October 31, 2013, Halloween
Max put the pilot Ray Bans that she had bought from Portland on her nose, finishing her Halloween costume. She looked at her image in the mirror and smiled approvingly at the end result. Chloe would be arriving soon to pick her up for the Halloween party.
Max looked at the crutches leaning against the wall. They certainly wouldn't complement her costume but that couldn't be helped. She decided to compromise by taking only one of them. Max walked to the door and peeked out. People were pacing between the restroom and dorm rooms as they prepared for the party. She saw that Victoria's door on the opposite side was open but the blonde wasn't in her room at the moment.
Max recalled the conversation between Victoria and her yesterday. She had gone to apologize to the blonde, only to find her in shock about the death of their common friend. Max hadn't been exactly soothing when she had revealed that she was aware of Victoria's ability to communicate with dead people. The next thing, however, had been the real shocker.
"You're telling me that in some other timeline we've shared an apartment in Seattle and that we've been best friends for over three years?" Victoria had asked in disbelief.
"Well, technically we would be in the upcoming years, if things had gone differently a few weeks back." Max had specified. "I know this sounds incredible..."
"Incredible?" Victoria had blurted. "That's very mildly put!"
"Any more than your discourse with dead people?"
"Well, I..."
"Maybe it's better that I start from the beginning..."
So Max had told Victoria how she had discovered her powers. How she had sacrificed Chloe to save Arcadia Bay by undoing the five days. How she and Victoria had bonded and moved to Seattle. How Victoria had rediscovered her powers and found out that Chloe was with them. How they had found out about Julia Bennett being a copycat of Mark Jefferson, and how Max had undone all the four years to save herself. She had concluded her recap with the discovery of her new power and how she had used it to heal her wounded leg.
Victoria had sat in amazement, trying to process all what she had learned. "So this is why you were so hell bent over Julia right from the beginning, and why you've been calling me 'Vic' all the time," she had remarked.
Victoria had briefly told Max about her encounters with the dead spirits. It had then been the brunette's turn to be surprised, when the blonde told that one of them was Chloe's dead father.
"William is still here? It's been five years since his death!"
"He can't remember who he is. I think that's what's holding him back."
"Have you told him?"
"Yes, and I also took a photo of Chloe but he didn't recognize her from the picture."
Max had felt her ears burning, when the blonde had told the reason for her taking the photo of Chloe at the Hip Bean. She had not said anything, though, but instead dug a passport photo out of her wallet. "It makes sense that William didn't recognize Chloe from the picture, because last time he saw her, she looked like this."
"That's quite a difference," Victoria had commented on the young girl with strawberry blonde hair in the picture.
"Have you told Chloe?"
"What do you think?"
"Yeah, I guess not. What about Janice, then? What did she tell you?"
"Not much. All that she could remember was that Julia had kidnapped her and held her captive. The poor thing didn't even realize that she was dead before I told her." The blonde had burst into tears again upon saying that.
Max had felt sympathy for Victoria. In its own way, Victoria's gift was a burden to her the same way as Max's gift was for her.
After Victoria had pulled herself together, they had discussed the Halloween party and Max had shared her concern that Victoria might be Julia's target. Max had also shared her and Chloe's plan to find evidence against Julia and hopefully Janice's body too. The blonde had offered to help in any way she could.
When the time had come for Max to excuse herself, Victoria grabbed her arm when she stood up.
"Tell me, Max. What kind of person was I in that alternative timeline?"
"Well, you know, pretentious, self-absorbed, sassy, arrogant and boasting. But also loyal, sweet, caring, altruistic and protective. Someone I was proud to call a friend."
Max shook herself away from her thoughts as she closed her door. She was going to pick up her phone to text Chloe, when someone knocked on the door. She opened it and the sight in the doorway scared the living daylights out of her. It was Chloe, looking like she had just walked out of the filming of 'Thriller'. Her usually lightly tanned skin was now dirty light grey with dark highlights to give her a mummified appearance. Max recognized the punk girl's suit to be the one that she had helped Joyce to put on Chloe's body for her funeral. Now, though, it was frayed and covered by dust and fake cobwebs. Chloe's azure hair was a few shades paler and also covered by fake cobwebs.
"Jesus, Chloe! I almost peed in my pants! A heads up call would've been nice!" Max retorted.
"And miss the look on your face? Over my dead body!" Chloe snickered.
"Dead indeed," Max managed a grin. "John Landis called. He wants his props back. Awesome job with the makeup!"
"Thanks, Maximus, or should I say Maxine McFly?" The punk looked approvingly at the brunette's costume.
Max was indeed a spitting image of Marty McFly. Her usual shoulder length bob had been combed back and held tightly against her temples. The pilot Ray Bans complemented the 80's hairstyle. Max was wearing a creamy white shirt that had a light brown print pattern on it. On top of that she had a denim jacket and red quilted vest. Levi's 501 jeans with suspenders and white Nike sneakers completed the costume.
"So, does the Ranchero now come with a flux capacitor?" Chloe asked.
"Flux capacitor? With me around, we don't need flux capacitors," Max declared with a grin.
"I'm looking forward to hitting 88 miles per hour with you later tonight," Chloe remarked seductively.
