The Little Black Dress Read online

  “Yes. You can imagine what that meant,” Wendy said, looking horrified. “It turned out in order to make the squad, you had to perform oral sex on the coach!”

  “Oh my God,” I gasped. “I knew it! What a disgusting creep!” Coach Billy was not the most attractive of men, and no girl in her right mind wanted to give him any sexual favors, but girls trying out to be cheerleaders weren’t really in their right minds, and it must have seemed to most of them that a little blow job was the least of all the favors he could ask of them.

  “Yes, it sounds totally repulsive,” agreed Wendy, “but they all did it, even Caroline. Afterward, she was thoroughly disgusted with herself. She said it was the most revolting experience she’d ever had, and she barely made it out of the coach’s office before throwing up.”

  “That poor girl! But how could she go through with it?”

  “I don’t know. It sounded worse than you can imagine. She told me that he held her head so hard she thought she would strangle, and that he kept calling her a stupid bitch and that he laughed when he came.”

  “Just hearing about it makes me want to throw up,” I said.

  “Still, when it was over, she was on the team. At first, she just hated herself, but then she thought being on the team would be worth it. She said none of the other girls ever spoke about it, and so she never said anything either, and that seemed to be the end of it.”

  “But it wasn’t, was it?”

  “No, not by a long shot. Afterward, it turned out, as the semester progressed, the coach began to demand more sexual favors from the girls before every game.”

  “His pound of flesh,” I said, totally nauseated now.

  “Exactly. Plus he preferred a nice rotation of girls, and what was even worse was now he expected full-on intercourse in the privacy of his office.”

  “But how could they stand for that?”

  “It seems like even though all the girls were upset by this, so much so that they finally began to confide in each other, the head of the squad, Alyssa Bachman, that blonde bitch who made it to captain by putting out for the entire football team, wouldn’t let any girl escape her little duty to the coach. Nobody wanted to quit the squad, and they were afraid that if they came forward, everyone would know how low they had sunk to get on the squad in the first place.”

  “So they were trapped into sinking even lower,” I said.

  “Yes, it was totally repulsive. Caroline hadn’t had her turn with the coach yet, but she began to hear all the stories. The girls complained about how awful he was. He hurt them if they didn’t give him what he wanted. That’s when all those injuries started turning up. Natalie told Caroline that he bent her over his desk and started spanking her, and when she resisted, he punched her. That’s how she got the black eye. She said resistance only seemed to make him more excited and he could hardly get it inside her fast enough before he came.”

  “This gets more and more revolting,” I said, my head spinning.

  “When it was Caroline’s turn to meet with the coach, she tried to get out of it and made quite a scene outside his office, but the squad captain forced her to go in. She told her that if she didn’t do it, she would tell everyone in the school what Caroline had done to get on the squad.”

  “That must have been the scene Seth witnessed from the batter’s box!” I said. “It looked really suspicious to him at the time. Poor Caroline.”

  “Caroline said that as soon as she walked through the door, the coach came up behind her and locked the door. He already had his thing out and was rubbing it against her backside. Then he began laughing and groping her breasts from behind, pushing her across the room the whole time. She said he slammed her face down on his desk, lifted up her skirt, pulled down her panties, and started pinching and slapping her bottom, calling her a stupid bitch the whole time. Caroline simply couldn’t take it. When he began to spread her cheeks, she knew she couldn’t let him. That was all there was to it. She twisted out of his grasp, kneed him with her bony knee, and made it to the door.”

  “Good for her!”

  “While he was writhing on the floor, clutching his balls and cursing her, she managed to unlock the door and escaped into the gym, pulling up her panties before anyone saw her.”

  “She’s lucky she escaped,” I said.

  “Lucky and brave,” agreed Wendy, “but she was so shaken she couldn’t face the squad captain after that, so she announced that she quit in a text and then stayed home from school with a ‘sore throat’ for the following week.”

  “She must have been terrified that her parents would find out.”

