She had gotten too emotionally involved in this case already.
◊◊◊
“How did you know I was coming,” Bette asked as she felt her physical energy draining, “Why did you do it? Why them?”
I need to ignore the cold, I know Gen is coming for me, Bette thought trying to remain mentally strong, I hope she is coming for me, I hope someone is coming for me.
“Oh, Bette,” Adele said, moving a chair so that she could sit a few meters from where Bette lay, “So many questions. But of course, I will be happy to accommodate you in answering them. At least when you die, you’ll die in peace.”
Adele stood up and started pacing again, “Do you like it,” she asked twirling around in a circle, “My father’s factory. He use to make ice-cream when I was a younger. Channing Mater Ice Cream Factory, C.M Ice Cream Factory. I use to love running around through all the pipes as a child, just roaming the factory.” Adele walked over to the edge of the table where Bette lay, “My best friend use to come over and play. She was so close to my family. I found my father fucking her in this room. My best friend and my father. That young cheap slut throwing herself at him. Just like all the girls who think sex could get them a degree. Tell me, Bette, how did you find my father’s factory? I’m ever so curious.”
Adele stood over Bette, starring at her.
Bette felt no need to hide what she knew from Adele, “I ran your name through a search, it matched the name of this company, but I never would have thought…that you could do this, Adele. Maybe someone related to you, maybe you were an accomplice, but never you. You seemed so helpful when we first came onto campus.”
“Looks can be deceiving, Bette. I’m sure you also couldn’t believe that Dean Lerner was sleeping with all those girls.” Adele sat down again, twirling the knife she was holding, “I worked hard when I was in NYU and Dean Lerner was my role model, she was everything I could ever aspire to be. And to find out the number of girls who were throwing themselves onto her, it was disgraceful.”
“Jodi seduced them, Adele.”
“NO! NO! NO! She would never do something like that, it was them. It was them. It was them! It was them!!” Adele screamed, the echo filling the room.
She continued, “Nikki Stevens, Francesca Wolfe and Dawn Denbo. They threw themselves onto the Dean. Imagine my surprise when I walked into Dean Lerner’s office one day and found Dawn with Dean Lerner. Dawn knew I had seen something and came to me for help, she told me her sob story, that Dean Lerner made use of her for sex, what a load of bullshit. So I slowly found the girls who were sleeping with the Dean through Dawn, and I become their councilor.”
Bette’s eyes widened in the realization that Carmen, Ashleigh and Sara had been confiding in Jodi and that the room they had used for their interview had been Adele’s.
“I must say, Bette, you FBI are a sloppy bunch. To think that after Carmen called me to tell me you were done with your questioning, I headed back to find a page from your file underneath my bed. Tsk tsk. Such a dead give away. I knew you were close to figuring out my secret. I was expecting you, it was only a matter of time,” Adele added with a laugh.
“Why my sister?