Chapter 9

NINE

Stomach flip-flopping and heart racing, Josie gaped out of her window as the sheriff climbed from a black truck. She’d voted for Sheriff Alton and Deputy Kane. They had a reputation of keeping the town safe and getting their man. The only possible reason they could be heading for her door would be about finding the bodies in the river. She’d never mentioned that Halloween night to her husband, Bob. It was better that nobody ever knew the truth and she couldn’t trust anyone but the group of people that were there at the time. After graduation they had all decided to keep their distance, communicating only with the friends they’d had since grade school. They all figured that cutting off ties completely would only bring suspicion down on them. Pushing her shaking hands into the pockets of her jacket, Josie headed for the front door in anticipation of the knock. When she opened the door, her gaze moved up to the face of Deputy Kane. His expression was unreadable but his appearance was incredibly menacing. She swallowed hard at the man whose broad shoulders filled her doorway. He stood directly in front of her, blocking a direct view of the sheriff. After his gaze moved over her face and then over her shoulder to the passageway, he stepped to one side.

“Mrs. Campbell?” Sheriff Alton offered her a small smile. “May we have a moment of your time?”

Unsure of what to do, Josie nodded, stood to one side, and waved them through the door. The group had all decided twelve years ago to cooperate fully with any police investigation. They figured by sticking to the same story, sooner or later the cops would forget all about Cole and Abby. For the last eight years or so, they had believed this to be the case until the bodies showed up in the river. How could bodies show up in a river twelve years after they’d been buried in a cave? There should only be a few bones left by now. Nothing seemed to make any sense and the fact that the sheriff had homed in on her meant she knew something. Trying to keep a pleasant expression on her face, she led the sheriff and deputy into the kitchen. “Is it time to donate to the Broken Wings Foundation again? Time certainly does fly.” She went to her purse on the counter.

“No, unfortunately we’re here on other business.” Sheriff Alton took out a notebook and pen from her pocket.

Acting surprised, Josie stared at them. “Has something happened to Bob?”

“Not as far as we’re aware.” Kane narrowed his gaze. “This is about the bodies that washed up in the river this morning. Have you been watching the news? We issued a media report earlier in the day.”

Shaking her head, Josie waved them to a seat. “I’m sorry, I’ve been working in my office all morning and I don’t have a radio on anytime during the day. What about these bodies has sent you to my front door?”

“We believe the bodies belong to two friends of yours from college who went missing twelve years ago: Cole Peters and Abby Jaye.” The sheriff gave her a long look, as if studying her reaction. “I believe you were with them the night they went missing at Halloween. What do you recall about that night?”

Shaking her head, Josie looked from one to the other. “Heavens above, I can’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning let alone what happened twelve years ago.”

“That’s very unusual because most times when a significant incident occurs, the details remain in our memories.” Kane gave her a long look. “I would have imagined that two of your close friends going missing on a trip over Halloween would have been a significant memory. Just cast your mind back and try to remember what happened that night.”

“First, do you remember how many people went on the trip?” The sheriff’s pen hovered over a notebook and she gave her an expectant look.

Staring into space for a beat to make it look as if it were difficult to remember the past, she sighed. In truth she recalled every single minute of that night. “Well, I can’t possibly give you a number because people were coming and going over the entire evening. It was dark and we only had the light from the fire. I spent most of the time with my friend Marissa. We’ve been close friends since grade school.”

“You do recall Cole and Abby, don’t you? They were in the same year as you at college.” The sheriff raised both eyebrows, and her blue eyes searched her face. It was as if she were looking right through her and knew that she’d concealed the truth.

Letting out a long sigh as if all this was very boring, Josie shrugged. “I honestly don’t remember very much about what happened that night. I do recall speaking to the sheriff a couple of days later. I can only tell you what I told him, although some of the details might be a little different because I can’t remember everything.”

“That’s fine, just tell us what you remember.” Kane ran a fingertip over the rose pattern on the tablecloth. “Do you recall who organized the trip?”

Josie shook her head. “Nope. A flyer was attached to the bulletin board informing everyone that if people were brave enough to go up to the Whispering Caves over Halloween, a group would be heading up there at ten that night.”

“Can you give an estimate of how many people were in the group that walked up the mountain with you?” Kane rolled his wide shoulders and narrowed his gaze.

The large deputy intimidated her and she stood and went to the counter, playing for time. She couldn’t recall how many people they’d agreed to say. She turned to look at them. “Coffee?”

“No, thanks, but I’d like an answer to my question.” Kane eyeballed her. “More than ten, less than twenty?”

Taking down a cup and pouring the coffee, she added the fixings before returning to the table. The cup gave her something to do with her hands, trying to avoid them seeing her trembling was becoming a problem. “I figure there was more than ten, but I don’t believe it was as many as twenty, but then a few groups came along after us and made camp there, so it could have been more.”

“Did you make camp near the Whispering Caves?” The sheriff looked at her across the table and then back at her notes. “They cover most of that part of the mountain. Do you recall if you camped on the highway side or on the river side of the caves?”