  “She did talk to some of the other injured girls on the squad afterwards and they were all supportive, but they were still too scared to do anything. No one wanted to come forward and tell the authorities what was going on. They were all too embarrassed, and most of all, they didn’t want their parents or their boyfriends to know how low they had sunk.”

  “I’ve got to admit, that would be difficult, but how could they let it happen in the first place?”

  “It’s just high school peer pressure, Lucy. Every girl except you and me wished they could be a cheerleader,” said Wendy. I looked at Wendy and realized then that she would have made a great cheerleader, but she had never been interested in any of it. I suddenly felt a new respect for Wendy growing inside me.

  “Poor Caroline,” I said again.

  “Oh, it was awful just listening to her tell me about it. She cried the whole time, and she made me swear that I would never tell another soul.”

  “And then you came right over here to tell me!”

  “That coach is evil. He has to be stopped,” she said decisively.

  “You’re right. We’ve got to do something,” I agreed.

  “But what?” asked Wendy. “Caroline’s never going to testify. She’d rather die than let her parents find out what she did!”

  “Listen, Wendy. She has no choice. She’s just like any other victim of abuse, and this is exactly the way all predators keep their victims under control. The victims are too ashamed to tell anyone. It’s up to us. Even if I didn’t think the coach was a brutal murderer already, I would still take this information to the authorities.”

  “But, I promised her I wouldn’t tell anyone….”

  “It will be okay,” I said, making it up as I went along. “She might never have to testify, and it might not even have to come out publicly. I’ll talk to Seth first—and then I’ll call Seth’s dad. It might just be all the evidence he needs to get a warrant or whatever to arrest the coach, and if the coach is the murdering motherfucker I think he is, the cheerleaders won’t need to testify. They’ll get his DNA after they pick him up!” I think I’d watched enough CSI and Law and Order to believe what I was saying.

  Anyway, I convinced myself. I felt as if we had more ammunition now, and that disgusting creep was in our sights.

  CHAPTER 28

  THE HUMMER

  IT WAS late already, so we asked my mom if it was okay if Wendy spent the night. Of course it was all right, but we had to ask anyway. I had two single beds in my room and lots of clothes in my closet, so while I called Seth, Wendy told her mom she was sleeping over.

  “Yuck!” was the first thing out of Seth’s mouth after I told him the ugly story Caroline had related. “But you’re right. You should call my dad right away. This is probably all he needs to make an arrest.”

  “Is he awake? It’s midnight already.”

  “Yeah, he’s in his study, working away on this case.”

  We agreed to talk again after I spoke to his dad so we could figure out a plan for tomorrow. Now that we were getting so close, I was becoming more fearful, and I was glad to have Wendy there with me.

  I called Seth’s dad’s cell phone, and he answered right away.

  “Lucy! What are you doing up so late on a school night?”

  “I’ve got something to tell you, and I don’t think it can wait.”

  So I t
old him everything Caroline had told Wendy. Thankfully, he didn’t ask me to repeat anything, but I knew he was taking notes. After I finished, he said, “Well, that’s pretty grim news, but it coincides with the information we’ve been picking up in our own investigation. It turns out that he was quietly retired from his last job at that Midwestern college. There was a stack of accusations against him that they swept under the rug while he was driving their team to success until they couldn’t hide it any longer. They were finally forced to let him go.”

  “Gosh, what happened?”

  “Seems he was working the same game plan, only there, one of the girls committed suicide. So after their team won their division, they whitewashed the coach and let him go off to your high school as soon as the season was over.”

  “That’s awful. Really awful.” That was all I could say because I started to cry, thinking about how this horrible thing shouldn’t have happened to Carmen and how she wouldn’t have had to die if those jerks at that last school had only had the guts to charge the coach.

  “Look, Lucy. We’ve got enough evidence now, not just from the sexual misconduct, but we’ve narrowed down that list of vehicles I told you about. We ran the list the school gave us through DMV to get all the vehicles registered to the students and teachers, as well as those registered to parents of students, and we were able to narrow down the list to just three possible suspects, two teachers, and the coach, but the only vehicle large enough and with the right tires is the coach’s. He owns a Hummer H2 in Onyx Black.”

