Two pages later, I saw that Vaughn Lambert’s picture had also been circled, along with that of his wife, Tilly.
Logan’s parents.
Then another, Aiden Robinson.
Willow’s father.
It seemed they’d been chosen with purpose.
On the last page of the senior class portraits, two more faces had been circled, Jordan Ward and Wendy Ward. Twins. Their names meant nothing to me, but given they’d been circled, I imagined they soon would.
“I’ve spoken to everyone except the twins since your daughter died,” I said. “What can you tell me about them?”
Rosemary glanced at their photos. “Ah, Wendy. She’s one of my closest friends.”
“She knew Audrey well, then?”
“I should say so. She’s her godmother.”
“And Jordan?”
“Haven’t seen him much over the years. He lives on the other side of the world, in Sydney. Has an Australian wife and a few kids.”
I thumbed through the rest of the book, finding nothing more of note, and then I snapped photos of every classmate Audrey—presumably—had circled.
Closing the book, I looked over at Rosemary. “When do you expect Dustin to be home?”
“He took a job out of town. He won’t be back until tomorrow.”
“The people who are circled, do they mean anything to you?”
“Yes and no.”
“They must have been circled for a reason. What connection did those classmates have to you or your husband?”
“Since they were three years older than I was, we didn’t run in the same circles,” she said. “Dustin and I met when I was a freshman, but we didn’t start dating until I was a senior. As to your question about them having a connection, there is one. There was a time when everyone circled had been good friends. Dustin told me they used to do everything together.”
“What changed?”
She leaned against the wall, folding her arms. “It’s just … it was a long time ago, and I don’t want to betray anyone’s trust without talking to Dustin first.”
“If telling me what you know helps me figure out what happened to your daughter, isn’t it something you need to do, whether he would approve or not?”
She gave my comment some thought. “I suppose you’re right. Here’s what I remember. In high school, Vaughn and Tilly were dating, and as you know, they’re now married. What most people don’t know is, in their senior year, Tilly was stepping out on Vaughn with Aiden.”
“Just so I’m clear, they were having sex, right?”
“Right. I knew nothing about it, of course, not until years later when I asked Dustin why the friend group had a falling out.”
“What did he say?”
“He said they were all hanging out together at a bonfire one night. Tilly had too much to drink, and she started crying and just blurted it out, admitting she’d been having an affair.”
“How did that go over?”
“Not well. He said everyone started arguing and picking sides. It got ugly. They may have disagreed on their feelings about the affair, but there was one thing they all agreed on. The secret needed to stay in the group. They made a promise not to speak of it to anyone else, not even their parents. And to my knowledge, they all kept that promise.”
“Except Dustin told you,” I said.
