Gray is quiet for a long time, his hands flexing in his lap. Finally he says, “Cameron was starting to remember things from before.” The last word catches in his throat. “From when she was young.”

“What things?” I ask gently.

“You really can’t tell her parents.” Gray closes his eyes and then opens them again, seeming to ready himself for the cost of the truth. I can feel his fear and worry. We’re asking him to take Cameron’s dark secrets out of the box he’s kept them in for her. As her closest friend, he is that box. “You have to promise me.”

We both nod.

“She wanted to go on birth control. She wasn’t having sex or anything. Don’t think that. Apparently it’s supposed to be really great for your skin.”

“It is,” I say. “Lots of girls do it for that reason.”

“Right. Anyway, she asked me to go to the free clinic with her. We took the bus to Fort Bragg after school one day a few weeks ago. It was like this racy grown-up thing.”

“Go on,” I urge. “You went to the free clinic.”

“Right, but the woman there wouldn’t just give her the prescription without doing a full exam. I waited for her, no big deal, but when she came out she was super quiet and shut down. I kept asking what had happened, but she wouldn’t even tell me until we were halfway home on the bus. It was awful.”

“What was awful?” Will asks.

“The nurse told her she had scarring.” His face freezes and then crumples. It takes a minute before he can go on. “Like, inside her body.”

I feel my gut twist. “Did she ever mention her uncle to you? Drew Hague?”

Gray shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”

“How about someone else? A man? Think, Gray.”

“There weren’t any men. Not that she ever told me about. After that day, she shut down again and wouldn’t talk to me about it at all. That wasn’t how we were with each other.”

He’s just a kid. Of course he’s felt powerless, but so has Cameron. Otherwise she would have leaned on him, her best friend. She would have told him if she’d had the words.

“You’re really brave for being so open with us,” I finally say. “This could be important, Gray. I think someone hurt Cameron once. That person could have come back into her life, or she might have met someone new who’s gotten close to her the same way. You can’t blame yourself for not knowing how to make it better. There isn’t really any way to do that. Do you understand?”

Gray’s nod is almost nonexistent. I see him struggling to forgive himself.

“Can you let us know if you remember anything else? Anything at all?” Will asks.