  “I don’t remember ever seeing a Hummer parked in the school lots. He must keep it at his house. I’ve only seen him driving around in a sporty yellow BMW.” But it was chilling knowing he owned such a huge and threatening-looking vehicle.

  “The quarterback, Luke Ritter, drives a Corvette, and his pal Carl Brandt drives a Porsche, and we know that Jonny Freeman drove a Lotus. None of their families own large sports vehicles. So it pretty much narrows down our search to the coach’s Hummer. But you say he doesn’t bring it to the school?”

  “No, I’ve never seen it there. Just his yellow BMW.”

  “Interesting. That means we can send our forensics team with a warrant to take his car while he’s at the high school without him knowing. That’s good. It will give us a little safety cushion.”

  I didn’t know exactly what he meant by this or how wrong he was going to prove to be. All I asked was “So do you think you’ll be arresting him tomorrow?”

  “We’ll try to process his car while he’s at the school and move in on him before school lets out. You’ll stay clear, won’t you? Maybe you should plan on leaving school early tomorrow.”

  “Seth has baseball practice after school.”

  “Well, I’ll make certain he misses that tomorrow.”

  “Good. I was worried with him being in the same locker room as the football team and all….”

  “You just take care of yourself, Lucy. Stay away from the gym, and get home early, promise?”

  “Oh yes. I promise.”

  “Good, because once we move in, there’s no telling what will happen.”

  “Good night, then, sir, and good luck.”

  “Try to get some sleep.”

  “I will.”

  I hung up and immediately telephoned Seth. I was so overcome by terror and excitement I could hardly speak.

  “It’s all coming down tomorrow!”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Your dad’s going to arrest the coach! You’ve got to miss baseball practice. You’ve got to keep away from the boys’ locker room.”

  “Christ!”

  “I’ve got Wendy with me, and we’re going to drive to school together, but you and I are going to leave early, understand? We’re not going to get involved. It’s all too dangerous now.”

  “I’ve got it, Lucy. Look, I hear my dad coming upstairs. I’ll see you in the usual place tomorrow morning. We’ll talk about it then.”

  I hung up and filled Wendy in on the other half of all the conversations she had overheard. Then we hugged each other and brushed our teeth, and I split a Valium with her so we could both get some sleep.

  CHAPTER 29

  SETH!

  THE NEXT morning, the alarm woke Wendy and me bright and early, although we were pretty groggy from our worry-filled sleep. It may have been a premonition or maybe just foresight, but we chose jeans and sneakers to wear that day, not the kind of outfits we usually wore to high school. We felt like we should be prepared to run. Just in case.

  We weren’t hungry either, but we each ate everything Constanza set on the breakfast table before us, which included Spanish omelets with avocado and cheese, big glasses of orange juice, and two pieces of toast, with butter yet. Wendy and I were taking pains to be fortified that morning.

  Then we whisked down Wilshire Boulevard in Wendy’s car and made it to my usual parking spot with twenty minutes to spare before homeroom. I was happy to see Seth’s car already there. We leaped out of Wendy’s car with smiles of relief on our faces, which faded in seconds. Seth wasn’t inside his car, and not only that, his car was unlocked and his book bag was lying on the passenger seat. Foolishly, I started yelling his name.

  “Seth, Seth, where are you?”

  Then Wendy, who really wasn’t as stupid as I made her out to be, grabbed me by the shoulders and said, “Lucy! They must have him! You’ve got to call his dad, now!”

  “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” I mumbled over and over, fumbling for my phone. It suddenly looked like a foreign object in my hand, and I could hardly hold it steady, let alone punch in any numbers. Wendy grabbed it out of my hand and scanned the recent calls, found Seth’s dad’s number from last night, and called it. Then she thrust the phone back into my hand and pressed it to my ear.

  “Lucy! What’s up? Why are you calling?”

  “It’s Seth! He’s not here.”

