The Longer The Fall by Aviva Gat (best new books to read txt) 📗

a good thing she focused her eyes on the man because if she hadn’t she might have missed it. The man who seemed utterly unengaged until that moment let out a swift chuckle and shake of his head as though quite satisfied with what he heard. His expression of emotion lasted less than a second, and then his face again went blank and he looked to his wife.

“What?” Bonnie said. “Jamie would not use that language! Nor do we at home!”

Madeline quickly changed her demeanor, the same way she did in debates or other round tables with opponents. Her strategy was always to start looking like the underdog, like the quiet one that no one need fear, but once her opponents were riled up, she flipped, using their own emotions against them, making them look like petty children while she gave the final word of reason.

“Actually, I believe Mr. Albertson does,” Madeline said, turning to the man to address him. “Mr. Albertson, is it possible that you told your son, or said in a way that he would hear you, that I am a whore?” The man’s mouth dropped slightly and he hesitated as he looked to his wife and the principal as though one of them could signal him the right answer.

“This is ridiculous!” Bonnie yelled, throwing her hands up. “Mark, let’s go. We’re done here. Mr. Kendrick, if Noah isn’t expelled there will be legal percussions! I hope you understand that! Madeline, Brandon, you will be hearing from my brother-in-law’s firm!” Bonnie stood up and motioned to her husband to follow her out of the office. He did, with his eyes stuck to the floor as though still searching for his defense.

“Well, that didn’t go as planned,” Mr. Kendrick said. “I’m so very sorry.”

The Thomases thanked the principal, who agreed to further look into the issue with Noah and Jamie before making any permanent decisions. Then Madeline and Brandon left the office to walk to their cars.

“You were so sharp in there! Really impressive,” Brandon said, putting a hand on Madeline’s shoulder. Then he whispered in her ear, “It almost turned me on.” Madeline smiled and batted him away playfully.

“Almost?” She added her own banter. She excused herself to stop in the bathroom before they got to their cars, telling Brandon she would just meet him at home. No need to wait for her. They kissed and Brandon got in his car to drive away. Madeline used the bathroom, the stalls had obviously been cleaned since the school day ended but an old musky smell remained. Graffiti lined the walls where boys’ names were written either with hearts or profanities next to them. When she finished, she walked to her car in the parking lot and got in.

“You are a whore,” she heard suddenly as she was about to close the door. She looked up to see Mark Albertson in his own car, pulled up next to hers. Those damn electric cars were so quiet, she was startled he was so close. “I’m sure I’m not the only one who knows it.” Then he drove off.

Chapter 14

“We need to go over this one more time,” Agent Murray said to Madeline. They were sitting in Madeline’s office with the door locked. Madeline rarely locked her office door, but this time, she was afraid someone might come in, see something they shouldn’t.

“We’ve already went over it several times, I’m not sure I can tell you anything new,” she responded to the agent. He was sitting across from her, leaning back with his legs crossed. He held a small notepad in one hand and a pen in the other. The page in front of him was blank, logically, as there really wasn’t anything Madeline could tell him.

“We’ve been looking into Mark Albertson,” Agent Murray said, a slight change of subject. “He doesn’t appear to be the perpetrator according to our initial findings but we’re still looking into it.”

Madeline nodded, but stayed silent. Agent Murray let the silence linger for a moment before he continued talking. “Let’s just go over everything once more.” He pulled the picture of Madeline naked out from behind the notebook and placed it on the desk in front of Madeline. His eyes carefully avoided looking at the picture as though he were trying to preserve her honor, although Madeline was sure he had stared at it fully when not in her presence, in a purely professional way of course.

“Do you recognize this picture being taken? Do you recognize the sheets? The headboard? The situation?”

Madeline shook her head, her eyes filled with ennui. She had answered these questions before.

“Is there anyone other than Brandon who could have taken this photo?”

Brandon had never taken nude pictures of her. She would never have allowed it. Nude pictures, even taken by husbands, were fuel for scandal. All someone had to do was steal a phone, hack into a storage account and the pictures would be everywhere. Madeline again shook her head. “The photo isn’t real.”

“Our forensics believe it is,” Agent Murray responded. “It doesn’t have any of the signs of photoshop, no pixelated edges, or mismatches in the lighting. The team couldn’t find any pieces of the image anywhere else online, which usually happens with photoshopped pictures. Usually the image of the body could be found on a porn or stock photo site. But this body isn’t anywhere else online.”

Madeline shrugged. “So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying we need more information about this photo so we can develop new leads. There are a few scenarios of how this photo could have been taken. Since it is taken from above, it is a little more complex. Often, when nude photos appear online they are from someone’s phone or computer being hacked. Someone hacks the device, controls the camera, films or takes a picture, then erases the evidence from