“I want to tell you what happened with Hannah. Or, at least as much as I know. I wanted to stay out of the whole thing, but that doesn’t seem possible now. And I thought you deserved to know the truth.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m listening.”

Diana drew in a deep breath. “We all lied to the police about what happened that night.”

Chapter Seventeen

I stared at Diana. “You lied? About what?”

“I know this sounds crazy—just let me just start from the beginning.” I nodded, and Diana took another sip of wine. “Most of what I told you, and what we told the police, was true. We drove down to the Keys. Once we got there, we made two stops in town. One at the bar, the other at a grocery store for supplies. Then we went to the campgrounds and set up our campsite. And then, everyone started drinking. I mean, really drinking—I barely drank in those days, and even I was pretty out of it. At some point, I don’t even know when, we all went to sleep. Or, more accurately, we all passed out in our various tents. Nico and I shared one, James and Hannah were in another, and Parker had his own, although he apparently fell asleep outside, by the campfire we’d built.”

I nodded. So far, this was the exact story I’d heard before. “And then, at some point during the night, Hannah got up and walked away from the campsite,” I said.

“Yes, exactly.” Diana nodded. “Parker woke up and saw her leave. That was all true. The part we didn’t tell the police was that he followed her.”

“What?” I spoke louder than I meant to, the word cracking across the restaurant.

“Shhh!” Diana urged me. “Keep your voice down.”

“What do you mean, he followed her?”

“When we woke up the next morning, and Hannah was gone, Parker seemed agitated. I remember Nico telling him not to worry, that she’d probably just gone for a walk, but Parker still seemed freaked out. Finally, he told us why. When he saw her leave the campsite, he got up and followed her. He said it was because he didn’t think it was safe for her to be out there, in the dark, on her own. But I never believed that was the real reason.”

“What was the reason, then?”

Diana toyed with the stem of her wineglass, turning it slowly in her hand. “I told you, Hannah had an . . . effect on people. Especially with men. I don’t think she even knew the extent of the power she had over them.”

“She was very beautiful.”