"You nerd!"
"It's the company I keep," Chloe chuckled. "If I'd known that you're planning to dress up as Marty, I'd probably dressed up as Doc Brown."
"The Ray Bans weren't enough of a hint?" Max asked.
"I thought you were going to dress up as Maverick from Top Gun."
"Ewww! Now I can't get that image out of my head," Max cringed.
"So what's the plan for the evening?" Chloe asked.
"We're going to make an appearance at the Halloween party, then we're gonna go to that warehouse and search it with a fine-tooth comb," the brunette explained. "I had a long talk with Victoria last night. Janice had appeared to her yesterday. Vic's now on the level what Julia's all about and totally on board with our intentions to reveal her. I'll ask her to keep tags on Julia, while we search the warehouse."
"The Blackwell ninjas ride again!" Chloe exclaimed vigorously.
"Hey, let's take a photo to capture this moment," Max said, reaching for her camera.
"That reminds me, you'd forgotten about your birthday present." The brunette dug out her father's old Polaroid camera out of the plastic bag she had with her.
"Are you sure, Chloe?" the brunette asked. "I mean, my own camera isn't busted now..."
"Hey, I gave it to you as a birthday present. A different timeline doesn't change that. It's yours." Chloe passed the camera to her partner.
"Well, in that case, thank you - again," Max said and placed a kiss on the punk girl's lips. "C'mere, photo-hog, let's do this." The brunette set herself beside the taller girl and pointed the camera towards them. "Say 'Hellaween'!"
Max pressed the button and a few seconds later, the camera spat out a picture accompanied by a whirr. She took the photo out and flicked it a few times out of habit, before looking. "Oh yeah, this is a keeper!"
"Let me take a look," Chloe said. "Back to the Future meets The Walking Dead," she remarked.
"Should we head down to the pool?" Max asked. "I'm supposed to meet Mrs. Grant and Julia in front of the swimming hall."
"The idea that you have to crawl in front of that bitch just makes my blood boil," the punk said angrily.
"I'm not too happy about it either but maybe we can play it in our favor," the brunette said, as she opened the door to the corridor.
"You have something in mind?" Chloe asked as they headed towards the stairwell.
"Oh maybe a little something to rock her boat," Max answered with a slightly mischievous grin. She looked around to make sure that no-one was looking, before she walked down the stairs normally, holding the crutch in her hand.
Once they reached the main door, Max used the crutch for support again and limped outside, while Chloe held the door open. They saw David standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Dave, what are you doing here?" Chloe asked.
"I'm supposed to escort Max to the swimming hall to meet Principal Grant and Ms. Bennett," David said, looking seriously at the brunette.
"David," Max said shyly. "I'm so sorry about the pepper spray. I know I wasn't supposed to use it that way."
The chief of Blackwell security grunted briefly, before he opened his mouth. "I can't say that I wasn't disappointed in you, Max," he said, ignoring the stinging glance that Chloe cast to him. "Still, it was my call to give the spray to you, and truth be told, I'd probably do it again. There's something about that Bennett woman that gives me the creeps."
"Well, what's done is done," Max sighed. "Let's get this over with."
In previous years, the Vortex Club had been responsible for organizing the Halloween party. After the shooting and everything that had unravelled in the aftermath, Victoria Chase, as the acting president, had called up an extra meeting. In the meeting, she had motioned the disbanding of the Vortex Club on the grounds of the negative association of the club to the recent events. The motion had been seconded and since no opposing motions had been presented, the motion was accepted without needing to vote on the matter. On October 9th, 2013, the Vortex Club was officially disbanded. The End of the World party had been cancelled and a small event to commemorate Rachel Amber was held instead.
For the Halloween party planning, a temporary work group, consisting of former Vortex Club members, other students and Blackwell staff, had been appointed. The party was going to be strictly intoxicant free and anyone caught with contraband substances or intoxicated would be removed from the premises.
The swimming pool acted as the party premises as usual. Music could be heard playing quite a distance from the swimming hall. People were mingling along the path to the entrance. Max and Chloe, accompanied by David, approached the door, where Michelle Grant and Julia Bennett were waiting.
Chloe squeezed Max's hand. "I'm with you all the way, babe," she said to the brunette.
"Thanks, love," Max responded to the squeeze. She cast a quick glance towards David. The security officer didn't seem to react in any way to the display of affection between the two young women.
The party arrived at the door. Michelle Grant's serious expression was contrasted by the smirk of Julia Bennett. Max did her best to keep her emotions at bay. She felt the punk's grip tighten in her hand. She couldn't tell which one of them Chloe was trying to calm down, though.
"Ms. Bennett," Max began with a quiet voice. "I want to express my sincere apologies for my assault on your person. It was absolutely uncalled-for. I have been dealing with some personal issues, which clouded my judgment. I am willing to accept whatever repercussions the school board might pass and I shall seek professional help. I am so, so sorry." She let go of Chloe's hand and gave hers to Julia.
"Ms. Caulfield, it's a shame we couldn't meet under better circumstances. I've been told you are quite a talented photographer," Julia answered, still smirking and shaking the given hand.
