Chloe groans and lifts Max up and over her shoulder, stepping away from the horrific scene.
"No Max… we can't be here, you and I can't be caught up in this mess, we're days away from leaving Arcadia Bay and this will probably tie us down to a shit show of an investigation."
Chloe sets Max down next to her car, she takes the keys and sits in the driver's seat and starts the engine. Everything seems hazy as they take off.
"Chloe I need to know who that person was, if she was before or after Rachel. I need to piece this together and we're not getting anywhere if we keep running." Max's body is faced toward Chloe and she is having a hard time controlling what she's feeling and the way her mind is messing and tangling right in front of her.
Chloe drives back into town thinking about the poor girl in the ditch "If you knowing has something to do with Rachel why not just ask her in your visions/dreams. I don't know who the hell that's going to help, but since there needs to be order in your little sequence, you can start there." Chloe tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, hoping that the mention of Rachel can tie her over even if it is just for a little while.
Max sighed having to give in to Chloe, it wouldn't help to get so worked up, Max needed to know more, being here was the problem; they were only getting half of the story and it was frustrating as hell.
"Okay. I won't bring it up again but I need to see Rachel Amber's mom. Before the funeral, I don't understand how they can just sweep everything under the rug. Plus, I think she knows more than what she is leading on to believe. "
Chloe stops right in front of a coffee shop and parks, she nods and turns to look at Max "Fine, I'll set it up before the funeral. You gotta chill until then, okay?"
Max shrugs and as she pulls out her phone she receives a message from Nathan Prescott.
Nathan: I need to meet
Max: what for?
Nathan: It's about Samantha, leave your guard dog at home and come to my house.
Max: I'll be there when the police cools down.
Nathan: Later.
Okay so now Max had to make an excuse for going to Nathan's aid. Chloe wasn't going to like it but she could lie about where she was headed. Plus, that thing with the Ambers, she surely wouldn't fuss over where Max was.
"How about we go to your house, you get your truck and we'll meet up tonight. I want to pack before we talk to the ambers." Max fiddles with the strap of her bag and gives Chloe a little shrug as if to say, I need some time alone.
Chloe didn't protest and took off back into town to get her truck.
Max waited until things had cooled off with the police and drove to the edge of town where she and Chloe had visited long ago, god it felt like life time's ago. Max didn't even have to buzz in, Nathan or Mrs. Prescott had already spotted her and were on the foot of the stairs.
Max parked right next to the rose bushes and she raced up the drive way, she was running short on time and hoped this wasn't one of those visits that left her feeling nauseous and empty inside, given that she still needed to meet up with Chloe in the same time frame.
Nathan saw Max in and they went to a back room, Nathan was insistent on it. "Look Caulfield, I wanted to talk about what I know and it might not sit well with Price and I know it's a fucked-up thing, what I'm about to say but this town is shit and I have no power over my family, my dad is an asshole and my mom is not far behind. I'm sure you can agree from your last meeting with her."
Nathan locked the door behind them and went over to a very tall black cabinet, shuffling through paper work of folders he pulls out a very thin one and hold it close to his chest, it looks creased all over, as if it was a hard thing to obtain, like if Nathan had gone through hell and back to get it.
"At the end of freshmen year- summer of it actually, Jefferson had been a big win for arcadia bay, my father had invested money for Mark to come to this town, in pursuit Jefferson told my father that he would be a great asset to this town- his town." Nathan placed the folder on the desk and pushed it towards Max.
"There was this girl; Samantha Myers, she was one of the first here in Arcadia Bay. That summer Samantha had applied for an internship for my family, usually it was helping my sister out but every occasionally, my father asked her to go out of town with Jefferson, help with a photoshoot and what not. I didn't think anything of it, everything and everyone seemed professional and Samantha she was… loyal to a fault, it was impossible to blame her." Nathan raked his hair through, it was definitely hard on him, knowing Samantha and trusting her with so many things, confiding in her much more than he ever has with anyone else, including Victoria Chase.
"Then what happened Nathan?" Max grabbed the folder and started to lift the flap to the first page, right to the picture of the timid looking girl, her smile unfaltering and genuine.
"Then you know, she was the first to go to the dark room. My father and Jefferson brought me in when she was all hooked on those drugs, when I tried to talk to her outside of those sessions she called me insane, like she couldn't believe that either of them did anything to her. And look maybe I don't know what they did to her but I know they did kill her, she was living two lives. She just couldn't cope to just being the shy awkward girl anymore. I know she was their victim, the one that they toyed with the most, I'm not going to say they set her aside when they found others to play their games because she was willing to keep playing the part of the pet."
Max had figured as much and she didn't know how she would have handled it differently, half of the told was bought by the Prescott's and so even if she did go to the police it would be difficult without finding a corrupt cop. Without help on their side, they needed more than physical evidence, victims who'd go to trial and stop circle of power that they needed to put to rest.
I know you and Price are trying to stop this but can you find her, she's not here. I've looked and I found some coordinates where they've buried bodies and she could be there but I can't face her. I'm a coward and has done nothing to stop them. Jefferson is in jail so he won't get in your way and my father is too busy to even pay attention to his own kid so he won't care about two reckless teenage girls. I don't care how you do it but find her, anything you need I'll see to it." His demeanor had changed, he wasn't trying to act like he was superior than Max, this was a genuine cry for help, asking as a person who is desperate and wants to amend all the time he's seen ill things happen to innocent people.
Max shut the folder and slide it inside of her bag, she took Nathan's appearance in stride. "If she's out there we'll look, I think she'd like someone looking out for her, I heard that she used to do the same for you." Max placed a hand on his shoulder before she walked out of the strange back room and down the hall; out of the Prescott manor.
Back at Blackwell Academy at the dorms Chloe was already waiting for Max, her form of waiting consisted of taking a nap, limbs dangling over the edge of the bed. Max shook her head and dropped her bag on the ground, kick her shoes off she hovered over Chloe to get to a free space on her bed, Max's arms wrapped around Chloe's waist as she buried her face into the taller girls' shoulder.
A moment later Chloe speaks up "So had enough adventuring for one day?" Chloe grabs for Max's hand and brings it to her lips for light pecks across her knuckles.
Max sighs "I'm exhausted. I just need an oracle to tell me what to do, I have no fucking clue how to piece everything we have together. There's so many awful people here. No wonder my parents wanted to leave all those years ago." Max pulls Chloe closer and tries to relax.
"It's been less of a shithole since you got back." Chloe tries with a smile. "Tomorrow our lives change forever, we're putting part of the past behind us... to rest."
Max shakes her head "I don't think she'll rest, she loves messing with my head too much. and she truly cares what happens to us, I think her words were "I forbid you to go to California, you selfish fucks." Max smiles at this and rests her head on her pillow. "I guess we'll take it as a suggestion, right?"