Read Blackout for Free Online Page B

there,
placing things in plastic bags. If Kelsey had taken something,
maybe that was it and maybe it had labels, so they’d know what she
took.
    Velda gave the paramedics as much medical
information as she could. While they got it onto their laptop, she
came over to Glyn and me. Her face was like granite.
    “Who did you say that person was? The
jock?”
    “Evan Steffers,” we both said together.
    “Don’t worry,” I added. “I’ll be glad to kill
him for you. He tried to kill me once, so I owe him.”
    “I want to help,” Velda told me.
    “Good. We’ll do it together. But it has to be
slow and painful and first we have to find out where he lives. I
never did know that.”
    I looked at Glyn. She looked at me. Months
ago, she’d told me he was living in his parents’ basement and they
didn’t even know it. They thought he was still in New Hampshire.
Glyn never did find out the address of that basement. Anyway, if he
was reinstated at Lakeside we could probably find him there, but
we’d have to wait until the semester began.
    Kidding aside, I knew Rick would take care of
him. Posting pictures was not against the law, but rape was. Where
the law left off, I was pretty sure Lakeside would pick it up. If,
for their own stupid reasons, they tried to keep it quiet, I
certainly wouldn’t. Without naming Kelsey, I would make sure the
world knew what a maggot Evan was.
    In fact, I would use it as a springboard in
my campaign for a better attitude toward women. It would have to be
a psychological thing, not legislated. You can’t legislate people’s
thinking. And it mustn’t be confrontational. No battles. The idea
should be to get their cooperation and make them actually want to
see women as equals, not be forced into paying it mere lip
service.
    Velda rode in the ambulance. I figured she
must have been calling her parents, if she knew where they were.
Probably they would go to the hospital, but in case they came home,
the police were still there, still investigating. I’d given Rick
the background of what happened. Glyn was the only eyewitness among
us and I knew she would rather jump off that turret herself than
face Kelsey’s parents.
    Before we left, I asked Rick, “What’s going
to happen now? Are you going to arrest him?”
    “As soon as we find him. But then we have to
make a case. We’ll need her cooperation.”
    Good luck with that, I thought, and
said, “Oh curses, I shouldn’t have been so quick to get those
pictures off.”
    Rick agreed. “Off the Internet, you mean.
It’d be nice if Ben thought to save them as evidence.”
    “Ben’s pretty smart,” I said. “Even if I’m
not.”
    Rick knew he was. He called Ben at home.
Usually when he called me, it was on my cell, but he remembered our
home phone. By some miracle, Ben was there.
    “On a flash drive?” I heard Rick say. “Very
good. You’re a genius, Ben.”
    I cringed. Don’t tell him that, he already
knows it.
    I left them chatting and got into my car.
Glyn sat in back, ready to hide on the floor if Kelsey’s parents
showed up. Cree got in front. “What are they going to do about
Evan?”
    “As I see it,” I said, “he’s committed a
felony, but they have to be able to prove it. It’s going to be
tough getting anything from Kelsey. Ben said he saved the pictures
on a flash drive. That could help.”
    “Ohmigod,” said Glyn. “The pictures.” She
pounded her forehead.
    “Will you stop with the guilt?” I told her.
“Just do whatever you can.” I turned in at Overlook, not even
asking if she wanted to go home.
    “No,” she said. “I was thinking, what if it
was me? How can Kelsey stand it?”
    “Obviously she didn’t.”
    “Ohmigod. She’s never going to want to wake
up.” In a tiny voice, she asked, “Can I go home with you?”
    I stopped the car. “I wish you hadn’t said
that. I mean about her not wanting to wake up. Yes, sure you can go
home with me. What’s wrong?”
    “I don’t even want to see the