While they were shaking hands, Max leaned forward next to Julia's ear. "Mark sends his regards," the brunette whispered so quietly that only Julia could hear it. When she let go of the older woman's hand, she saw that the smirk on her face had faded a bit.
"Are we good?" Max asked from Mrs. Grant.
The acting principal cast a quick glance to the woman standing next to her, who had managed to restore her composure. Julia Bennett nodded in accordance.
"Enjoy your evening at the party!" Michelle Grant simply said.
"I'll be in my office, if you need me," David Madsen said to the principal and excused himself.
Max and Chloe stepped inside the pool hall.
"Well, if it isn't Miss Nutjob!" Courtney Wagner in a witch costume said smugly when they made it to the desk by the cloakroom.
"Good thing you have a chaperone to keep you restrained," Taylor Christensen in a she-devil costume accompanied the other girl.
Chloe frowned angrily and was about to open her mouth but an icy voice behind the two other girls interrupted her.
"Courtney, Taylor, a word." Victoria stood behind the two girls in her Bayonetta costume, staring at them sternly. After a short exchange of words, the two girls returned meekly with the tall blonde on their heels.
"We're sorry, Max," Courtney said humbly.
"Yeah, enjoy your evening," Taylor continued.
"Now scram!" Victoria snapped to them, making them retreat to the pool area.
"You've trained your minions well, Victoria," Chloe grinned.
The blonde frowned at the brunette briefly. "Sorry about that, Max. I should've prepped them beforehand," she said apologetically.
"What did you tell them?" Max asked.
"That the whole incident was a result of a trauma that you're suffering from and that you're off limits from now on," Victoria explained.
"So, basically I'm a nutjob but they can't pick on me about it?"
"Well, I couldn't exactly tell them the truth, could I?"
"I guess not," Max admitted. "Nice Halloween costume by the way!"
"Thanks!" The black wig wearing blonde smiled behind the glasses that belonged to the costume. "Took some time and effort to get all the pieces together. You, on the other hand are totally stuck in the retro zone," she remarked.
"I'll take that as a compliment," the brunette grinned.
"You should. I for one can appreciate the attention to detail that you've put into your costume," Victoria said, looking at the smaller girl. "Wherever did you manage to find genuine vintage 501s?"
"From a thrift store," Max said matter-of-factly.
"Figures." Victoria rolled her eyes.
All three entered the pool area. The music that was muffled by the door now blared in its full effect. Max recognized the song to be 'Omen' by The Prodigy. The pool area looked pretty much the same as it had looked at the End of the World party in the other timeline. The only difference was the Halloween themed decorations with pumpkins, bats, skeletons and cobwebs. Stroboscopic lamps were flashing and a disco ball was spinning in the ceiling. Max looked around and was delighted, when she saw a familiar face.
"Kate!" Max waved the smaller girl towards them.
"Max!" Kate responded and walked to the threesome. "Chloe, Victoria," she greeted the other girls promptly.
"That's some costume, Kate, or should I say Marge?" the brunette said, admiring the costume that the petite girl was wearing.
Kate's regular blonde bun had transformed into a foot long blue beehive. She was wearing a light green plain strapless dress and her visible skin was covered in yellow greasepaint, making her the spitting image of Marge Simpson.
"Thank you, Max," Kate responded. "You all look awesome."
"Totes love the hair, Kate," Chloe remarked.
"A true harbinger of moral virtue," Victoria sighed and was rewarded with Marge Simpson's trademark growl. "Just kidding, Katie. You've done a fantastic job," she added.
"Your Bayonetta costume isn't bad either," Kate let her expression soften. "Strange to see you together, though."
"Well, this is what you'd call a special circumstance," Max admitted. "Although there's more than meets the eye to Victoria."
"Shush! I got a reputation to maintain," the tall blonde blurted.
"Hey Max! Good to see you back!" Evan Harris joined the girls. He had dressed up as Severus Snape.
"Hey Evan! Thanks!" Max responded. "How are things at Hogwarts, 'Professor Snape'?"
"Things are good, 'Ms. McFly'"
Nice costume!" Max complimented. "Alan Rickman was such a great actor."
"'Was'?" Evan asked with a bemused expression.
"Err, 'is'," the brunette corrected quickly and bit her tongue. Gotta remember that you are not living in 2017 anymore, Caulfield!
"Max, I'm gonna go chat with the DJ for a sec," Chloe leaned closer to the brunette's ear so that she didn't have to shout.
"Ok. I'll have a word with Vic somewhere more private," Max said and placed a kiss on the brunette's cheek, resulting with lifted eyebrows from both the receiver of the kiss and others present. "Oh, Chloe and I are sort of an item now."
"Oh, congratulations you two!" Kate said, when she had recovered from her initial amazement.
"Thank you!" the brunette smiled and turned to face her partner. "You ok with me outing us like this, love?"
"Sure, babe" the brunette smiled. "But I'm gonna bail now, before things get too mushy." She returned the kiss and excused herself.
"Vic, is there some place where we can talk?" Max asked the blonde.
"Follow me," Victoria answered and walked towards the end of the pool area, where a section had been isolated with a curtain.
