Lovely Girls(72)
Alex caved forward, her slight shoulders drooping and her face a sickly white. She nodded her head once. “I didn’t mean to,” she whispered. “I don’t know why I did. I hadn’t planned on it.”
“Of course you didn’t,” I said automatically. But my mind was racing. I wondered whether the video was on the USB stick I was holding in my hands, and I suddenly felt as sick as Alex looked. Daphne was a minor, so taking a video of her having sex might be considered child pornography. Was that what Alex had meant when she said that it would get her in trouble? “How did the video get leaked?”
“I made a mistake. A bad one.”
“Oh, no. Please tell me you didn’t text it to everyone.”
“No! God, I would never do that! But I gave it to Callie, and she was angry at Daphne for sleeping with the coach, so she sent it out to everyone.”
“Wait. Callie’s the one who texted the video to everyone at your school? Why would she do that? I thought she and Daphne were best friends,” I said. But then I remembered the chill between Ingrid and Emma at the last homecoming dance committee meeting I’d attended. Emma had mentioned the girls were fighting. At the time, I assumed it was normal teen drama. But there was nothing normal about Daphne having a sexual relationship with their adult tennis coach, nor Callie texting out a sexually explicit video of the two of them together to their classmates.
“I think Callie was in love with Coach Townsend,” Alex explained. “She didn’t tell me that. It’s just a guess. But I think I’m right.”
My head was swimming. “Was Callie having a relationship with Coach Townsend too?”
“I don’t think so,” Alex said. “I think that’s why she was so angry. Callie was in love with him, and Daphne knew. And that’s why Daphne pursued him, or at least, that’s what Callie thought. It was like the ultimate screw-you to Callie, you know?”
“Callie sent out the video in revenge?” I asked, my stomach curdling at the thought.
Alex nodded. “And the weird thing is she didn’t even seem to care that Coach is going to jail. It’s like she thought he deserved it. And not because he was having sex with a teenager. But because he’d chosen Daphne over her. Or, at least, that’s my theory. Callie didn’t exactly confide in me, and now . . .” Alex stopped and swallowed.
And now Callie was dead. And we would never truly know her motives.
“What else is on here?” I asked, waving the stick.
“You need to watch it and see for yourself,” Alex said.
I flinched. I hadn’t seen the video of Daphne and Coach Taylor, and I certainly didn’t want to. “Why?”
“Oh, no!” Alex suddenly flushed red. “I don’t mean the sex part.”
“Oh, thank God.”
“God, Mom!” Alex looked shocked.
“Well, I don’t know what else is on here!”
“There’s more. A lot more. Trust me.”
“How am I supposed to watch it? We don’t have a tablet or anything I can plug it into.”
“You can watch it on the TV,” Alex said. “There’s a port on the side.”
We both looked at the large flat-screen television. It had cost a fortune when we bought it years ago, but Ed had insisted that we get the most expensive model. He had said he needed a high-definition picture to watch and critique films of Alex’s tennis matches.
“Do you know how to do that?” I asked.
“Yep.” Alex took the USB stick over to the television and, after some fiddling, stepped back. “Where’s the remote?”
I handed it to her. “How do you even have this? I thought the police took everything.”
“It was in my backpack,” Alex said. “And the detective didn’t search it, he just asked for my electronics.”
“A USB stick doesn’t count as electronics?” I asked doubtfully.
“I don’t know. Maybe technically it does,” Alex admitted. “But I didn’t want to give it to him. There’s a lot of private stuff on here. And I thought they could figure out what really happened that night without it. I thought they’d talk to Daphne and Shae and, like you said, look at the doorbell cameras in their neighborhood or at the GPS data on their phones. I thought they could solve it without me. But I guess I don’t have a choice now. They’re going to have to see this.”
“I guess you’d better show me what’s on there,” I said.
Alex picked up the remote and clicked a few times until she got to a screen where she could access the USB drive. She glanced at me. “Ready?”
I nodded. “Go ahead.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
* * *
VIDEO DIARY OF ALEX TURNER
* * *
OCTOBER 13
Alex stood at the end of the boardwalk that led to the beach. She looked serious and resolute. There was a strong wind blowing up off the water, and it riffled her hair. Behind her, a full bright moon hung low in the sky.
Let me just check and make sure this is set to record at night and that the flashlight is off. Alex fumbled with her camera, causing her face to go off screen for a moment.