant for Chase’s phone by now. It couldn’t be more than another day before they would confiscate it.

She didn’t even want to think about the idea that Chase wasn’t the murderer. Losing their first lead had damaged the case enough, and they were running out of options. Losing their second suspect would be catastrophic.

Eve’s theories regarding the search warrant were confirmed that Friday, but in the worst way she could have possibly imagined. Almost ten minutes into lunch, after being absent for the whole day, Chase Bancroft lurched into school.

She was lucky enough to get a good look at him before he noticed her; otherwise, she didn’t want to think about what could have happened. His face was twisted in a way she had never witnessed, not even in the boy’s angriest moments. His posture was broken and slumped, almost as if he was drunk. The moment Eve laid eyes on him, something responded deep in her gut and all her fears manifested in one word that echoed inside her brain.

Unhinged.

Moving like a marionette, she travelled to the other side of the cafeteria where she knew Roxie would be standing with her friends.

Mute, without fear for the reactions of the students around her, Eve forced her hand to close around Roxie’s arm and pulled her firmly away from the crowd. Roxie yelped, but made no move to pull away.

“Hey, what the hell! Eve, are you serious right now?”

Eve glanced behind her, but was too stricken to speak. She didn’t know why, but everything inside her was screaming at her to run, get away, leave. And if her internal alarms were going off this loudly, she refused to leave Roxie behind in whatever mess Chase planned to create.

They turned a corner, with Roxie becoming increasingly distressed at Eve’s silence. She had gone from annoyance to asking, in quiet and genuine tones of concern, whether Eve was ok. Finally, she rooted her feet to the ground and yanked Eve to a stop.

Eve panicked, trying to keep Roxie moving. She knew that the athletic girl was stronger than her and could easily hold her in place. She also knew that she couldn’t afford that right now. Roxie grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly, bending down to eye level.

“Hey. Come on art freak, talk to me. What’s wrong? Eve?”

Eve shook her head, her breath shuddering. She couldn’t explain, not properly. Not the terror that was rushing through her veins, urging her onwards.

“Eve, you’re scaring me.”

“Well, well, well. I honestly just came here to get the art nerd, for going to the police about those photos. But this is so much more interesting!”

Eve’s head flew up at the sound of Chase’s voice. He had a sick smile on his face that betrayed no humour. He was standing at the end of the hallway, effectively trapping them. Roxie’s hands tightened on Eve, as she too looked up at the sound of her childhood friend’s voice.

For a split second, her face was sheer panic given human form. Then, it collapsed in pain. Then, she regained control. Taking a step forward, seemingly sensing the same danger as Eve, she placed her athletic frame staunchly between the two.

“What, Chase? What do you want?”

Students started to gather around them, likely hoping for another fight. A couple of the older kids seemed to sense the danger in the air, and hung back. Chase gave a hollow laugh.

“So this is what you were lying to me about this whole time, Roxie? You’re with this freak?”

“So? I don’t see why that matters to you.”

“Oh, it f*****g matters.”

“Why? We broke up, asshole! I couldn’t give less of a s**t if you dropped off the goddamn planet.”

“Except we hadn’t broken up yet when you first started hanging out with her, had we? And I would be very, very careful who you call an asshole, bitch.” At this, he pulled something out of his pocket.

Roxie’s brain shut down. It simply refused to put a name to the shiny silver object in Chase’s hand. Because if the weapon had a name, it became real. And this couldn’t be real. It wasn’t happening. She was imagining it.

Except how could she be, when Eve had become as still behind her as one of the Gorgon’s victims? And when several students had just screamed at ear splitting volumes, flinging themselves to the ground?

Chase waved the gun – god, was she really going to say it – around, making everyone flinch.

“Nobody move, you hear me? This is- this is a stick up,” he said, cackling at his own sick joke. Every single body in the room went still. Except, that was, for one. Behind Chase’s back, where he couldn’t see them, Roxie saw one student from her maths class start inching towards the door.

Locking eyes with Chase, she spoke in a loud, clear tone.

“Ok, you want the truth? Eve and I are together. We were together the whole time.”

“I knew it. I knew you were a cheating w***e. Why?”

The maths student stopped for a few seconds, throwing her a confused look. Then, seemingly realising her plan, they started moving again.

“Well, it was never really a competition. Eve’s so much better than you in every way.”

Several kids gasped at her brazen statement. One of her friends reached an arm out as if to grab her, but was both too far away to reach and too terrified to move. Chase pointed the gun at them, and they started sobbing.

Roxie ignored all of them and kept talking.

