The Pretend Boyfriend novel Chapter 71

Brian is stunned.

Whaaat?

"I didn't rape her," he says with conviction. The whole thing stinks of a setup, not that he has time to mull over the new evidence. He repeats, more sure of himself now, "I didn't rape her."

"I would advise you to present everything you gathered to your lawyer," Officer Cutter says. "Be forewarned that this new evidence to cast suspicions on Ms. Faulkner's motives may not be viewed favorably by the court, as Ms. Fox obtained it unlawfully."

"But - " Brian begins.

"Ms. Fox has contravened Article 8 of the Human Rights Act, which establishes the right to respect an individual's private life, which includes her home and what she has on her walls."

"She was trying to find out the truth!"

"Which still doesn't prove anything." Officer Cutter eyes Brian with a cutting stare. "Your semen was found in Ms. Faulkner's vagina, Mr. Morton, along with signs of trauma. Whatever her motives may be, those are hard facts. Unless you have harder facts obtained by lawful means, the fact remains that she still accuses you of raping her, and she has the medical evidence to prove it."

Sam grips his arm and squeezes it, and Brian lets the awful truth seep in. He's still as helpless as he was before to prevent this. And now, Sam's innocence is at stake too.

When Officer Cutter is out of earshot, Brian murmurs to Sam, "So how did the police find out about your little escapade?"

"I didn't take anything," Sam says.

"I know."

She looks down at her feet. "I suppose the ease of how I got into her apartment should have alerted me that it was a trap. I think I kind of knew it when I saw her photos of you. If she had tailed you all this time and taken those snapshots of you from a distance, she must know your comings and goings pretty well." She takes a deep breath and adds, "Of course, she must have seen you with me plenty of times."

Of course, Brian thinks, but doesn't say. Sammie, what the fuck were you thinking?

She was just trying to help you, you hopeless bastard.

Yeah, but what the fuck was she thinking of? Dressing up like a ninja in the middle of the night and committing a felony knowingly?

Sam goes on, "She had a hidden camera trained on the door at all times, recording visitors - legal or otherwise. I think she was expecting me, even though I left no trace that anyone had been there. At eleven thirty, when she came home and played the video feed, she called the police on me."

Brian's heart sinks as he hugs Sam again to his body. The whole thing was frighteningly and sickeningly premeditated.

In her apartment, Sam and Brian pore over the photographs in greater detail. They are hers to keep, even though they were obtained through unlawful means. They were taken by her camera, and therefore, they were her intellectual property. It is the 'breaking and entering' that is a chargeable offence.

"Does the name Adele Jankovic ring a bell? She intimated that she might have known you in college."

He leans back, cross-legged, and frowns. After a long while, he says, "I really, really can't remember."

She picks out a photo. It is the one she took of the plain woman. "You know this girl?"

Brian takes the photo and peruses it, his brow furrowing. "Adele Jankovic ... Adele Jankovic ... college."

"It mightn't have been in college," Sam says helpfully. Delilah could have been talking about someone else. But now, thinking back to the strange, premeditated conversation, there were undertones and undercurrents that had been obvious. Delilah was speaking about Brian - and she had wanted Sam to know it. And to let it seep back to Brian as a clue.

Brian's handsome face suddenly goes very still. Sam's heart leaps.

He says hoarsely, "Fuck, I think I know who she is. And she has a reason to be mad at me. Very mad."

It was his senior year in college.

Brian was the most popular guy on campus. He had the looks, the pedigree, the height, the smarts, and the casual athletic grace as he glides across the Ivy League grounds on his lanky legs. Most people think he coasted into college on his uncle's money. But what they didn't know was that he scored 2320 on his SATs. What's more, he was good enough in soccer to get in on a scholarship.