Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

G ibson directed the group to sit together at a nearby table, where they all waited to hear Juniper’s explanation.

There was clearly more to this story.

“I know how this is going to sound.” Juniper rubbed her hands together, her entire body tense and her actions jumpy.

That was never a good way to start a conversation, especially when a serial killer could be involved.

“Pepper and I had been friends a long time. In high school, our families had that big split, and we weren’t sure we’d be able to be friends anymore. But at least we were able to see each other in school.”

They waited in silence for her to continue.

“One day when we were eating lunch together in the school cafeteria she told me that her dad wanted to move their family down to Seattle, where they could get a fresh start. She didn’t want to go, but she was too young to stay here on her own. So I told her about the old cabin. I didn’t want her to move either. She was like a sister to me.”

“So you figured out a way to keep her here?” Andi asked.

“In a manner of speaking, yes. I mean, she was eighteen. A legal adult. Old enough to live on her own and make her own choices. She just didn’t have any income to support herself.”

“Okay, but why didn’t she just move in with you?” Andi asked. “Why live in such a secluded cabin?”

“My parents would have never let her live with us. But Peppermint and I knew if she lived somewhere obvious that her mom and dad would find her. They would demand she go with them to Seattle. I suggested she live in the cabin.”

“I was just inside that cabin,” Duke said. “It’s very rustic. How did she survive out there?”

Juniper shrugged. “I took wood, food, and other supplies to her as needed. I did whatever I could to help her out.”

“Your parents never noticed what you were doing?” Gibson squinted as if skeptical about this story.

“I made sure they were busy doing something else whenever I went to visit. They liked the fact I had room to roam here, so they didn’t ask a lot of questions.”

“Pepper’s parents never reported her missing?” Gibson asked.

“They did,” Juniper said. “But she left a note saying she was moving out on her own, so there was nothing the police could do. She wasn’t technically a missing person. And her parents knew she didn’t want to move so . . .”

“Who’s her secret boyfriend?” Andi asked.

Juniper froze, not responding.

“Juniper . . .” Simmy tilted her head at the woman.

She finally let out a breath and squeezed the skin between her eyes. “I only have suspicions. No proof. But I . . . wondered if she and Caleb were seeing each other.”

Andi’s eyebrows flew up. “Why do you think that?”

She squeezed her eyes shut again. “I suspected it a while. It was just the way the two of them were acting. But both of them denied it. I just can’t believe that they’d sneak around behind my back. They were the two people I trusted most.”

Simmy’s hand went to Juniper’s back again, and she rubbed it gently.

But Andi knew the question in everyone’s mind.

Was Juniper upset enough about the cheating that she may have killed her friend and done something to Caleb?