“Questions about Addison or about you?”
“Just Addison mostly. I said I would tell them whatever I could, whatever they needed.”
“Good.”
“They started out asking when I had last spoken to him, if anything seemed strange. That sort of thing.”
“And what did you say?”
“Same as before. We hadn’t talked since I’d left for Colorado. We texted a few times at the start, but then I didn’t hear back from him. They asked to see my phone.”
“Did they take it?”
“No, I just showed them the screen. The one who wasn’t talking scribbled some things down and asked me to tell him the dates and times. That was all.”
“Okay.”
“They wanted to know why Addison hadn’t gone on the trip. I said I wasn’t sure. And they asked about what had gone on between him and Kennedy.”
“What did you say?”
“I said it was hookups, that’s all. I was surprised when he decided to stay in the dorms, it seemed random. I said he’d told me he wanted to catch up on some work and they asked if I thought that was the real reason. I said I thought it was a little strange and I had wondered if there was something else. Or some other person.”
“Good.” This is what I had instructed him to say. I wanted to create some mystery around Addison’s decision to remain behind. “Did they mention anything about the girl from Akron?”
“No.”
“Okay.” Sooner or later, they would find their way to her. “What else?”
“They asked some questions about his family. I said they were great, that I was worried about them. And then they asked a bunch of questions about the trip. Who was there, what we did. Stuff like that.”
They were trying to paint a picture of Addison’s life, and maybe see if there was anyone on the trip he’d had conflict with. “Anything else?”
“Not really.” He hesitated. “Well, they asked about Charlotte.”
“What do you mean?”
“I guess they must have already talked to someone else from the trip. I don’t know who.”
“Why would anyone have something to say about Charlotte?”
“When I left Colorado, I didn’t want everyone to know I was coming back here. I was worried they would think it was weird. It’s like, when I brought up Addison on the trip they started ragging on me. Kennedy called me overprotective.”
“So?”
“So I told them I was going home. I said some stuff was going on with my mom. And I guess someone, Kennedy maybe, must have mentioned it to the police.”
“What did you tell them?”
“I said the same thing. That I went home for a few days.”
“You told the cops you were in Charlotte?”
“Yeah. I figured I should just stick to what they already knew. It doesn’t have anything to do with Addison.”
Fuck. “Jesus, Tyler.” How had I let this slip? I had gone through every detail of our plan again and again. But I had never asked what Tyler told his friends when he left Colorado. I just assumed they knew he came back to Sawyer. “They’re going to find out you weren’t there.”
“How will they know I didn’t go home?”
