Helpless
Characters: Caroline Setting: Susanna's room, during the pool party
Caroline forced herself to walk a little slower as she headed for Susanna's room. She had memorised what she knew of who was where earlier on - always know everything. It had kept some of the worst of her fixation at bay for a while. Acting like she was preparing. But now, now she could act.
It was their fault. The people who had put her here. Who had strung temptation in her way. They couldn't honestly expect her not to take the opportunities she was presented with?
Yes, she knew that they could expect just that. They could, and would, expect her to change. They'd hauled her out in front of the press for just that reason. Because she made such a good face. Because she was pretty, and charming, and could fake it with the best of them. But it was all their fault, what she was doing. She was never going to change. Change was not good. It was an abandonment of who she was. Which was the best at what she was about to do.
She had the door open to Susanna's room and was inside in a moment. Nobody saw her enter. She knew there were cameras, but she could do nothing about them so she didn't think of them. After all, they'd done nothing about her last break in, not 24 hours ago. Maybe they weren't watching that closely.
The room smelled of sex, a subtle aroma that said that her 'friend' from the pool had clearly already been getting friendly with someone else. She looked around - apparently they'd had a bit of a party as well. An empty wine bottle, glasses, even some dirty dishes. Off to one side, she saw a painting. Nothing by a know artist, of course. Caroline stepped around the room, moving softly. It was so familiar, yet so different. They had been here only days and yet people had begun putting their stamp on things - even without taking into consideration the decorating equipment that was apparently now on offer.
Caroline set her pace at a fast, yet relaxed search. She savoured every moment, whilst still having an eye on the time. It felt good, so god, going through somebody else's possessions without their knowledge. Moving to the bathroom, she sorted through all that was there. In the end, she settled on a hand towel. Nothing personal with this one. She had been too exact - too together. She would notice something she cared about. Something she didn't, well, that may just have been misplaced, or put in the laundry shoot. It would do, for now.
Slipping out of the room, Caroline returned to her own, hanging the towel in plain sight in her own bathroom. She smiled, took a breath and left.
There were still people at the pool when she returned. She had been gone maybe a half hour. An hour at best. Grabbing a margarita for show, she settled down, not far from where she had been before. If a few minutes later she fumbled the drink, well, she could be clumsy at times. And if the drink fell not far from Susanna's things - she couldn't not clean that up.
The key was slipped back into the shoe, safe and sound. And Caroline, effecting embarrassment, left the pool, not looking back.