10 - Party Like Gatsby (Pt 2.)

                                    

                                          
WARNING: THERE WILL BE SOME SWEARING IN THIS CHAPTER.

                          


                          
No one was sure exactly who grabbed who, or how they all came to be stood in the main foyer together like a suspicious group of bandits. None of them were supposed to know each other. Not the servers. Not those masked. Not the band. But here they were. And the second they saw each other, they slipped away into smaller groups, and no one saw them.
                          
The door slammed behind Kade. He looked around to find he had Kelsie and Rory for company. The two girls stuck in their ear pieces, and Kade did the same.
                          
"Everyone clear?" Came Hailey's voice. For someone so young, she didn't half act like an adult and aim to take charge, even if the role didn't entirely suit her sometimes.
                          
"Here," came Emma.
                          
"Right," called Allie.
                          
"Sure," said Sadie.
                          
"Check," Xavier added.
                          
"Oui," Ari confirmed.
                          
"Yeah," June acknowledged last.
                          
"What the hell is going on out there?" Kade asked. 
                          
He turned to his company and found, in their haste, they'd rushed into a full room that was clearly a dressing room. He'd barely taken time to peer into this mansion, to survey it beforehand, but now, he realised he should've. They had no idea what they were doing here, nor why their suspect had come beside this party - but how had they gotten an invite? - or had it been faked? At this point, it seemed anything went.
                          
"By the sounds of it," Allie said. Her voice was whispery down the earpiece as if hidden somehow in plain sight. "It sounds like something's gone missing."
                          
"Missing?" Sadie asked. "Someone noticed something missing already, in this house?"
                          
"Apparently an alarm was triggered," Allie added.
                          
"Did anyone see our suspect come in?" Hailey asked. "I didn't."
                          
"Nay," June said.
                          
"I don't think any of us did," Kelsie said, speaking up for everyone. Kade definitely hadn't seen anyone matching the woman's description.
                          
"Was this her?" Ari asked. "Could she have gotten an invite, snuck in, and nicked whatever it is that's now gone?"
                          
There came a scoff. "That's a lot of trouble for one fucking thing," Emma said - her voice was echoey. "But then, it depends on what's gone missing."
                          
"You're right though," June said. Kade blinked. Hearing those two agree gave him a feeling that the world was ending; they'd been trying to out-figure each other from the very start. "Getting a dress, which we saw her do, and then a mask, and an invite just to come in take something without even showing her face? Seems odd."
                          
"But the pretense would've held," Xavier's voice came. He sounded calm. "If someone was onto her, then they would've been following her. So seeing her get a dress, a mask, getting ready, it would've kept them reeled in. Then to have those people wait where they expect her to turn up while she does nothing, it's a lot, but-"
                          
"It worked," Kade finished.
                          
It was clear to see, they'd been duped. This woman must've known someone was onto her and had gone through with her plans, knowing that those following would make judgments, expecting her indeed to show at the party. But she hadn't. She'd used everyone's presumptions against them. Whoever this woman was, she knew how to play people. And it wasn't just because this crew was knew - Kade knew everyone had taken precautions to not get caught, so she must've assumed someone else was onto her.