Teaching Her a Lesson Pt. 08

What assurances do I have that those pictures will get deleted? I typed slowly, reasoning Cassie's ally would see I was replying and thus not do anything rash in the midst of it. Plus, avoiding answering their question could drag it out a little longer. My students had taught me this tactic well.

Eighty-nine.

NONE BUT YOU HAVE MY WORD

YOU TRYING TO BACK OUT? I CAN SEND THEM TO THE WIDE WORLD BEFORE YOU CAN BLINK BUDDY

Ninety-one.

My fingers wanted to sprint, but I kept them on a tight leash.I'm not backing out of anything. You're getting your money.

Ninety-two.

GOOD

I WANT YOU TO LEAVE THE MONEY ON YOUR BACK POUCH

*PORCH

A blackmailer who couldn't bother to proofread before hitting send. Karmic justice for a wayward English teacher, I supposed.

THEN I WANT YOU TO GET IN YOUR CAR AND TEXT ME

ILL TELL YOU WHERE TO DRIVE

WHEN YOU GET THERE, SEND ME A PIC SO I KNOW

Ninety-four. Hurry the hell up, Cassie!

That's fine, but... how do you know I won't have someone else watching?

DO YOU???????????

I rolled my eyes.Of course not, but obviously someone who did wouldn't tell you they did.Good god, did Cassie and her little friend not even google "blackmail" before they dove into this?

YOU BETTER NOT!!!!!!!!!!

Ninety-six. I silently cursed her third-grade teacher for cursive lessons so heavily over-prioritized form over efficiency. Isa was reading over my shoulder, though I credited her with looking a good deal more serene than I felt.

I don't, I promise. But I'm at work now, and I have a few things I need to finish up. It might be an hour or more before I can get home.

LEAVE NOW

IT TAKES TEN MINUTES TO GET HOME

ILL GIVE YOU FIFTEEN TO SEND ME A PIC OF YOUR GARAGE DOOR SO I KNOW YOUR THEIR

Ow. Just... OW. I looked over.

Ninety-nine.

omw. There was nothing else to say.

The pen clicked as she set it on the desktop. "Done, Mr. Canon." She even handed me my pen back.

Officer Barbour escorted Cassie to the lot, practically pushing her to keep her moving. I went on ahead, and when the officer judged it clear, we stuffed Cassie in my backseat, lying on her side, and I got the hell out of there. Isa was going to follow behind as a just in case; she'd wanted to ride with us, but I insisted we were taking enough of a risk with me and Cassie without adding even more potential questions with her presence.

There was no time to waste. Traffic this time of day wasn't helping, either, so I steered down side streets, skipping stop signs wherever it was safe. Meanwhile, it was finally time to interrogate this little bitch about how much blabbing she'd done.

"Cassie? Are you listening?"

"Yep, Mr. C," came a voice muffled by the seats.

"Good. Now Cassie, you need to be completely honest with me. Understand? Tell me the complete and total truth, no mat--" I caught myself, proud I still had some small amount of my wits functioning in spite of everything. "The complete and total truth, so long as it's only me and the other people who know my secrets." A list that was already too long for my liking by far. "Do you understand?"

"Yeah." She didn't elaborate, but with nine minutes to make it home, I didn't have time to waste on repetitions.

"Good. Now tell me, Cassie. Who else did you tell about me and Abbie?"

"Miss Salata, and Officer Barbour."

"What?" Oh right, when I'd had them question her. "No,beforetoday!"

"It only happened today, Mr. Canon."

I tilted the rear view mirror down, but all I could see of her was one hip. The seats blocked the rest of her. "What do you mean, you didn't know before today? Cassie, remember, you have to tell me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We know you sent me those messages. We know you bought that prepaid phone. We know you took those pictures."

"I... I don't... My mom pays for my phone. Me and Robby's. I didn't send you any messages or take any pictures of you."

"Bullshit. Officer Barbour said it wasyour credit card that bought that phone."

"It wasn't me. I swear."