"Talk to you later, Kate," Max said to the smaller girl and followed the other, whose boot heels looked like pistols.
"Welcome to the lounge, Max!" Victoria said as she opened the curtain. "This used to be the VIP section back in Vortex Club days. Now it is open for everyone."
They both entered the lounge. Max saw that the space hadn't changed much from the last time she had been there. Tables and chairs were scattered around and there were beverages on the long table, alcohol-free this time, though. Victoria made her way towards one table in the corner, where two girls were sitting. When they saw, who was coming, they quickly vacated the seats around the table. Vortex Club or no Vortex Club, the Queen Bee still carried prestige.
"So, what's the plan?" the blonde asked as she took her glasses off.
"Chloe and I are going to check out that warehouse," Max began. "We'll try to find any evidence that would link Julia to Janice's death and hopefully a clue as to where her body might be."
"How can I help?"
"We'd need you to keep an eye on Julia. If she leaves the party, give us a heads up."
"I can do that. Anything else?"
"Can you get in touch with Janice?" Max asked.
"I can try." Victoria shrugged her shoulders. "If I concentrate hard enough on Janice, she may come but I can't give any guarantees."
"If there's any way she could shed some light on her whereabouts that would be great."
"I see what I can do," Victoria promised.
"Just be careful," Max said to the blonde. "If Julia is planning to make her move on you, this night will most probably be when it's going to happen."
"Don't worry. Courtney and Taylor will have my back. I shouldn't have any trouble to stay ahead of Julia, if I'm on her tail. I'll –" Victoria stopped at mid-sentence, when 'Ace of Spades' by Motörhead started playing. She saw Chloe approaching the table with a wide grin on her mouth. "I suppose it's you who we can thank for this… whatever this is." She cast a stern look at the brunette.
"Oh, lighten up, Vic! This is a classic!" Chloe said, still grinning.
"Well, at least there's something you have in common with Max. You both are stuck in the retro zone."
Max was contemplating, whether she should step in before the discussion would get too heated up. Luckily, distraction came in the form of Warren and Brooke, who were dressed up as John Steed and Emma Peel.
"Hey Super Max!" the young man greeted. "I never would've guessed, you'd go with a Back to the Future theme. Nice work!"
"Hi Warren and Brooke," Max responded. "Yours aren't too bad either."
Warren had a sixties style three-piece suite with a bowler hat and an umbrella. Brooke was wearing a leather cat suite, which seemed to loosen an approving glance from Victoria.
"Brooke, Wapner," the punk greeted the couple briefly, ignoring annoyed expression on the young man's face. Chloe just couldn't resist the temptation to twist Warren's name. "Max, I think I' going to go 'catch some fresh air'," she said to the brunette, gesturing with her fingers that she actually wanted a smoke. "Wanna join?"
"Sure," the brunette said and stood up. This was a cue that they had agreed upon beforehand to excuse themselves. "See you all later!"
The two girls went through the pool area and exited the swimming hall. They made their way to the parking zone.
"Yours or mine?" Chloe asked.
"Mine is closer," Max said. "I don't want to take any more steps than is absolutely necessary with this frickin' crutch."
A few moments later, the blue Ranchero backed out from its spot and headed downtown.
David Madsen was sitting at his computer and going through all the material related to Julia Bennett for the umpteenth time. This time, however he had come across something peculiar. According to her Facebook profile, Julia had graduated from the Seattle University in 2003. This had been confirmed from the university office, when he had done a background check on her. On the other hand, the Seattle University advertised Julia Bennett as one of their alumni, so he had really no reason to doubt her education.
For no particular reason, David had decided to go through the online version of the Seattle University yearbook from that year. That's where he found it, or didn't find it. There wasn't a single record or picture of Julia Bennett in the yearbook. Otherwise it would've been easy to ignore as someone just not wanting to be in the yearbook, but not in the case of Julia Bennett, who loved to be in the spotlight, nicely put. She should have been at least credited for some of the photos that were taken for the book. Yet, there was nothing related to Julia Bennett in that book.
David didn't have access to the university's student records and there would be no one in the office at this hour, especially since it was Halloween. But David didn't really need access to the student records. Besides the marking on Facebook and her diploma, he had not been able to find records about Julia prior 2007. That could only mean one thing: Julia Bennett had not always been Julia Bennett.
But if that's the case, then who the heck is she?
Max parked in front of the warehouse. She and Chloe stepped out of the truck. The brunette was glad for being able to leave the crutch behind. They walked to the door. The sturdy padlock was securing the door.
"What are we going to do about this?" Chloe asked, as she tugged on the lock.
"Leave it to me," the brunette said and took the padlock in her hand. A few moments later the padlock no longer existed.
"Your powers never cease to amaze me, babe," Chloe said in awe.
Max pulled the handle and the door opened. "Apparently Julia trusted that padlock so much that she didn't bother to use the door's lock," she remarked.
They both entered the warehouse. Max flicked the lights on. They made their way through the boxes and crates to the open space. The white background and lamp posts along with one camera on a tripod were still there, ready for use. Half a dozen camera bags were stored under the table, and on the top, there was a laptop.
"This room is bringing back hella bad memories," Chloe said.
