Chapter 4

Cam sat with her head on her knees. She wanted a time machine to deliver her 2 weeks and 1 day into the past, to deliver her from this unholy misery. She’d never seen Sean so angry before. He hadn’t spoken a word to her since slamming his door shut this afternoon. She’d made a mess of everything, like she always did.

Her iPhone pinged. Looking down at the bed, she started and took a sharp intake of breath: it was Sean.

“I have a confession to make. I still have the encrypted archive on my phone. I never looked at the pics. I’ve wanted to every day, but I haven’t, yet. I’d like your permission to open it up and look at your pics. Can I?”

Cam put her hands over her mouth. Holy crap, she thought. He’s asking my permission? Her phone pinged again.

“I told our friend that you were upset that he sent the 2nd card. He said not to worry about it. He’s so rich, he could buy our whole block so that we could go house to house every day, deciding where to sleep. He has more money that brains, he said.

We actually had quite a long conversation about you and me and him tonight. He’s 70 years old, white, a retired rancher, and lives in Wyoming. He happened across your Facebook photos and took a liking to you. You were only 14 at the time, so he waited until you were 15 to contact me. His email actually came the night before, like I told you on your birthday, but he wanted photos of his birthday girl, on her birthday. He was stunned when you said yes. He expected you’d blow him off. He said you’re the youngest girl he’s ever approached, and though he’s really good at not getting caught, he worried about you. He’s doubled down on security since I sent the photos. He wants your word that you won’t give him up. I told him you wouldn’t. You won’t, right?”

Peeved, muttering indignantly, she responded: “Of course not! I took his stupid money, remember? I ain’t no snitch!”

Immediately after hitting send, she composed another text. “What did you say about me?”

She heard him snicker across the hall and retaliated with: “I don’t give permission to open that archive. Piss off, A-hole!”

Disgusted, she threw the phone on her bed and grabbed two handfuls of hair. 70 years old? Fucking Wyoming? How did he find her Facebook page in the first place? She was anal about friending anyone she didn’t know. He had to be a friend of a friend. Or a friend of a friend of a friend. She shoulda never joined Facebook in the first place. None of her friends did. Facebook was lame-o as shit!

Her phone pinged again. His text read: “You interested in talking to him? He’s not asking for any pics.”

Cam gasped, horrified. “Are you kidding!” she fired back. “Leave me the F alone!”

Turning her phone off, she tossed it on her nightstand and lay down, wrenching the covers up to her chin. Talk to the fucker? Was he fucking crazy? She jumped when Sean tapped lightly on her door. “Go away!” she hissed.

“Let me in. I got something to tell you. It’s not anything I want in a text message.”

She told him to fuck off again, and then shot upright as her door opened, and he slipped inside. “Sean!”

He put a finger to his lips. “This is important, shush.” Listening at the door a moment, a crossed to the bed, and sat lightly on the edge. Outraged, she tried to shove him off, but he grabbed her hand and hissed angrily: “Listen to me! He said you have a hidden camera in your locker room at school, and another one in the shower room. He says they’ve been active since at least late August. He found them after seeing that report on the hidden cameras in that Catholic girl’s high school in New Jersey. The cameras live streamed to a computer in one of the offices at school. He’s not sure whose it is. He thinks it was stolen. It’s only purpose is to record videos of you girls.” He paused, looking chagrined. “He found you dozens of times, Cam, dressing and undressing and completely naked in the shower room. Hundreds of girls are recorded on that machine. Every girl that takes gym. Every grade, every girl.”

Cam stared at him, horrified. “Every girl in school?”

“Every girl that takes Gym.” He shrugged. “I don’t guess every one takes a shower afterwards, but I guess you do, huh.”

She nodded, dumbstruck. “You didn’t... ?”

He shook his head. “He didn’t offer, I didn’t ask. He disabled the cameras and wiped the hard disk remotely, but he couldn’t tell if anyone had copied the files, or how many people might have seen them.” He gazed at her solemnly. “He left them a message that reactivating either camera would result in an anonymous call to the police.”

Cam swallowed with difficulty. “How long...” She swallowed again. “How long ago did he find them?”

“Two nights ago. He copied the entire folder to his disk before erasing the other machine. He enjoyed watching you in particular, he said, and plans to watch every single video of you, multiple times. He’d never imagined seeing so much underage flesh in his wildest dreams. It’ll take him a month to go through it all, he said.” He grinned, ruefully. “You’re his favorite 15-year-old, hands down.”

Cam gulped painfully. It made her head spin, wondering how many girls the clandestine cameras had captured in three and a half months. How many times was she captured nude? She almost always showered after gym; she hated spending half the day worried she might stink.

“Do you think he... ?” She shook her head in denial, coloring deep red.

Sean laughed softly. “I certainly would.” He grinned at both the admission, and her wincing reaction. “I can’t imagine, you know. Hundreds of high school girls?” His grin widened. “He said the cameras were high end models too, the video 4K HD. Someone made sure he’d get really great video of you all.” He laughed at her horrified expression. “Now you know why I didn’t want to spell it out in a text.” He pinched her cheek playfully, laughing as she slapped at his hand.