Despite the girl's deadpan words, my mind was on fire. Had Isa lied to me? Was she in on it?! Had I left some loophole, some way she could exploit the situation to--

"My mom could have done that though. We both have a copy of the card. She made a big deal about telling me not to go near your house the other day."

A car horn blared as I ran through a red light. If either of us had swerved a moment later, they would have T-boned me, right there by where Cassie's head was resting on the seat. The girl didn't so much as sit up, just squeaked when her head banged against the car door.

We'd gotten the wrong person. Fuck me, we'd gotten the wrong person!

Detail after detail clicked into place. The atrocious grammar -- classic Megan. All caps? It had been a couple years since I'd hidden her on facebook for screaming in her posts, but that was her all right. I'd long known she wasn't an especially bright woman, but I gave her a pass the same as she did for my intellectual snobbery. And the money! Of course, the money! A daughter hoping to go to college in the fall, and things had always been tight for them thanks to her deadbeat ex-husband. Must be tighter than I'd realized -- or maybe Megan was simply a greedy bitch.

I slowed a hair through the next intersection, this time avoiding a brush with death. It didn't sting any less that it was Megan Brown and not her daughter Cassie. Only... "So why did you admit to it before I dosed you, Cassie?!"

"I didn't."

"Yes you did! I asked you why you were trying to steal from me, and you said you thought you were doing the right thing? Ringing any bells?"

"I thought you were mad about the coupon books for the volleyball fundraiser."

"But you said you were going to use my money to send you and your brother college!"

"There's a scholarship for the girl who sells the most. And if I go to college, I can get a good job and help my brother go, too."

Dear god. Any other time it would have been touching. Right now, it made me want to scream.

We crossed Route 2. Just over a mile to go. Shit shit shit! What did I do now? I couldn't doseanother woman. This was already approaching insanity. If I had a couple more hours, I might be able to use Cassie to talk her mother down, make her see reason. I didn't have hours, though. I had just over four minutes. Isa wouldn't be far behind. My pet policewoman wasn't going to be much help, though. She couldn't arrest Megan for blackmail without the blackmail coming out; if she didn't arrest her, there was no guarantee she wouldn't disseminate a backup of those pictures the moment she and Isa part company.

I turned into my subdivision. There was no time for elaborate plans. Nothing left but that damned spray. Megan didn't know I was on to her. I'd go over, knock on the door, then spray her the moment it opened. Then one last no-secret-blabbing indoctrination, and that would be that. And this time, nothing more complicated like that shitshow at Starbucks.

Megan scrunched down at my command. For good measure, I tossed my jacket over her back. We pulled into the driveway with less than a minute to spare. Once the car was parked, I snapped a picture of the garage door and sent it to the offending phone number.

I'm here.

Her response came so quickly that it had to have been pre-typed.GOOD. SET THE MONEY ON THE BACK PORCH THEN GET BACK IN YOUR CAR AND GO

Suddenly I realized my plan had been stupid. Megan was in all probability watching us right now. If she saw me get out of the car and start towards her house, she could get paranoid -- rightly so -- and she could pull the trigger before I had my shot. Dammit! What did I do? If I'd taken up the ladies on their offer to front the cash, I could have at least passed it along and bought some time. As things stood, though--

DO IT NOW

No doubt about it. I was being watched. And Megan was impatient.

The garage door creaked and groaned open, and I pulled in. "Come with me, Cassie." Luckily there were no windows in here, and it was adjoined to the house. Her mother wouldn't see I had her daughter with me. That was imperative now.

Not knowing what else to do, I grabbed my gym bag and started filling it with books from the shelf in my office. How big was $25,000? I had no idea. But I doubted Megan knew either. Meanwhile, I was conveying instructions to her daughter as quickly as I could while still watching my phrasing to keep from further warping this apparently innocent girl's mind.

I had no idea if this was going to work, but it was all I had.

