BooksBarbecue
Back She's Gone Save as PDF
Chapters (95)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Video #1
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Twenty-Two
  28. Twenty-Three
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. Twenty-Five
  31. Twenty-Six
  32. Video #2
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Forty-Three
  50. Forty-Four
  51. Forty-Five
  52. Forty-Six
  53. Forty-Seven
  54. Forty-Eight
  55. Forty-Nine
  56. Fifty
  57. Fifty-One
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Fifty-Seven
  64. Fifty-Eight
  65. Fifty-Nine
  66. Sixty
  67. Sixty-One
  68. Sixty-Two
  69. Sixty-Three
  70. Sixty-Four
  71. Sixty-Five
  72. Video #3
  73. Sixty-Six
  74. Sixty-Seven
  75. Sixty-Eight
  76. Sixty-Nine
  77. Seventy
  78. Seventy-One
  79. Seventy-Two
  80. Seventy-Three
  81. Seventy-Four
  82. Seventy-Five
  83. Seventy-Six
  84. Seventy-Seven
  85. Seventy-Eight
  86. Seventy-Nine
  87. Eighty
  88. Eighty-One
  89. Eighty-Two
  90. Eighty-Three
  91. The Final Video
  92. Acknowledgments
  93. About the Author
  95. Back Cover

Then the cops came by the house two more times, asking me more questions. The same things, like a song on repeat: Do you remember anything else? How were things between you and Chloe? Would Chloe ever run away? Did you break up? Did you have a fight? Did you ever hit her? Were you cheating on her? Was she cheating on you?

And then the big things they asked: Were you having sex? Is it possible Chloe was pregnant?

Super fun stuff to talk about with your dad in the room. And your little sister eavesdropping from upstairs.

They got the truth. Chloe and I had sex for the first time—and I mean the first time for both of us—one month before she disappeared. It happened to be our six-month anniversary. Everyone—including Chad—said the first time wasn’t going to be great. And they were right. It wasn’t.

But my first time was with Chloe. That mattered to me more than anything else.

Chad goes on. “I figured you knew about her being upset. Even if you didn’t remember it all. Hannah told the cops about that.”

I only knew because the cops told me.

But I also remember that Chloe wasn’t herself in the weeks leading up to the dance. She’d been distant. Short-tempered. Not as warm. Not all the time. Not every day. But more than usual. And when I asked what was going on, she claimed she was stressed out by school. An AP Chemistry test she needed to ace. Her work on student council. College applications. Her parents were totally obsessed with her college applications. They acted like the fate of the free world hinged on her getting into a good private college, preferably Ivy League. They always applied a lot of pressure. About her grades. About her future. But the college applications brought their intensity to a new level.

And we didn’t try to have sex again. There was no second time. Chloe didn’t seem interested in anything physical, and I chalked it up to all the weirdness in her life. We’d figure it out sometime in the future, when life was quiet again. Actually, I was secretly hoping we’d finally try again on the night of homecoming.

The cops seemed to listen when we talked, but there was one thing I struggled about telling them. I went back and forth about it in my mind but finally brought it up.

I told them Chloe kept a journal. Handwritten in a leather notebook.

Why the struggle over whether to tell them?