"Yeah, to me too," Max concurred. "Would you look around and see if you can find anything interesting? I'm going to see what's on the laptop," she said to her partner.
"Sure thing," Chloe answered and began searching through the items that were in the room.
Max turned the laptop on, only to find it password protected. "Damn, this thing is locked!"
"Are you going to guess and reverse?" the punk asked.
"Naah, too tedious," the brunette said, grinning mischievously. "I'll just reverse the thing to a point, when it wasn't locked." Max placed her hands on the laptop and concentrated. Soon, the desktop was in her view. Here's to your bullshit code puzzles!
"Way to go, Max!" Chloe said, when she saw the laptop desktop to come up.
"Let's see what we have here…"
Victoria was standing in the girl's shower room, trying to see in the dark. She had seen Julia enter the room, so she had decided to follow to make sure that the photography teacher didn't plan on leaving. Victoria had told Cortney and Taylor to wait at the shower room entrance, in case that Julia would double back.
She had not been able to get in touch with Janice as hard as she had tried, so she had given up on that. Now she had more pressing matters on her mind.
Victoria would have wanted to switch on the lights but she didn't want to let the older woman know that she was being followed. She slowly fumbled her way through the shower room towards the lockers.
Where the fuck is she? Victoria thought in frustration. She would have to find her soon, or otherwise she'd have to call and warn Max. She kept fumbling in the dark between the lockers and still seeing no sign of the teacher.
Oh crap! She must've slipped out. I must make my way back and warn Max! Victoria turned around and began to make her way back to the pool area. Just then someone grabbed her from behind and pressed a moist cloth against her mouth. The sweet smell on her nose made her feet slack and a few seconds later she passed out.
Max was delving into Julia's laptop and was beginning to feel frustrated. She had performed a search for known image formats but the resulting images were nothing out of the ordinary. She took a moment to look at some of the pictures that she could find. As vile as Julia Bennett might be, she certainly was a talented photographer. Julia's trademark was to keep the composition quite Spartan to focus on the subject. She also used leading lines and diagonals to add dynamics into the picture. A clever use of filters to bring out one color gave that final touch to the works that had made Julia Bennett a renowned photographer.
All this didn't bring Max and Chloe any closer to figuring out what had happened to Janice. Max noticed that that there was one folder that contained files with names that were complete gibberish. She tried opening one file but the window was just filled with more of the same gibberish.
These files are encrypted somehow, the brunette thought. They must be important. She began looking for an application that would enable her to view the files but there appeared to be none. She looked around and noticed a small device on the table. It looked like a USB drive. I wonder… She took the USB device and stuck it into a free port. Almost instantly, the gibberish file names became readable and Max clicked one of them.
The brunette gasped, when she saw the subject of the picture. It was Janice, who was tied and slowly bleeding to death. The picture was otherwise black and white, save for the blood, which stuck out in crimson. The expression on Janice's face was a mixture of horror and stagnation. Max clenched the mouse in shock, when she went through the pictures one by one.
"Chloe, come here!" she waved at the punk. "I found something."
Chloe walked to the brunette and looked at the images. "That heartless bitch!" she growled as she put her hands on her partner's shoulder.
There was another folder, whose contents the dongle had unencrypted. Both of the girls gasped in shock, when they opened the first file.
It was a picture of Max, lying on the floor, tied and looking drugged. The same way she had been, when Mark Jefferson had held her captive.
"What is this, Max?" Chloe asked, when the brunette opened more of the similar pictures.
"I don't understand. They look like the pictures that Jefferson took of me but they shouldn't exist in this timeline," Max said and zoomed in one of the images. "Wait a minute! These are photoshopped! She's posed Janice the same way as Jefferson and then edited my head into them."
"How can you tell?"
"The heads in these pictures, I recognize them!" the brunette exclaimed. "These are from the pictures in my montage." A flash of anger rushed through her. "That bitch has been to my room!"
"Why has she gone through all the trouble to rig these pictures up?" Chloe asked with a baffled look on her face.
"She wants to set me up," Max said angrily. "It's no coincidence that these pictures look like Mark Jefferson's work. Julia wants everyone to think that I am one of his victims. I bet my behavior in the last days provided her an opportunity to incriminate me for Janice's death. She'd just need to plant these conveniently."
"And if she kills Victoria, that would be on you also," the punk added. "The pictures and your behavior would make you the perfect suspect."
"Well, this ought to put a little snag into her plans," Max said, as she selected all the pictures of her and deleted them.
"Look! Here are the originals" Max pointed to another set of pictures. "These we can use."
Max made unencrypted copies of some of the pictures and attached them into an email. She typed Stacy Kowalski's and John Korhonen's email address into the recipient fields and clicked 'Send'. She composed another email with the same pictures but this time she put David Madsen as recipient and sent that also. Finally, Max deleted both emails from the sent items. "That should do it."
"Why'd you send these pictures instead of those, where Janice was shot?" Chloe asked.
"Because, if there's a slightest chance that we can save Janice, then no-one can know that she's dead."