  “What do you mean he’s not there? Where is he?”

  “His car’s here, but he isn’t—and I know he isn’t in class, because he always waits here for me, and his car was unlocked, and his book bag is sitting on the seat.” I was frightened, and I knew I was babbling, but I couldn’t help it.

  Wendy yelled then, with her head inside Seth’s car. “And his keys are still in the ignition!”

  “Oh God,” Seth’s dad said, hearing what Wendy just yelled. “When the team went round to the coach’s house, his Hummer was gone.” There was a pause, and I could hear Seth’s dad talking to the officers near him, and it sounded like he was sending them over to the school.

  “Listen, Lucy. Stay right there. Don’t go inside the school. I’m sending a team over now. But, Lucy, is there any reason why Seth should be in danger? Any reason the coach would be suspicious of him?”

  “It just has to be that they recognized me at the hospital, and everyone here thinks Seth is my boyfriend.”

  “Then you’re in danger too. Are you still with your girlfriend?”

  “Yes, she drove me to school.”

  “Good, then you have her car, not your own?”

  “Yes, it’s her car.”

  “Good. Get back into her car and drive it to someplace else in the school lot, not where you usually park. Then lock the doors and stay there until I call you.”

  “All right.”

  “We’re on it, Lucy. Don’t worry.” And he hung up, but I could hear the worry in his voice and knew everything was far from all right.

  We did exactly as we were told. Wendy and I got back into her car, and she drove around and parked it in the visitor’s lot facing the school so we could watch the other students arrive and go to their classes like on any other school day. It wasn’t very long before the first police cars began to arrive. They were being discreet and pulled in to the parking lot without any fanfare. Even though they were in their black-and-whites, they didn’t have their sirens on, and after they parked, the officers stepped out quietly and strode into the main building as if the
y had come to give a talk on drugs. They seemed to be heading for the administration offices. I didn’t see Seth’s dad, but I guessed he was managing everything from headquarters.

  Later, when Captain Greenberg told me what really went on inside the coach’s Hummer, all I could do was cry. No one should have had to endure the cruelty that poor Seth had to endure.

  CHAPTER 30

  TICKET TO MEXICO

  “HELLO, DADDY’S boy.”

  Seth had been waiting for me as usual, sitting in his car looking over his physics homework, watching the entrance to the car park. He didn’t notice the big black Hummer pulling up behind his car, so he was totally surprised when his car door was suddenly flung open and a large hand wrapped itself around his skinny teenaged neck.

  The next moment he was being dragged out of the car by his neck, slammed up against the back of the Hummer, and there was the football coach, big, burly, and very, very angry.

  “You didn’t think I’d notice you hanging around with your snoopy girlfriend? You didn’t think I’d find out that you’re the police captain’s kid?” He was shaking Seth by the throat while he spat out these words. He already had the back door of his Hummer open, and he lifted Seth effortlessly, one hand still around Seth’s neck and the other on Seth’s belt, and thrust him into the back, clamping Seth to a side panel with handcuffs he had at the ready.

  “There, you go, daddy’s boy. Now you’re my ticket out of here.” Then, for no particular reason, he smashed Seth in the face with his big fist, smacking Seth’s skull against the metal panel, and Seth passed out, his crushed nose bleeding down his shirtfront.

  It only took the police fifteen minutes to descend on the school, and fifteen minutes later, the school buzzed with the news that they had arrested the school’s star quarterback, Luke “Skywalker” Ritter. No one knew anything about the coach. No one had seen him that morning, and there was no sign of him anywhere.

  That gave the coach almost an hour’s head start from the time he grabbed Seth. He was headed toward the Mexican border, but by then, the captain had an APB on the Hummer—and it was a pretty distinctive automobile, even in Southern California, so it wasn’t too long before the helicopters spotted the car racing down the 405 freeway just past Irvine, heading toward the I-5 and San Diego. Seth’s dad was in the lead copter, and he was using Luke Ritter’s cell phone, so when he dialed the coach’s number, he was pretty certain the coach would pick up, and he did.