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Kim&039;s loft was a criht if the police had roped it off, nobody would disagreeThings were tossed everywhere, broken junk was piled in the corners, clothes were tossed on every flat surface It smelled of old Chinese food, and the at-least- with cartons and pizza boxes One pizza carton lay on the floor with a couple of slices of sausage withered inside

"Nice," Shane said, and looked around "Well, we know she&039;s not a closet neat freak" There was paint all over the walls, too - not paintings, just paint, thrown on in sprays as if Kiallons and spun around in a circle, splashing it all over It was probably still art, just not Claire&039;s favorite kind

"She&039;s busy," Eve said, and cleaned up the pizza box and a few other Chinese food cartons, which she ja "She&039;s an artist"

"She&039;s a slob," Shane said "I&039;h So, what&039;s the plan? We look around? Can I have dibs on the underwear drawer?"

Claire winced "I can&039;t believe you just said that"

Shane took on an angelic look "Soot to do it"

"Then that soot serious "Hey I&039;m sorry I didn&039;t mean - "

"I know" It still hurt She avoided his eyes and started rus It wasn&039;t as if Kim actually had an underwear drawer - she didn&039;t see her bras and panties all over the place Claire grabbed a bag and started stuffing the clothes into it, just because

"Girls," Michael said "We&039;re here for clues, right? Not cleanup?"

"Right" Eve took a deep breath "I&039;ll check the bedroom"

"Bathrooht, you keep going in here," Michael told Claire "I&039;ll take the kitchen"

"Good luck" She meant it She bet erator

That left Claire on her own in the big, trashed-out roo, but when she let herself ignore the trash, strewn clothes, and generalon the walls One of theated faces and staring eyes

Staring eyes They glittered For a frozen second, Claire thought there was soot her head together It was just glass, reflecting; it wasn&039;t real eyes But ould Kilass on the eyes - no, on only one eye?

Oh

"Guys?" Claire opened the closet beside the h piles of crap and boxes, and found the cah-tech thing, wireless So there had to be some kind of receiver, somewhere She ducked out of the closet to yell, "Any computers around here?"

"In here," Eve said There was a Mac set up on a rickety table in the corner of the bedroo, unmade bed It had a screen saver on it, and when Claire tapped the space bar, it asked for a password She looked at Eve, who raised her shoulders in a clear no-idea shrug

Claire typed in Eve&039;s na

On a wildly unpleasant hunch, she typed in Shane

The screen cleared, and Claire was looking at herself She recoiled in surprise, and the screen i back from the camera Oh The built-in camera was on Claire clicked it off and looked at as on the desktop, which here she personally put things she wanted to use quicklyand there it was It was a folder, marked Reality Project Cam 72

There were video files there Claire clicked one, and instantly, Ki in dramatically toward the computer&039;s lens "Day twenty-two of the project," she said in a loud whisper "Still not sure whether or not any of the extra sites have been discovered, but I&039;ll run it as long as I can Great stuff so far The official history project is still going, but most of the vaoing to be so rabbed a handy bottle of soda and held it in both hands, looking over-the-top happy "Oh, thank you so much; I just can&039;t believe this honor I&039;d like to thank the Academy - "

Claire paused it and looked at Eve, and Shane, who&039;d come out of the bathroom to watch Michael joined, too

"What is this?" Claire asked Eve was shaking her head, eyes fixed on the screen "Seriously, you don&039;t know?"

"No What&039;s she talking about?"

Claire fast-forwarded until Kiain Ki about, to her, it was ot to put soood, strea up God, why do people always fall for the stu pidest things? The old bathrooone for tenaround Sweet" Kim leaned in, close and confidential "I may have to keep some of this for myself Shane, undressed Oh yeah"

"Excuse me?" Shane blurted "What the hell?"

Eve&039;s eyes widened, and she licked her black-painted lips and said, "When was this?"

Claire checked the date "Early last week"

"Oh God," Eve said "I - I met Kim at the auditions I mean, I already knew her, but not like close friends or anything, and she just seeot done You were at school, Michael was out, Shane was just leaving"

"And she asked to use the bathrooone awhile, but you don&039;t ask, right? You&039;re not supposed to hover, I mean, coreed "She&039;s also a raving bitch manipulator I dated her, remember? Once You should have askedme naked? I wasn&039;t even there!"

Eve covered her mouth with both hands "What did she do? Oh ht? She used me"

"She uses everybody," Shane said "Twenty-four, seven I&039;ot so head over heels with her She&039;s notyeah She&039;s just not"

Claire wondered if she should feel some kind of vindication, but she didn&039;t She felt nervous "What did she do in our house?"

"What do you get Oscars for?"

Shane and Michael both said, at the same time, "Movies"

And the four of them looked at one another in silence for a moment Claire didn&039;t kno they felt, but her stoht

She slowly turned back to the screen, shut down the video, and looked at the folder

"What?" Shane asked She pointed at the screen

"This is Kim&039;s personal video journal," she said "It&039;s where she recorded all her personal stuff"

"So?"

"Look at the number"