Why had the sheriff specifically mentioned the Whispering Caves? Concerned she’d made a fatal slip of the tongue by saying they’d made camp, Josie couldn’t recall if they’d decided to mention the caves or not as a reason for being on the mountain at Halloween. She covered her mistake with a laugh. “Even as a college student I wasn’t stupid enough to go to the Whispering Caves on Halloween. A group of us made camp alongside the river, not far from the old rope bridge. I recall seeing it swinging in the moonlight.”

“That’s a very unusual thing to remember when you can’t recall who you were with that night.” Kane shook his head, the disbelief on this face evident. “What was it about the bridge that made it significant to you?”

Josie gripped her cup like a life preserver, lifted her chin, and glared at him. “We were sitting around the campfire and some of the guys were telling stories. One of them told a story about the Whispering Caves Axman and how he hung a body from the old bridge, and it swung backward and forward dripping blood all over the rocks. It was windy and the bridge was rocking back and forth. People were talking about ghosts and being able to see him carrying the body toward the bridge. One thing I do remember about that night is that I was scared to death. The stories were getting very gruesome and that’s around the time people started leaving. I recall it was very cold and I couldn’t wait to go home.”

“Look around the campfire in your mind.” Kane stared at her. “Who was telling the stories? You dated Jess Hallon at one time. Was he there?”

Trembling, Josie nodded. What else could she do? “Yes, he was there. We weren’t dating, that was in high school.”

“Anyone else?” Kane leaned forward. “Who was Jess’ best buddy?”

Looking away from Kane’s penetrating gaze. Josie shook her head. “I can see their faces, but their names are gone. I’m sorry.”

“When did you notice that Cole and Abby were missing?” The sheriff made copious notes in her book.

Sipping her coffee, Josie met her gaze over the rim of her cup. “I didn’t know they were missing at all until days after. Like I said, couples and groups were coming and going all the time. I was spooked and Marissa was getting scared. We’d set up a small tent close to the fire. We climbed into our sleeping bags, zipped up the front of the tent, and talked until daylight. We were way too frightened to go to sleep. At first light, we didn’t hang around and made our way back down the mountains to the parking lot near the forest rangers’ station. I had a very old Jeep at the time and drove Marissa home. I went home and slept all day as far as I recall.”

“What did you do when you discovered that your friends were missing?” Kane drummed his fingers on the table. “Did you start calling everyone? And did you or anyone you know go out searching for them?”

Shrugging, Josie shook her head. “I didn’t, no. After hiking there and back, I had stiff legs.”

“Hmm, you remember all about that night but you can’t give us a name of anyone else who was there?” Kane leaned on the table. “Did the sheriff come by the college to take statements from everyone?”

She’d already said way too much and shook her head. “I didn’t see the sheriff or hear anything that was going on until I watched the news. I figured that Abby and Cole were just two of the people who wandered off during the course of the night. I didn’t hear anything unusual, no screams or people running in fear. Most people sat huddled around the fire until it got light and then we all wandered back down the mountain. It was an anticlimax after all the horrific stories that people had told about the axman. No one saw a ghost or anyone walking around carrying an ax with intent to murder anyone.” She raised one shoulder in what she hoped looked like a nonchalant shrug. “That’s all I can remember, I’m afraid.”

“I’m sure that at that time in college many of your friends were couples.” The sheriff folded her notebook and leaned back in the chair. “I’ve seen the yearbooks and have a list of names. I know Abby was prom queen. There’s a picture of her the year before she went missing, alongside a guy by the name of Clint Wasser. Do you recall if they were an item at the time she went missing?”

Josie shook her head. “I believe they’d broken up before Halloween. Clint was a wide receiver on the football team, so a big name on campus. He had more than a few cheerleaders chasing after him at the time. I don’t know if he took anyone with him to the campout that night. I didn’t move around in his elite circle of friends. I was studying and wasn’t very interested in sports.”

“So you do remember another person on the mountain, Clint Wasser?” The sheriff made more notes.

Horrified at her big mouth, Josie blinked. “I guess so.”

“Do you believe there were two different groups in the forest that night?” Kane smiled. “The jocks and the nerds? That would have been a potentially lethal combination. I gather the beer would have been flowing in the jocks’ camp and the rest of you all sat around the campfire telling ghost stories.” He cleared his throat. “The football crowd can be a little wild at times. Weren’t you concerned being in the forest alone with them when they’d been drinking?”

Nodding, Josie considered her reply. That was not how it went down but it sounded feasible. “I guess so, but who doesn’t like a little adventure?”

“I would have expected that sort of setup to happen in high school and not in the last year of college.” The sheriff exchanged a glance with Kane and then looked at her. “Okay, thank you for your time.” She placed a card on the table and pushed it toward her. “If you remember anything else at all about that night, please give me a call. I’m sure the parents of the victims would appreciate knowing exactly what happened.”

Standing, Josie ushered them to the front door. “I will. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you any further.” She closed the door behind them and leaned on it for a few seconds before dashing back into the family room to grab her burner phone from her purse. “Marissa, it’s Josie. The sheriff was just here to question me about what happened to Cole and Abby. They have our names. Make sure you contact everyone about our meeting this evening. They need to know what I discussed so we can make sure we all have our stories straight.”

“The guys are going to go ballistic.” Marissa’s chair scraped and a door slammed. “This problem was buried and forgotten. How the heck did they end up in the darn river?”

Josie chewed on her nails. “I don’t know. Maybe they’ve come back to haunt us.”