“Fucking shit!” Marsha cursed as she slammed her palm onto the car horn.

The red car swaying dangerously into the lane immediately corrected course. It zoomed past Marsha but not before the policewoman caught a glimpse of its driver.

Rattled and furious, she hit her pudgy fist on the steering wheel and spun the police car around. The wheels screeched on the tarmac, kicking up dust.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Thomas exclaimed from the passenger seat as his grip on the car grab handle tightened.

“What else?! I’m going to charge that Sandra with reckless driving.”

Thomas whipped his head out the window to see Sandra’s red car in the distance speeding away from them. He looked back at his partner. Her eyes were wide, her face smudged with red. Gulping, he searched for an excuse to stop her.

“Wait! Don’t we need to go back to the station though?” Thomas grasped at straws.

Marsha punched the accelerator as she shifted into gear. The engine roared with a fury that matched hers. “That can wait.”

“But,” he sputtered. “There’s no way we can catch up with her at this rate. I mean.. What about I give her a ticket and a dressing down later? Anyway, she’s new in town and it’s not nice to start on such a bad note right? Well, I mean I’ll still charge her later but-”

His rambling was cut short by an exasperated sigh. “Fine, I’ll let her go this time.”

Thomas stared in disbelief at Marsha. “R-really?”

“Yes, yes. I heard from Tamm about you and Sandra. So I’ll let this one go,” she grumbled. “But this is the only time, you hear me?”

A grin split his cheeks and he nodded. “Absolutely. Thanks a bunch.”

Thomas settled back in his seat as Marsha turned the car around again. Then, it dawned on him. “Wait. Tamm told you what??”

“About your little crush on Sandra.”

“I- what?” Thomas scoffed even as his cheeks stained pink. “No, that’s not- I mean, it’s not true.”

“Your secret is safe with me.” Marsha winked.

Thomas groaned. Chuckling, Marsha shook her head at her colleague but a solemnity crept into her tone. “But be careful, Thomas. Those people in the entertainment business can’t be trusted.”

Puzzled, Thomas quirked an eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”

“It’s a well-known fact that those who enter the entertainment biz need to sleep around to achieve fame.” Marsha scoffed as she took the corner more sharply than usual. “Besides, they always have to deal with the press. So they’re good at spinning their words. They’re fucking good liars, that’s what they are.”

Thomas remained silent as he observed the dark cloud that descended on his partner’s expression. He had never seen her so judgmental to the point of being irrational. The furious intensity of her gaze as she watched the road was unnerving. He shifted in his seat as trees whipped past his window.

Trying to steer the conversation towards a lighter tone, Thomas gave a nervous laugh. “What if Percy were to tell you that he wanted to be a singer or something?”

A derisive snort erupted from Marsha. “I would set him straight. No son of mine is going down that path to be a nobody.”

She turned to him with a stern look. “Percy would be dead meat if he came to me with that.”

Locked into place by her gaze, his heart dropped to his stomach. The hint of danger in her tone carried a sense of familiarity and he forced down the building anxiety in his chest. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead as he swallowed the lump in his throat.

The sharp ringtone of his phone broke through the heavy air in the car. The distraction couldn't be more welcome. Fumbling the device out of his pants pocket, he thumbed the green button. “Thomas here.”

He kept his gaze strictly out the windscreen as he listened to the caller on the other end. The unending greenery was replaced by brick buildings and paved roads. More cars passed them by and traffic slowed to a stop at a red light junction. As Marsha tapped on the brakes, he ended his call and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

“They found out who posted the vulgar video online,” he told Marsha. “Turns out it was the Valerie kid.”

The traffic light flashed green. Marsha scoffed as she put the car in gear and zoomed down the straight road. “Last time, when you didn’t like someone, you would throw eggs at their car or smash their window. Now, it’s making videos?? I don’t see how that hurts someone.”

Relieved that the conversation had changed course, Thomas relaxed in his seat and shrugged. “It’s a different era now. What happens in the cyber world actually impacts people in real life. There’s cyberbullying and what not.”

Thickset lines appeared on Marsha’s forehead. “All those stuff on the computer aren’t real. People are just too sensitive. Now we law enforcement have to deal with so-called bad or illegal digital behavior. It’s a waste of our resources.”

Thomas opened his mouth to argue but after a moment’s hesitation, decided not to pursue the topic. They were already pulling into the car park and it would take too long to enlighten Marsha about social media.

He settled for a simple “Let’s see what kind of video Valerie posted.”

They got out of the car and walked the short distance to the police headquarters. As they climbed the steps to the station, the front door swung open and a young girl in uniform stalked out. Half of her shirt was untucked, and her skirt rode up to her thighs. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, exposing her distinct cheekbones. Thomas recognized the scowling face and he called out to her. “Valerie-”

The girl brushed past him, ignoring his greeting, and threw a glare at Marsha before running to the car park. Thomas watched as she got into a car - her father’s one, he believed - and sped off.

Marsha clicked her tongue. “How did her parents even teach her.”

It wasn’t a question so much as a statement. Choosing to remain silent, Thomas followed her into the station. They approached the front desk where their colleague, a tired-looking middle-aged man, sat hunched over. He barely looked up before saying, “You missed her. She just left.”

“We know. We bumped into her outside.” Marsha threw a thumb at the front door. “So what happened?”

Brushing a hand through his thinning hair, he sighed. “Someone made an anonymous report about slander. We traced who posted the video and then called Valerie in. Since it’s her first offense, we let her off with a warning. Of course, she has to take down the video from the Internet.”

“Can we take a look at the video?” Thomas asked.

“Sure.” Taking out a tablet, the policeman flipped the cover open and pushed it towards Thomas. “Just pass it back when you’re done.”

“Thanks.”

Thomas propped the tablet up. A Youtube video with the title “Slutty Art Teacher” covered the entire screen. Grimacing, he tapped the Play button.

Sandra popped up on the screen, holding a book, with her back to the camera. As she wrote on the whiteboard, the camera zoomed in on her ass. An upbeat rap song about sex played in the background. When Sandra turned to face the class, the camera zoomed out. As she talked, her mouthed words made it seem like she was lip-syncing. The camera zoomed in and out on her breasts, in time with the rap beat.

When the video ended, Marsha snorted. “Instead of studying, Valerie had the time to put this video together. Gotta give it to the kids nowadays for wasting their time on completely useless things.”

“I’m going to grab a coffee.” She thumped her hand on Thomas’s shoulder. “Catch you later.”

Thomas nodded before turning his attention back to the tablet. His stomach churned at the vulgarity of the video clip and he hoped Sandra had not seen it before it was taken down. It must be terrible to see herself portrayed in such a sexual manner, not to mention seeing other people viewing and commenting on it.

Curious to see what people had said, Thomas scrolled down to look at the comments on the video. Most of it was obscene remarks about Sandra’s body. He grimaced at some of the descriptions of what the anonymous commenters would like to do to her. He knew that they were boasting or fantasizing and that their “planned” actions were no real than a fart. Even Valerie’s act of filming, editing, and posting the video was more a sign of rebellion against authority with the intention to cause embarrassment.

But it was a comment from someone called “thesandrabod” that sent chills down his spine. It read:

Sandra belongs to me and only me. You will pay for posting this video.

---

Devil's Triangle is now available on Kindle, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and Kobo! Check out the newly edited version of the story (and with a new title too) at the links in the description!