Chapter 45
Forty-Five
Tabitha
The dog barked in Tabitha’s face. She stumbled back on the floor as it jumped at her again, its saliva catching her cheek.
‘Rex, get back now.’ Curtis pulled the dog away from her. ‘He’s a softie, really. He’ll lick you to death, if you let him. Sorry, I forgot my key. Is Bri in?’
She held a hand over her banging heart, back against the wall as the dog wagged its tail and whined while tilting its head.
She hated that Creepy Curtis had a key to their house, especially as he’d been caught sharing intimate photos of a girl in school.
He was just as bad as Abel but she couldn’t choose her brother’s friends for him and apparently Creepy Curtis regretted what he did.
On reaching over, Rex let her pet him before offering her a paw and licking the end of her nose. She wiped it dry with her jumper sleeve.
‘Are you okay, Tabby? I’m really sorry about Rex. Bad boy, Rex.’ The dog looked up at him and whined again.
She nodded but she was not okay. A boisterous dog was the least of her problems, in fact if the dog had devoured her for dinner her life would have improved tenfold.
She wouldn’t have to face OpenMeSmiler or Abel, ever again.
It would all be over, but no, the dog was not going to save her by eating her for supper.
‘I’m okay. Brian is upstairs at his computer. ’
‘Great.’ He darted past her, dragging Rex with him.
She got up, wiped the rest of the dog saliva on her baggy jeans and caught him up. ‘Curtis, wait.’ He didn’t hear. ‘Hey.’
He stopped. ‘Don’t yell so loud. Rex doesn’t like it and I want to calm him down. What?’
She gestured for him to come back to her on the stairs. ‘You know the site that Brian has been on?’
‘Err, what site?’
She raised her brows. ‘This is no time for denial, Curtis. I know everything.’
‘Everything?’
She nodded. ‘He’s in huge trouble and if you go upstairs, the psycho behind OpenMeSmiler will know who you are, too. Stay to the right of his bedroom door or you’ll be the next target.’
‘Target?’
She couldn’t tell him what they’d done to Brian with the video.
That was down to her dumbass brother to share with his friend, if he wanted.
‘Just trust me. Don’t walk in front of the camera and…
’ She hurried past him and the dog before grabbing her notebook and pen from the floor.
‘Write what you want to say. Do not, I repeat, do not let the psycho get into your head.’
‘Okay. Should we call the police?’
She shook her head rapidly. ‘And tell them what you and Brian have been looking at? You’ve broken the law. The police will arrest you both. I’ve seen everything, Curtis, and it’s not cool.’
He let out a long breath and joined her on the landing.
She led him towards Brian’s bedroom door, holding an arm out to show him how far he could come. He took the pen and pad from her and passed her his dog’s lead. She buried her hands in Rex’s soft head and rubbed his ears.
‘I wonder who our visitor is?’ the robotic voice said.
Tabitha passed the lead back to Curtis and sat next to Brian again. ‘It was just a delivery for the neighbour.’
‘Which one?’
Why was OpenMeSmiler asking her this? She didn’t know because there was no delivery. She didn’t even know the neighbours’ names. Their aunt was the only one of them to bother with the neighbours. ‘Mr Jones.’
‘You’re a bad liar, Tabitha. Liars need to be punished, don’t they?’
‘Punished?’ She turned to look at Brian whose clammy face was shining from the computer’s glow. Sweat beads began forming across his forehead.
‘Leave her out of this.’ Brian grabbed his mouse mat and threw it at the wall behind the computer.
‘I love a bit of family drama. This is so much more fun than I thought it would be. It got dull being Cody but this… it’s sublime. People like you deserve all you get and sometimes it’s down to the company you keep, but we’ll talk about that in a minute.’
Tabitha glanced back at Curtis who was still behind the door and he shrugged.
‘There is no Mr Jones. Here’s a thing. I know everything.’ The voice paused. ‘Tabitha, you are in the game as much as Brian is. You might think you’re safe, that it’s only Brian with a lot to lose but poor little Tabitha, you, my dear, have so much to lose, too. Look.’
Four photos flashed up. Tabitha in her bra pouting.
Tabitha posing topless. A close-up of Tabitha’s right breast. Tabitha on all fours in her underwear, on her bed.
She went to speak but no words came out.
Brian looked away. She’d sent all those to Abel.