"Save… you mean…"
"Yes, Chloe," the brunette said with determination. "I'm going to resurrect her. It'll mean that they can only charge Julia for kidnapping and abuse but even that should send her to prison for a long time." With that, Max selected all the pictures, where Janice was bleeding to death and deleted them too, leaving only the pictures, where Janice was tied and drugged.
"I found something too," Chloe said and showed an envelope. There's a passport and huge wad of cash. I'd say at least 50,000 dollars."
"Julia's apparently planning to jump ship," Max said. "Well it wouldn't take much time for the cops to see that the pictures of me are photoshopped, but it would distract them long enough so that she could leave the country." The brunette tapped her fingers on the keyboard for a second. "Give me that passport."
"Here ya go," the punk gave the passport to her partner, who held it in her hands for a moment, before it vanished.
"Good luck with getting out of the country without a passport, bitch!"
"Err, Max, what about the money?" Chloe asked.
"Knock yourself out!" the brunette waved her hand. "I'm not gonna lose my sleep over it."
"Ka'ching!" Chloe tucked the envelope into her pocket.
"Can you look around and see if you can find Janice's body?" Max said to the punk. "I'll wrap up here and join you."
"Yeah, try to hurry. I'm getting bad vibes from this place." Chloe disappeared behind the boxes.
Max went through the files once more to see that she had deleted all the pictures that she meant to delete. She locked the laptop and closed the lid. She also pulled the USB dongle out and put it where she had taken it. Good thing she didn't have this with her.
Max made her way towards the stack of boxes to join Chloe in her search for Janice's body. She'd almost made it to the corridor, when she heard a slam behind the corner.
"Chloe, is that-" was all Max managed to say as she made it around the corner. She wasn't able to finish the sentence as a sudden jolt of electricity went through her body and she fell slack on the ground. She couldn't move but she saw Julia standing in the corridor, holding what looked like a Taser.
"Hello, dear," the woman said, smirking. "Here's a little payback for that pepper spray."
That was the last thing Max registered, before another jolt from the stun gun put her unconscious.
David was scratching his head in front of the computer. He'd spent the last hour trying to figure out, which one of the female graduates from the Seattle University on 2003 was Julia Bennett, but to no avail. Every single student was accounted for. Most could be found in the social media. A few had died, mostly due natural causes. It was always a possibility that Julia could have staged her own death but none of the deceased seemed to match the profile. Either the timing didn't match or the cause of death left little room for doubt.
David decided to approach this from another angle. He opened his notes about Mark Jefferson. What is the connection between Mark Jefferson and Julia Bennett? David asked himself. He came across the marking about Jefferson's assistant, Joseph Adams. Wait a second, I saw that name somewhere! He tabbed through open windows and stopped at the online version of the Class of 2003 yearbook. He scrolled down to the portrait pages and found what he was looking for. There, in the beginning, was a portrait of Joseph Adams. He had graduated from Seattle University in the same year as Julia Bennett.
David looked up the editorial credits of the yearbook. Joseph Adams was credited as the primary photographer of the book. It can't possibly be… He googled Joseph Adams. Some of the resulting information he already knew, like that Joseph had been Jefferson's assistant. What he didn't know that there were no records of him beyond 2005. David opened his notes of Julia even though he already knew what they contained. There were no records of Julia Bennett prior 2007. That could only mean one thing, how incredible it might sound.
Joseph Adams is Julia Bennett! David leaned back on his chair and rested his hands on his forehead. This is the connection between Julia Bennett and Mark Jefferson! This was what Chloe and Max wanted him to find out. How they knew this was beyond him but this nevertheless was what he was looking for. Gender change as such wasn't a crime but Bennett's connection to Jefferson would certainly raise some questions.
Still, I can't see how this is going to help Max's case… David was pulled out of his thoughts, when he got a notification of incoming email. Speak of the devil… he thought as he saw the sender. He opened the mail and saw that there were pictures attached to it. He opened one and gasped, when he saw what was in it.
Dear Lord!
Up in Seattle, Detective Stacy Kowalski was studying the email from WITSEC. After a lengthy process, she had got a response that no-one under the alias of Julia Bennett was in the witness protection program.
So much for that lead, Kowalski thought as she took a sip from her coffee. There was something odd with Julia Bennett that she couldn't put her finger on. A chime on her computer pulled her out of her thoughts. She'd got email from Julia Bennett. Maybe she remembered something that she hadn't in the questioning. Julia opened the mail and was surprised to see that there was no message, just a few pictures attached. She opened one of them and almost dropped her coffee mug.
"Finn, come over here, pronto!" Stacy shouted to her partner.
Detective Sergeant John Korhonen walked to Kowalski's desk. "What is it?"
"Did you open that email yet from Julia Bennett?" Stacy asked.
"No, not yet was there something-" Finn stopped in mid-sentence when he saw the picture. "Jesus!"
"What do you think?"
"I think we need to get someone over at the Arcadia Bay PD on the phone."
The first thing Max registered, was the humming sound in her head. Where am I…? She opened her eyes slowly and blinked a few times to adjust to the dim. Max realized that she was sitting in her truck. She tried to move her arms but they were taped to the steering wheel. She tried to tug harder but she couldn't get her arms off the wheel.