"All right Cassie. I'm going to put this bag on the back porch, and then leave. I want you to stand by the back door. In a few minutes, someone is going to come over and take the bag. When they do, I want you to take this..." I put the Serenex in her hand. Oh god, what was I doing?! This girl shouldn't have a weapon like this in hand if she were in full command of her faculties, much less...! "Then I want you to open the door and spray this into her mouth. Cassie? Ithas to be into their mouth. Keep spraying at them until you get some in there. Do you understand?"

"I... think so."

That wasn't especially convincing. "Tell me what's going to happen, Cassie."

"You'll put that on the porch, then leave. Someone is going to come over and take it. I'll take that and spray them. Until I spray it into their mouth."

"Very good. And then just stop and wait for me. OK?"

"OK."

I guided her where I wanted her to wait, where she could see through the window set in the door to watch for her mother. "I'm sorry, for what it's worth," I said, then took my bag and stepped out. The heavy bag thudded as it slammed down on the bricks of the porch. I forced myself not to look up at the Browns' house across the fence and reveal my knowledge of who was watching. Then I walked around the outside of the house and back into the garage. My phone was ringing as I walked. Isa, I saw. Megan was the only communication I was answering right then, though. She didn't take long, the alert buzzing before I reached the end of the driveway.

DRIVE TO THE ARBY'S ON THE NORTH SIDE OF TOWN

TEXT ME A SELFIE OF YOU IN FRONT OF THE DRIVE-THRU MENU

Arby's? Classy.Want me to pick you up anything?

JUST DO IT

NOW!!

So much for humor. I backed out of the driveway and pulled out into the street. Meanwhile Isa was hitting the redial.

"What the hell is going on up there?" she demanded. "Did you just leave?"

"I have it taken care of," I said vaguely.

"What does that mean?"

"It means, stay away. You're only going to make this worse if you get involved. I have it in hand, I promise."

The phone moved away from her mouth to growl in frustration. "People always think that they know better than the professionals. You're in over your head, and I can't keep letting you fuck this up like you've fucked up every other thing in this whole mess!"

My jaw clenched. "I need to get off the phone before I get pulled over by the real cops."

"Iam a real--"

I hung up. Fuck things up, did I? She was the one who'd pushed the idea of Serenex into my head in the first place! The one who'd pegged the wrong person as the blackmailer! The one whose brilliant sting operation had painted me into the corner, nearly blown our secrets! I couldn't wait to show her how I'd made this workin spite ofher hamstringing me. Tasering Taylor. Guilting Candy for what was probably one of the hottest experiences of her life. Acting like I couldn't handle myself, like I was some kind of... of... of pussy!I am not a pussy!

It was a good half hour to Arby's and back. (Arby's, Megan? Seriously?) Not that I had any intention of going. I figured she'd wait a few minutes to make sure I didn't pull a one-eighty at the end of the block. Maybe not. Either way, I circled the neighborhood a few times, giving her ample time to work up the nerve to go get her "money." I drove until my frayed nerves couldn't take it any more. So like, three minutes.

I pulled into the driveway at a craw. Yes, objectively it was pure idiocy trying to sneak back in, like the car had tip toes or something. Once I was there out of the car, though, my instincts reversed themselves and I sprinted around to the back of the house. Had Cassie come through for me?

Standing there on my porch, sure enough, were two women. One of them was Megan Brown, two long stripes of sepia fluid staining her face. One of them led right into her mouth, which hung open.

Next to her, similarly slack-jawed, stood Louisa Barbour.

I looked around, but saw no sign of Cassie. Then I opened the back door only to find she'd been standing on the other side, so close her nose had probably been pressing against the glass. Stand and wait, I'd said. And she'd done it.

"Cassie? What happened!"

"I did what you said. Then Officer Barbour showed up."

"I didn't say to...! Oh, never mind." Why bother chastising her? It had worked out well enough. "Cassie, Megan, Isa? Inside. Now."

Every door was locked, every curtain drawn, every phone confiscated. At long last, I was in total control of the situation. No more interference from the outside, no more unknown variables making a mess of things. Time to make things right.

"Well now, Isa," I began, kneeling down in front of her. "Let's talk."