“I guess he could lose his job, and most TAs are grad students, so that means they then lose their tuition for their own classes,” Gabby said. “So, I guess I’d lie too if I was him.”
“You went camping and canoeing last summer with Zoe and Elly Forsander just north of here,” Burke said. “We’ve seen a few of the pictures.” He paused and smiled, trying to put Gabby more at ease and convey that it wasn’t a big deal. “It looked like fun. Where exactly was that at?”
“Lake Isabella. We only went once.”
“Who else was there?” Burke asked.
“Why?”
“Was it with that group that Zoe had gotten in with? And you know what group I’m talking about, Gabby,” Tessman said.
Gabby’s facial expression morphed into either guilt or fear, maybe both.
“We know it was you, Zoe, Elly and I’m going to guess Elly’s brother, Rod. Was Frisco there too?” Burke asked.
“Yeah,” she admitted. “That was the first time I saw Zoe and Frisco together when we were there. He’d been a TA in a class she was in last spring and over the summer. I think they’d been seeing each other for a while.”
“Were there other people there too?” Burke pressed.
“Yeah, the camp was full of those prepper people. I’m not one of them. I get what they’re saying, and I agree with them on most of it, but I think they’re kind of extreme.”
“Where exactly is this camp?” Tessman asked. “She may be hiding out there, and we’d like to check it.”
“She could be,” Gabby said, much to their surprise. “I didn’t even think about it before that she may have gone there. I thought she was staying at Frisco’s place or maybe at Elly’s. The camp is at the back of this creepy guy’s property. There’s a house and a big building on the property and then the cabins and the campsites are by the river.”
“What creepy guy?” Burke asked.
“His name is David. I don’t know his last name. He’s older, like near my dad’s age, and I know he always carries a gun. He said it was because there were bears in the area. The weekend we were there he disappeared for hours at a time, thankfully, but when he talked to Frisco, Rod, or a few of the others, he always whispered so we didn’t hear him. He didn’t interact with Elly, Zoe, or me too much.”
“Did he own the property?” Tessman asked.
“Yeah, and the house was his, where he lives. We stopped at it when we first arrived to tell him we were there.”
“How many people were camping there with you?” Burke asked.
“Maybe twenty?” Gabby said.
Burke reached to Zoe’s desk and grabbed a notebook. “I need you to write down everything you remember, people’s names and their descriptions. We also need the best location of this house and camping area you can provide, the streets you took to get there, turns, what the house looked like, if there were any street numbers you remember.
She frowned. “I’ll do my best. It was over the summer, and I wasn’t like trying to remember anything. I knew I’d never go back there, so I didn’t pay close attention to how we got there or got back. And I only know people’s first names.”
“Who drove?”
“Elly’s brother.”
“Rod drove you all in his pickup truck?” Burke asked.
“No, her other brother, Eddy, in his SUV.”
“Six of you fit in the SUV with all your camping stuff?” Tessman asked.
“No, Frisco drove separately.”
Gabby worked on writing down the information for nearly half an hour. “Here, this is the best I can do,” she said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything yesterday. And I’m only telling you now because you said other people think Zoe’s in trouble too. I was trying to help her, like I promised I would.”
“You’re a good friend, Gabby. If she is in trouble, this helps a lot. If we find her and determine she’s okay, we’re not going to tell her parents where she is. She’s safe with us.”
“Okay. Can I ask you a favor?”
