Chapters (72)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- PROLOGUE
- CHAPTER 1
- CHAPTER 2
- CHAPTER 3
- CHAPTER 4
- CHAPTER 5
- CHAPTER 6
- CHAPTER 7
- CHAPTER 8
- CHAPTER 9
- CHAPTER 10
- CHAPTER 11
- CHAPTER 12
- CHAPTER 13
- CHAPTER 14
- CHAPTER 15
- CHAPTER 16
- CHAPTER 17
- CHAPTER 18
- CHAPTER 19
- CHAPTER 20
- CHAPTER 21
- CHAPTER 22
- CHAPTER 23
- CHAPTER 24
- CHAPTER 25
- CHAPTER 26
- CHAPTER 27
- CHAPTER 28
- CHAPTER 29
- CHAPTER 30
- CHAPTER 31
- CHAPTER 32
- CHAPTER 33
- CHAPTER 34
- CHAPTER 35
- CHAPTER 36
- CHAPTER 37
- CHAPTER 38
- CHAPTER 39
- CHAPTER 40
- CHAPTER 41
- CHAPTER 42
- CHAPTER 43
- CHAPTER 44
- CHAPTER 45
- CHAPTER 46
- CHAPTER 47
- CHAPTER 48
- CHAPTER 49
- CHAPTER 50
- CHAPTER 51
- CHAPTER 52
- CHAPTER 53
- CHAPTER 54
- CHAPTER 55
- CHAPTER 56
- CHAPTER 57
- CHAPTER 58
- CHAPTER 59
- CHAPTER 60
- CHAPTER 61
- CHAPTER 62
- CHAPTER 63
- CHAPTER 64
- CHAPTER 65
- EPILOGUE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
Harper looked at her skeptically, but nodded for Keller to continue.
“You and Maggie were close friends?”
“Best friends,” Harper corrected, swallowing hard. “Since she moved here in sixth grade.”
“When’s the last time you saw her?”
“Like, in person? Or online or—”
“Let’s start with in person,” Keller said. The kids were different now. When Keller was a girl, it was the landline telephone, meeting at the mall or roller rink. Now they stayed connected through tiny screens.
Harper looked at the floor. “We went to a party a couple days before she went on her trip.”
“Was this a birthday party or a school party—or a party party?”
“Party party,” Harper said. “A kid from school, his parents were out of town.”
Keller’s smile said, No big deal, I was a teenager once. “How was Maggie? I mean, did she seem like herself?”
“She didn’t want to go.” Harper’s voice broke and tears spilled from her eyes. “I made her and then she was, like, nearly assaulted and it’s all my fault and, like, the last time she saw me, she was upset and I should’ve—”
“It’s okay,” Keller broke in, reaching for Harper’s hand. The girl was gulping for air, her face blotchy. “It’s all right,” Keller continued. “You did nothing wrong.” She moved closer, giving Harper time to collect herself.
Harper dragged the sleeve of her sweatshirt across her face, wiping the tears.
“I know it’s hard,” Keller said, finally, “but can you tell me what happened the night of the party? Just tell it from the beginning, leave nothing out.”
And Harper told her. That Maggie’s mom was out of town. That she’d lied to her dad, who had a thing against parties. That Maggie was going there to see a boy. That she and the boy slipped away, and Maggie ran out of the party crying and upset. That Harper and a friend drove Maggie home.
And then came the cyberbullying. That explained the messages.
“Did you see her after that night?”
Harper shook her head. “She shut down the sites about her brother and said she needed a break from social media, from her phone.”
“Was that unusual?”
“She wasn’t a big phone person. But she lived for the sites about her brother. You saw the show, right?”
Keller nodded. Her chest tightened with the idea of the girl from the documentary—the pugnacious investigator helping her father—escaping the party after God knows what happened with the boy.
“When you saw the messages and that she’d shut down the sites, did you reach out to her?”
“Of course. She was my best friend. And there was no fucking way I was going to let those fucking—” Harper stopped herself. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“I told her I was there for her.”
“And what did Maggie say?”