"Oh, you're awake, dear," Max heard Julia Bennett say from the outside. "Perfect timing!"
"You bitch!" Max snapped. "What have you done with Chloe?"
"Please mind your language, dear," Julia said smugly. "I would be more worried about what's going to happen to me, if I were you."
"What do you mean-" Max started but then she saw that the Ranchero was parked in the middle of a railroad crossing.
"You know, I actually hadn't planned on using anyone as a scapegoat but your unexpected hostility towards me offered an opportunity that I just had to take," Julia explained. "You were one of Mark's victims and the experience drove you insane, therefore you decided to get revenge on Mark by kidnapping and murdering two of your friends that had won the Everyday Heroes contest. The temporary studio that I had set up provided you with the facilities for your act. After that you decided to take your own life by letting a train hit you. I left a little suicide note to accompany you."
"You'll never get away with this!" Max said furiously.
"On the contrary, my dear," Julia said. "When they find out the truth, I'll be out of the country. - But look at the time! I think the train is in schedule for a change. Got to run." The woman turned on her heels and walked away.
Max watched helplessly as Julia disappeared behind the curve. She looked down the track and she could see the headlight of the train in the distance. Oh fuck! I gotta get out of here!
As the train came closer, Max concentrated on the duct tape that bound her wrists on the steering wheel. Come on, come on! After what felt like an eternity, the tape cuffs vanished and Max was free. Accompanied by horn blows and screeching brakes from the closing train, she put her hand on the ignition switch, only to find that the key wasn't there. She took the key!
At the last possible moment, Max pushed the driver's door open and dashed off the track. Only seconds later the train hit the Ranchero, crushing it to an unrecognizable hulk of steel, rubber and glass and finally pushing it off the track.
The brunette rose on her knees. Save for a few scratches and bruises, she appeared to be all right. The same couldn't be said about her truck though, which lay demolished on the side of the track. Max had no time to grieve over the destroyed vehicle right now. She had no idea what had happened to Chloe and since they hadn't got any warning from Victoria, she could only assume that Julia got her.
Max started running towards the warehouse. Once she would get there, she'd try to locate either Chloe or Victoria, then they would figure out what to do next.
Max was half way down the road to the warehouse, when the ground below her feet began to tremor vigorously. The shaking was so strong that she fell to the ground. Max took support with one arm to make it into a sitting position and looked around. It took a few moments, before her brain could process what was going on. An earthquake!
Max had never experienced an earthquake before but she could tell that this was a big one. She had a clear line of sight to both the lighthouse and the clock tower of Blackwell main building from where she was sitting. Max would later recall the following seconds one of the most astounding moments of her life but on the other hand the most magnificent of her missed photo opportunities.
First, Max saw, how the lighthouse begin to lean on one side, before cracking from the base and falling into the ocean. Next, she saw how the clock tower of Blackwell collapsed, raising an enormous cloud of dust and debris. Trees around her fell down and cracks appeared to the ground. Some of the nearby buildings collapsed. Max couldn't see the town but she could imagine that the level of destruction over there was at least the same. When she had recovered from her initial shock, her brain made the deduction. This is my doing! Arcadia Bay is again in ruins.
The brunette just sat down in shock as the quake slowly settled down. Her brain simply refused to process the devastation that had occurred. Max could've possibly fallen into catatonic state but the self-preservation mechanisms of her psyche brought up a merciful distraction.
Chloe! Victoria! I need to find them! Max stood up and took a few hesitating steps towards the warehouse. A few steps later she was running as fast as she could.
David was trying to process all the information that had revealed itself during the last few hours. Julia Bennett was a transsexual, formerly known as Joseph Adams, who had been Mark Jefferson's assistant. Now he also had received a set of pictures of a bound young woman attached to an email that Julia Bennett had sent. The pictures resembled Mark Jefferson's handiwork but the timestamps were just a few days old, so they couldn't have been taken by Jefferson.
David knew that Julia Bennett wouldn't have emailed the pictures herself, which would mean that someone else had accessed Bennett's personal computer without her knowing. He could hazard a guess who that someone was. While the source of the pictures was questionable, they provided a probable cause for conducting a search on the premises and Bennett's laptop. He'd need to run it by Principal Grant, though. David wasn't exactly on the acting principal's good books and stepping over her in this matter would probably mean that he would have to start looking for a new job.
David made sure that he had a copy of the email on his mobile and left his office. He figured that the principal would still be at the party. There was no time to waste. As soon as he would have talked this through with Principal Grant, he'd call Lt. Rossi, so that the police could search the premises.
Just as David had stepped out of the main building, the ground began to shake violently. His military training took over and he instinctively put some distance between him and the building. He managed to get about fifty feet away from the entrance, before the shaking threw him off balance.
An earthquake! How is this- David's thoughts were interrupted as the clock tower of the main building came crumbling down. He stood up quickly and ran further from the falling debris. He threw himself again to the ground just before the emerging cloud of dust swarmed over him.
