“She’s down at the creek. Been going there a lot the past few days. Says it helps to clear her head. She says she feels closer to Audrey when she’s there. I’ll tell her you stopped by, and I’ll have her reach out to you.”
I said goodbye and stepped outside, the air feeling colder than when I arrived. I drove down the road and parked off to the side, hiding my car from view. Then I got out, hoping to find Talia.
I walked toward the creek feeling I was close to finding the truth, to discovering not just what happened to Audrey, but to Anne.
It was as if the truth was waiting to be discovered, just out of sight.
36
It took a lot longer than I’d hoped, but I found Talia at the creek, sitting on a fallen log with her boots planted in the damp soil, her elbows resting on her knees as she stared at the slow-moving water. The creek whispered as it wound its way through the trees, the sound steady and soft, making me see why she was so fond of this place.
She looked up when she heard me approach, and relief crossed her face.
“Hi,” she said. “I didn’t know you were coming over today.”
“I just spoke with your mom. She told me you were out here.”
“I come here when all the noise in my head gets too loud.”
I knew the feeling.
“I wanted to fill you in on some of the things that have happened since we last spoke,” I said. “Some of it won’t be easy to hear.”
She straightened, brushing her hands over her jeans. “It’s okay. Whatever it is, I want to know.”
I sat on the log beside her, and for a moment, we both watched the water slide past, leaves drifting along its surface.
“I need to tell you about Anne Fontaine. She was a girl who went missing a long time ago.”
“Was she ever found?”
“She wasn’t. I believe Audrey found the locket at the cabin. Once she realized it belonged to Anne, she learned a woman by that name had gone missing and began asking questions. At first, they were limited. As she uncovered more about Anne’s disappearance, those questions grew.”
I went on to tell her about the bones, the bonfire, the pact the group made after Anne disappeared, and everyone who was involved. I also explained my theory that as Audrey started piecing it all together, her curiosity may have turned to obsession.
Talia listened without interrupting, her hands clenched together in her lap.
“I believe someone knows what happened to Anne and that Audrey was trying to figure out who,” I said. “The harder she dug into it, the more they felt threatened until they decided something had to be done so the truth would stay buried.”
“What are you saying?”
“I think Anne left with someone at the bonfire that night, and then something happened, and that’s why she went missing. Except I don’t think she’s missing. I believe she’s dead and that the person responsible for her death is either responsible for Audrey’s death too or connected to it in some way.”
“If the last people to see Anne were at the bonfire, you’re saying you think … no. That can’t be true. My parents were there, and it isn’t either of them. They loved Audrey. She was family.”
“I don’t doubt that,” I said. “But love doesn’t erase fear. And it doesn’t cancel out the instinct to protect yourself when a secret pushes its way to the surface.”
Talia wrapped her arms around herself. “You’re wrong. You have to be. Everyone who was there, they’re all good people.”
“I wish I were.”
Her eyes filled with tears, and she turned away, staring at the water again. “I don’t know how to take what you just said. It feels like the ground just shifted under me.”
“I know, and I’m sorry for all you’re going through right now.”
She wiped at her cheek. “I think I want to go home. Can you walk me back? I don’t want to be alone right now.”
“Of course.”
