Chapter Forty-One

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, 7 p.m.

Everything is so different now. The world feels as if it just stopped when Diana died and then started spinning in the opposite direction. Nothing is the way it used to be. I don't know what to think about anybody any more.

I think about Cameron a lot, stuck in his house, not talking to anyone except the police. We used to be close friends, but he changed when he started going out with Diana. We could all see it. It took Diana the longest, but she got there in the end.

Cameron's always been a bit full of himself because he's so good-looking and athletic – a sports star. That's what matters around here. It all seems to come so easily to him. But I never thought he was particularly bright. I'm thinking about that text and whether Cameron could have sent it. Riley says the detectives thought it was a sign of hubris, and yes, I can see that. Would Cameron be that arrogant? Possibly. It's a fact that people tend to think good-looking people are smarter than they are – I read that somewhere. But I haven't seen him since Diana died. I don't know how he's handling all this. Riley saw him, and she said he seemed devastated and lost, but I suppose he could have been putting on an act. I just don't know.

I'm worried about Riley. It's funny – I never thought I'd worry about her. She's never seemed to be someone anybody would have to worry about. She's very capable and self-reliant. Strong. But Diana's death has really thrown her. And this thing about the text has really frightened her. She seems to be falling apart more and more by the day. She doesn't think she can manage the burial, on Wednesday, but I have told her she has to try. I told her that I will be there to support her.

All that competitive stuff between us has disappeared. Who cares about school and marks and academic prizes when Diana is dead? Riley is very different from Diana. Not as buoyant and carefree. But she is beautiful, too, in her own way.

That stuff about the Ouija board, though – it's all very weird. It seems to have upset Riley even more. I wish she wouldn't think about that stuff. I think she should see one of the counsellors at school. It might help. I suggested it to her today, but she said she didn't feel like going back to school. I told her she had to go back sometime, and she just shrugged. I told her I was going to start going back to classes regularly tomorrow, and that she could just text me if she needed me and I'd be there.

I was at school for a bit this afternoon and all people were talking about was Mr Turner. And now – it was in the news tonight – another girl has come forward with complaints about him. They're not saying who she is because she's a minor. Just how much of a creep is he? Could he be a murderer?

I hope they get to the bottom of all this and identify Diana's killer. She deserves justice. But even if they find out who did this, she'll never get her life back. And we'll never get her back in our lives either.

Edward Farrell decides to tell his wife everything. He can't carry this heavy load alone.

The police had found nothing in their search of their home and truck that afternoon. Edward wasn't surprised by this because Cameron hadn't seemed particularly worried about the search. But that evening, sitting at the kitchen table, while Cameron is closeted in his room, Edward tells Shelby what happened at the police station – about the missing phone, and the text.

Shelby looks back at him in fear.

‘He told them he went to the graveyard, to be alone,' he says. She stares back at him, her eyes large, her face drained of colour.

‘What?' she whispers. ‘But he told you he was at the field that they used to go to, near the Ressler farm.'

He swallows. ‘I told him not to tell them where he really was. It looks … bad.'

‘But he doesn't have her phone,' Shelby says. ‘They didn't find it.'

He can't believe he has to spell this out for her. Her mind can't be working properly – it's the fear. ‘No, not here.' He watches as it dawns on her, and she becomes even more frightened.

‘You think he hid it somewhere else.'

‘He says he doesn't have it,' Edward says tersely. ‘But what if he does? What if he sent that text? But why the fuck would he? I'm pretty sure that's what the detectives think.'

‘What did the text say?'

‘I don't know.'

‘We have to find it first,' Shelby says. ‘You have to make him tell you where it is!' Her eyes are wild and her voice unnatural. ‘You have to get rid of it!'

Edward is tortured. ‘But is it the right thing to do?' he whispers. ‘If he killed her—' He can't go on.

‘We don't have a choice!' she whispers back fiercely. ‘This is our son! We can't let him go to prison for the rest of his life!'

‘He won't tell me.' Edward shakes his head in defeat. ‘I tried. In the car on the way home. You know how stubborn he can be. He denies everything. But he's told so many lies.'

‘What are we going to do?' she asks plaintively.

‘Maybe he hid the phone somewhere in that field where he went last night. I know where the field is; he told me. Maybe I'll go out there and look around.'

‘How are you going to find a cell phone in a field?' she whispers desperately.

‘I don't know! Do you have any better ideas?'

But she didn't.

Edward waits until dark, then gets in the truck, which they've searched but not taken away, leaving his shattered wife at home with their son, who is holed up again in his bedroom. He doesn't tell Cameron where he's going, or even that he's leaving the house. Edward brings a strong flashlight with him. He drives out of town, and down the country roads to where Pickering Road intersects with Town Line, about ten minutes from Fairhill. He is relieved no one is around. It's completely dark, except for his own headlights.

He drives slowly until he finds the field he's looking for, right where Cameron had said it was. He sees the open gate, bumps into the field, and turns immediately to the right, pulling into the corner, which is sheltered on two sides by thick trees along the fence lines. He turns off the ignition and sits in the utter darkness, listening to the ticking of the engine. Nobody can see him here. Nobody would have been able to see his son and Diana in this truck either.

Slowly, with a feeling of dread, Edward gets out of the truck and begins to search. Perhaps the police have searched here already, if it's not far from the field where the body was found; he doesn't know. If they did, they didn't find anything. If Cameron hid the phone, it's probably somewhere along the fence line, not in the open field. He starts from the corner and goes first in one direction, then the other. He looks for hollow logs, large stones that seem to have been disturbed, anything. He looks for cavities in trees, hidden nooks in branches. He spends two hours searching, until he is frozen to the bone, but he finds nothing.

Finally, he gets back into the truck, defeated.

As Edward pulls left out of the field onto the gravel road, he spots the headlights of another vehicle far behind him, turning onto the same road. Shit, shit, shit. Where did they come from? It was deserted a second ago. Edward tries to remain calm. Maybe the other driver didn't see him come out of the field at all. But he panics – he hits the gas and floors it. He wants to get the hell out of here. He doesn't want anyone to know he's been anywhere near where Diana was found.