Chapters (95)
- Front Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Video #1
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Video #2
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Video #3
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- The Final Video
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Cover
“But there were pages missing, especially at the end,” I say. “Maybe Scott tore them out to cover up what happened. Maybe he learned what was really going on with Chloe.” I swallow hard and say it. “Maybe he found out Chloe was pregnant.”
Laura’s shaking her head. “She wasn’t pregnant.”
“How do you know?” I ask.
Laura shakes her head with more force. “Because I’m her damn mother. And I helped her dress for homecoming. And I know what time of the month it was. She wasn’t pregnant. You claim to know Chloe so well. You know she was a perfectionist. We saw the journal. She said she ripped out pages when she didn’t like the writing.”
“Yeah, I know. But maybe there was stuff about Ron. Maybe she named him. And when Scott went to fix the hole, he found it. And read it.” I take a step forward. I feel like I’m on firmer ground now. “Laura, what would Scott do if he found out someone was sexually harassing his daughter? Would he just let it go?”
Basher’s staring back at me, his eyes as big around as grapefruits. But he doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t move a muscle.
“Or would he confront the person?” I ask. “Would he go after the guy?”
“He’d absolutely have the right to,” Laura says.
“Yes, he would.”
“So is that what you think he did?” Laura asks. “You think Scott found the journal, read about Hartman, and went off to the school to confront him? And instead of confronting Ron Hartman, he decided to run you and Chloe off the road? Does that make any sense?”
When she says it like that, it doesn’t. It’s like being in school when I give a wrong answer.
“Unless…” Mike says next to me.
His voice makes me jump. He hasn’t said much yet, but…
“Unless he didn’t know what Hartman’s car looked like. And he was so pissed off he went flying up to the school, and he saw Chloe’s car leaving…and he just thought…or assumed…if he was really pissed off.”
I jump in and finish where Basher leaves off. “He’d just read the journal, so maybe he assumed it was Chloe and Ron in the car going off somewhere. To do who knows what. And he wanted to stop them and…”
Laura starts to move.
I turn back to her.
She has a gun out, and it’s leveled right at Mike and me.
“I don’t think I can let you boys leave,” she says.
Eighty-Two
The black metal of the barrel shines under the bright garage lights.
Mike and I lift our hands, and as he does, Mike says, “Laura, you don’t have to do this. We don’t really know what happened.”
She turns to me. “Have you shared this theory with anyone else?”