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
“I also heard he was making some kind of stupid movie about Chloe, about—” He gestures to the gashed tree and the memorial and then to everything surrounding us. “About all of this. I think that sounds really ignorant. The police don’t need some high school kid getting in the middle of everything and stirring up the pot. He should just…should have just let the cops handle it.”
“I think he was trying to help.”
“It doesn’t help,” he says, his voice getting louder. “It’s like you and those videos you’ve made. I’ve seen them. Everybody’s seen them. Laura’s watched them and is getting madder and madder. They don’t help. They just get people stirred up and angry. I never understood why you kids feel the need to share so much. Every damn thought you have goes online. I just don’t get it.”
“I’m trying to find out if anybody knows anything. I want to find Chloe.”
“Well, I’m not sure videos help.” He shakes his head. “We’re all just at the mercy of what happens. You can try to grab hold and steer as much as possible. You can try to take control, but sometimes it just slips away, spiraling fast, like water down a drain.”
He stops talking abruptly. I’m not really sure what he’s talking about.
Something crosses his face, a look of recognition. “I’m sorry. I…wait. I want to ask you something.” He points at me. “The police keep asking us about Chloe’s journal. We didn’t know she even had one. Did you tell them about it?”
“I did.”
“Did you tell them where she kept it?” he asks.
“I don’t know where she kept it. It must be in her room somewhere, right?”
He shakes his head. “It’s not. The cops have been all through our house. They’ve been through everything. Our bank records. Our computers and phones.”
“She never told me where she kept it,” I say. “And I don’t have it, if that’s what you’re wondering. The police have been all through our house, too. They went through my drawers and my closet, lifted up my mattress and looked underneath. I can’t think of where it might be.”
He watches me, his eyes like a hawk’s. And I’m the mouse on the ground being tracked. “And you never read it?”
“Never.”
“Damn it all,” Scott says.
“I thought the cops would have found it by now. And I thought it would tell us something. That’s why I told them about it in the first place. I wouldn’t want anyone going through Chloe’s private things unless I thought it would help us find her.”
“Yeah, I know.” He turns to the trees again, as if I’m not there.