“I mean come on. What kind of sad loser gets so desperate they have to take photos of girls without asking? Did I take too long to put out for you, kid? Dry spell too much to handle?”

The maths student successfully slipped out the door. Roxie could only hope that he was going to get help, and not just running to save his own skin. If she had miscalculated, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t make it out of this alive.

Chase’s face darkened. “What did you just say? Who was always there for you, ever since we were kids? Who supported you through every breakup, every exam, every trial you have ever faced? I loved you, and I gave you up time and time again for every dude or chick who so much as looked at you!”

He continued to wave the gun around erratically as he spoke. Thus far he had made no actual move to attack anyone with it, but Roxie didn’t really want to take the chance that he would.

If anyone gets shot today, please let it be me. Don’t let anyone else get hurt.

She felt Eve shift behind her, and clamped both hands down on her wrists so hard that she knew it had to hurt. She didn’t care. She knew exactly what Eve was thinking, and she wouldn’t allow it.

“Oh please. You loved me? If you ever loved me, you wouldn’t be waving a gun in my face right now! You would have made a move on me before I ever dated any of those other people! You never loved me, you wanted me. And now you’re pissed, because I caught on to your games and you can’t have me. Maybe you should have thought of that before you threw me away for your shady porn stash!”

He called her a very inappropriate name, making her jaw drop.

It was the first time someone had openly called her that, though it had been ‘jokingly’ insinuated in the past. She had to say, she was none too pleased with this new experience. Clearly she wasn’t the only one; Eve started fighting to escape her hold, and she tightened her grip.

Easy, art freak. The guy still has a gun.

“Whoa. Ok. I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that. Because that is seriously not cool, dude.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m the one in control here! I could kill you right now! I bet no one would even miss you. So I’ll call you whatever the Hell I want, and you’ll like it!”

“Oh my god, stop posturing and just do it!”

“What?”

“You’re standing there, waving that thing around like you’re some big man! You’re standing here threatening me, and for what? Do you really think you can force me to love you at gun point? Because I promise you, that’s not how this goes down. So f*****g shoot me, if that’s your plan b here! Prove how much I’ve always mattered to you, why don’t you!”

He pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger. An explosion rocked her ears, making the world around her ring like a bell. She closed her eyes, tried not to be afraid, and waited for the pain of the impact.

She felt an impact, alright. But it was less the impact of metal crushing through her ribs and organs that she’d been expecting, and more the impact of her body hitting the floor. A weight fell on top of her, pinning her in place, and something warm and sticky dripped onto her.

Opening her eyes, Roxie waited. She was in shock. She had to be. Surely she would feel the pain in a few seconds. She watched as Chase stepped back in shock, dropping the gun as if it, and not he, was responsible for what had just happened. The second the weapon hit the floor all Hell broke loose. Several boys – the ones who had caught Chase the previous week, after Eve had punched him – wrestled him to the ground and held him there. One of Roxie’s friends valiantly dashed forwards and kicked the gun away with perhaps an excessive amount of force.

The pain still didn’t come. The oppressive weight remained on top of her, getting steadily heavier – and Roxie finally realised, after a few more seconds, that it was breathing.

“That you, art freak?”

Eve chuckled, right next to her still ringing ear. Roxie would admit that her hearing wasn’t the best right now, but even she could tell that her girlfriend’s voice was rougher than usual, and her breathing just a little ragged.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

The steady drip continued. The smell of smoke started to be replaced with another scent; heavy, metallic, and sickly.

Roxie’s addled mind finally put two and two together.

“Oh my god!” She threw Eve off her, only to leap to a sitting position and pull her close again. She looked for the tell-tale bloom of red on her lover’s chest, her stomach, her shoulder… only to find nothing.

Noting her fear, Eve held up her right arm with her left. It was then that Roxie noticed the bloodstain that covered Eve’s entire forearm, the pallor of her skin and the pained smile that graced her lips.

“s**t, Eve! What the Hell?!”

Eve shrugged, wincing at the action. “It was my arm or your face. I think I know which one I’d rather; after all, you put so much effort into your makeup today.”

She yelped as Roxie grabbed her injured arm and pulled it close.

“Ow, s**t, be careful!”

Roxie ignored her, ripping off her own jacket and wrapping it tightly over the injury. She kept her hand over the wound, pressing down hard.

“You gotta apply pressure! They say that in all the movies! You could bleed to death!”

“I’m not gonna bleed to death from a bullet in my arm,” Eve grumbled. But she made no effort to pull her arm away.

Several people approached, yelling about something or other. The two girls remained huddled together on the floor, seeing only each other through the endless chaos.