Clique Bait - Ann Valett Page 0,79

corner of the room was a stack of camera equipment, a few different-sized tripods leaning against the wall, and boxes spilling with random straps, cords, and lenses.

This bed was unmade, but on the walls were photographs rather than posters. I examined them. They seemed to be pictures of parties; dance floors filled with movement and people grinning wildly.

A figure appeared in my periphery and I jumped. But luckily, it was just William. He must have cleared his room too. “Is this it?”

I nodded, moving toward the camera gear stacked in the corner. “I’ll start here. You start by the chest of drawers?”

He obeyed, walking over and kneeling by the space I’d indicated. I didn’t waste any time, pulling the boxes from their stacks and flipping through the contents.

I didn’t understand any of what I was seeing, but it looked to be more recording equipment than removable computer storage. I wondered if he somehow just kept it all on his laptop, uploaded to some highly secure online drive. I didn’t want to resort to stealing anything as huge as a computer, but if that was our only option, then so be it.

Just as I was considering boxing up everything and taking it with us, William spoke, his voice in disbelief.

“Chloe, look.”

He was kneeling in front of a drawer he’d just pulled out, its contents a jumble of thick plastic devices and wires. I dropped the box that had been on my lap and stumbled over to him, my legs weak.

I grabbed the first one I saw. They were all different sizes and brands, but I could see the one in my hand was a terabyte large from the engraving in the corner. I flipped it over, my gloved hands landing on a set of grooves at the base. I shone the light over it. A year was engraved into the case. 2015 Part One.

“They have dates,” I said. “Or periods of time, at least.”

“This one has too,” he confirmed. “Twenty seventeen.”

I scrambled to find the next one, my heart thudding as I read the date. “Two thousand and nineteen.” Last year.

William looked at me, this time hesitation in his eyes. “I’m not doubting you or anything, Chlo, I swear, but are you sure . . . are you sure you really want to see this?”

I swallowed, turning it over in my hands. It might not even have anything useful. He might have deleted every piece of Monica from it, just like Level One had done with their lives.

“Yes,” I said. “I need it. I need all of them. Take as many years as you can.”

We loaded them into the duffel bag, even the ones engraved with family holiday summer 2018 and Christmas 2017. He could have saved them anywhere. I sensed a guy like Desmond wouldn’t destroy anything as valuable as the demise of Monica Pennington. It had to be in there somewhere.

“I can’t believe we actually found this,” William said as I zipped up the bag, the last of the hard drives loaded inside.

“Let’s hope our luck doesn’t run out,” I muttered, casting a glance around the room. There was nothing else valuable to me. If what I thought was on the drives was correct, then I had everything I needed.

Desmond was stupid to leave himself so vulnerable. I should have left a thank-you note.

“Let’s go.”

Our trip out went as smoothly as our trip in. We left the rooms as we’d seen them and fastened the screen back across the window. The dog whined as we passed through the gate at the other end of the house, locking it behind us.

I peeled off the gloves as we crossed the road, refastening my hair with a tie from around my wrist, and then we slipped into the car and drove off as fast as possible.

We’d done it. And now I was desperate to unlock whatever secrets the files could reveal.

“Can we go back to my house?” I asked. “I can’t go to school yet—I need to find out what’s on these.”

“You could be searching for hours, Chlo,” he pointed out as he pulled up at a light. He was flushed, his cheeks visibly warm, and I figured he was just as relieved as I was. “Don’t you have a test?”

“No,” I lied, dismissing him. I didn’t want to be snappy, but I was growing tired and desperate. “Just take me back to my house.”

William did as I said, pulling up on my street after minutes of silence. “I’ll help.”

I frowned. “Are