They were private. If OpenMeSmiler had those, what else did he or they have?
One more photo flashed up. It was the one of her lying on Abel’s bed, that he took from behind while they had sex. Tears welled up in her eyes. Abel had shared those photos, he had to have done. It’s all down to the company you keep. She knew what was meant by that now. ‘It’s all my fault.’
Without looking at the screen, Brian leaned over and hugged her.
The robotic voice spoke again. ‘One move out of line, Tabitha, everyone will see these photos. The truth. Who was at the door?’
The dog burst through, jumping up at the computer and Brian before leaping onto his bed and mock digging his sheets up.
‘Come on, Tabby and Brian. Tell me the truth. Come out, come out, whoever you are.’
Curtis stared from behind the door and Tabitha knew he’d have to come into the room. Rex started shaking a pillow in his mouth and wagging his tail.
‘Okay, I’ll help you both out.’
A video pinged up on the screen and started playing. It was their doorbell footage showing Curtis waiting at the door. Only Aunt Claudia had access to the doorbell footage as far as Tabitha knew.
‘Hello, Curtis. Show yourself.’
‘Rex,’ Curtis said in a whisper, then louder as the dog ignored him.
Rex jumped off the bed and onto the landing with the pillow still dangling from his mouth, then Curtis held a sign up. I’m going home and I’ll log on. I’ll try to find a way of helping you from the inside. I don’t know how, but I’ll try.
Tabitha wanted to yell that it was a bad idea to log on. Once you gave yourself to OpenMeSmiler, there was no way out.
Brian began writing on a slip of paper and when finished, he casually knocked it towards Tabitha who knocked it off the desk.
Curtis got down on all fours and reached in for it, reading what Tabitha knew said, no police.
He ran with his dog, down the stairs and out of the house, slamming the front door behind him.
‘Bye, Curtis.’ OpenMeSmiler burst into fits of robotic laughter. ‘I love this game. Love it, love it, love it. Now it’s time for the next phase. Are you ready, Brian? Tabitha?’
She wasn’t ready.
‘There’s only one way out of this and we are leaving the virtual dark path for the real one.
More instructions coming soon. Your journey awaits and I am thrilled to be your guide.
The company you keep is everything. Sometimes you can’t help but be in their company, and that my friend is just bad luck, other times you chose that company and that is a choice. You chose bad.’
‘I didn’t choose what happened to me.’ Tabitha’s face burned up.
She wanted to scratch that voice out of her ears and remove those images that had burned onto her retinas.
Abel had used her, abused her trust and then he’d been a horrible prick when he ghosted her, but sharing those photos had been an all-time low even for him.
He must have put them online and now everyone was going to see them. ‘I didn’t choose…’
‘What makes you think I was talking about you, little Tabby?’
She turned to look at Brian whose pressed together lips were sealed. ‘What the hell are you involved in, Brian? What have you done?’ She slapped his back, then his chest until they were in a full-on fight, like when they were kids. ‘I hate you.’ Slaps and pushes flew between them.
Exhausted from fighting, Tabitha pulled away and sat back in the chair.
There had been no voice coming from OpenMeSmiler for ages now.
She’d even forgotten they were being watched after letting all her frustrations out on dumbass’s body but still the threat loomed over them.
She flinched as her phone rang. It was Aunt Claudia.
‘Answer it,’ Brian said.
She stepped out of the room, knowing she couldn’t ignore the call.
‘Tabitha, sweetheart. Was there a dog in our house? I don’t want the dog in our house and not on the couch or the beds either – yuck. I know Curtis has left but please, just no dogs, okay. Gotta go.’ She ended the call.
‘Aunt Claudia said no dogs on the bed.’ Her chest tightened, she couldn’t breathe properly and the room started to sway.
She held on to the wall outside Brian’s bedroom and let the tears she’d held in spill out down her face.
Smile – OpenMeSmiler – Aunt Claudia sold dental equipment.
Aunt Claudia had to have known about Abel and she had to have been keeping tabs on what Brian was up to on his computer.
She knew about the company they were both keeping.
Aunt Claudia was a tech wizard. Now, Aunt Claudia knew about Rex being on the bed.
‘It’s Aunt Claudia,’ Tabitha mouthed. Her aunt was a murderer and now she was out to destroy them, teach them some sort of sick lesson, and there was nothing they could do about it.