"The number you're trying to call, cannot be reached at the moment. Please try again later. - El número al que está intentando llamar…" Stacy Kowalski was stared at her phone in disbelief. This was the third number in the Arcadia Bay Police Department she had tried to call, with the same result. The ABPD appeared to be completely off the grid. Stacy picked up the mobile number of Lieutenant Chris Rossi and tried that. "The number you're trying to call…" She looked up the switch of Arcadia Bay City Hall. "The number…"What the fuck! Stacy exclaimed in her thoughts. She opened up the TripAdvisor web page and looked up the restaurants. The Two Whales Diner… "The number you're trying…"
"Finn, I think something's wrong in Arcadia Bay!" Stacy called her partner.
Victoria woke up in the dark. She felt groggy and her head was pounding. She tried to move her arms but they were bound together from the wrists with duct tape along with her ankles. Her first inclination was to cry for help but she managed to restrain herself at the last moment. Her captor might be close by and she didn't want her to know that she was awake just yet.
Victoria tried to recall what had happened before everything went dark. She had been tailing Julia into the girls' locker room. Apparently Julia had noticed that Victoria was tailing her and decided to lure her into a trap.
Victoria tried to look around. It was dim but she recognized the place to be the makeshift studio where they had been the other day. There was no sign of Max and Chloe anywhere, so there might be a slim hope left. Victoria had not told Courtney and Taylor anything other than to keep an eye for the shower room entrance in case Julia would come out of there. For all she knew, they'd still be waiting by the entrance.
Just then, the ground began to shake. The stacks of boxes and crates around Victoria collapsed and fell to the ground, accompanied by shattering lamps. She screamed in panic as the shards flew across her. The tied blonde tried her best to keep clear from the falling debris but there was no way she could've avoided the one box that fell upon her from the nearby stack. She cried in pain, when the box fell on her.
A few moments later, the ground settled. Victoria opened her eyes. She was still alive. A box was lying on top of her lower body. She was still in pain from the impact but she couldn't tell if something was broken.
"Victoria!" the blonde heard a man's voice to call her name. She saw William leaned over her.
"Are you all right?" Janice appeared next to the man.
"I… I think so, but I can't move," Victoria answered. "Was… was that an earthquake?"
"I think so," William answered. "Luckily this building didn't collapse."
"I need to get out of here," Victoria said frantically. "The woman who kidnapped me may still be nearby and I don't know what has happened to my friends."
"We'd love to help but since we are intangible, we won't be able to lift the box off of you," Janice said.
They were interrupted by a sound of boxes being moved around. Someone was trying to create a passage to them.
"Is it her?" Victoria asked.
Janice phased through the boxes to take a peek and returned with a relieved expression.
"It's all right. It's Maxine," the spirit said, as the brunette moved the last box out of her way.
"Victoria!" Max exclaimed when she saw the blonde lying on the ground. "Are you all right?"
"I can't move," Victoria said. "William and Janice are here but they can't really help me."
"Oh my god, this is my fault," Max said, when she knelt over the blonde and undid the duct tape.
"What do you mean?" Victoria asked, taken aback.
"The earthquake! It happened because of me, because I couldn't restrain myself from using my powers," the brunette said, tears falling down her cheeks. "I should've known better! Now, Arcadia Bay is in ruins and god knows how many people are dead because of me."
"Max, you can't blame it on yourself!" Victoria said. "There's no way you could've know this would happen!"
"But I knew that something like this might happen, if I used my powers."
"I hate to pull you away from your guilt trip but Julia may return any moment," Victoria said. "Can you get this box off of me?"
The brunette went to the box and tried to lift it, to no avail. "I can't, it's too heavy."
"Could you use your powers somehow?" the blonde asked?
"I-," Victoria could see the hesitation on the brunette's face and she couldn't really blame her, after what had just happened. It would appear though that Max wouldn't have to make the decision, as Victoria saw Chloe barging in.
"Finally found you guys!" the punk said.
"Chloe, quickly! Help Max to lift this box off of me!" Victoria said to her.
"Chloe? Where is she?" Max's expression brightened up and she turned her head around.
"She's right there…" Victoria's voice faded away, when she realized that the punk wasn't wearing her Halloween costume, and that Max clearly couldn't see her.
Chloe stopped and looked around perplexed. She couldn't hide her amazement, when she recognized the man standing next to Max and Victoria. "Dad?"
"Chloe?" William said as a wave of revelation hit him upon seeing his daughter.
Chloe turned to look at the brunette, whose expression had changed from delighted to desperate within a blink of an eye. She gazed at her own hands for second, before she realized.
"Oh crap!"
To be continued...
Editorial note: Removed line where David Madsen traced the location of the email sender based on the IP address, as it is not as easy technically as it seems in all the TV series.
A/N: "Oh my god, they killed Chloe!" -"You bastards!"
Thanks again for all the reviews and sorry for the long delay between updates. I'm delighted to see that most of my readers have found the story behind the rate filter. After changing the rating, it took me a while to realize that by default, all M rated stories are filtered out. I was actually supposed to finish chapter 2 to "Ships in the Night" before putting updates to this one but this story seems to keep me in its grasp. As fun as it has been, this story is closing its end. Two more chapters plus epilogue and we're done.
I'd like to thank my new beta reader for laying a critical eye to this chapter. You know who you are.
Please, keep the reviews coming!