The Podcast

Chapter 22

March 2014

As documented in Chloe's official case file and recounted in the first episode of West Coast Killers, Sumner had finished her Intro to Audio Storytelling class in UC Santa Barbara's College of Creative Studies at approximately 3:30 PM on Tuesday March 11th, 2014. After which she did indeed make the walk toward Santa Catalina Hall, the largest dorm on campus.

But she didn't see a man that looked like her father. Instead, flashing through her mind with gut-wrenching speed that brought a steady reverse drip of bile up into her throat, she saw the texts she'd discovered the week before. Her propensity for memorizing anything written, a skill that would make her millions in just a few years time, was now poisoning her body like a curse. She'd never be able to forget.

Two weeks ago, Chloe's phone had buzzed on their mirror-image adjoined desks, made up of the same faux wood as their dorm-provided twin beds. Sumner reached over and grabbed it, thinking for a moment it was her phone.

Sam: I can't wait to be inside you again. It's been too long.

Sumner blinked a few times, her brows furrowed in confusion. Slowly, she rolled back onto her own twin bed, picking up her book as Chloe sauntered out of the bathroom. Her skin was damp and extra golden from an afternoon spent at the beach. With her boyfriend, Jonah.

So who the hell was Sam?

"How was the beach?" Sumner propped herself up onto her pillows, gently probing for information. Maybe Chloe hadn't been at the beach with Jonah after all, but instead with some other guy named Sam. Chloe had always been beautiful and well-liked by boys, a true California girl. But she'd never mentioned cheating on Jonah and Sumner didn't know her friend to have a history of being disloyal.

"It was great! Jonah brought the wakeboards out. Way better than calculus, that's for sure."

"You skipped?"

"Yeah, but don't look at me like that, Sumner. You're like the only person I know who actually goes to every class every single time." Chloe playfully swiped at Sumner with her bathroom towel, her full and perky breasts exposed before she swipes at an orange tank-top on the ground, pulling it over her long wet hair. Sumner had never been as comfortable and confident as Chloe; not around others and not in the privacy of moments alone. She envied it.

"And Jonah's good? You two are good?"

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Chloe smiled lightly, nothing about her demeanor indicating she had something, or someone, to hide.

"Just curious, haven't seen him in a while." Not entirely untrue. It had been about a month since they'd all hung out together, Sumner tagging along as the third wheel.

"You know, his roommate EZ is a pretty cool guy. Really talented with audio mixing and producing stuff. He's been helping Jonah with his music. You should consider that double date idea!"

"His name is EZ?"

"Sumner! You're so picky. One of these days you're going to have to date, you know."

Sumner groaned, burying her face in her book. She didn't want to have that conversation again. And so, she tried to put the text from Sam out of her mind. Hoping her best friend would come around to telling her whatever it was she was keeping secret.

A few days later, Sumner went home for the weekend. Her dad lived about fifty minutes south of campus in Thousand Oaks, California. Every once in a while she needed a break from student life, from the throng of nineteen-year-old chaos, the shared bathrooms, the late nights of sticky sweet Fireball shots, the feeling of being constantly surrounded. Her dad's house was her refuge.