Page 49 of See You Again

If there had been a public invitation to a college bonfire, then a predator might have seen it and thought it good hunting ground for inebriated victims. She scribbled a note.

“Can you walk me through your night?” Cami asked. This was why she hadn’t wanted to interview them as a group. It was better to get the memories they each had as opposed to a mass memory.

“We walked up the road from the gate. It was dirt,” Laura smiled. “Amy was annoyed because she’d worn her nice heeled boots, and they were getting dirty.”

“It was a typical bonfire. Some kegs, some people smoking weed or doing shrooms, but nothing crazy,” Lindsay added.

“Was Amy drinking? I'm not judging her,” Cami assured them when they frowned at her. “I'm just trying to get all the details.”

“She was. More than usual. What? She was! That’s why we worried about leaving her,” Whitney said defensively when Lindsay glared at her. She turned her attention back to Cami. “Amy wasn't a big drinker, but she saw Janelle and Todd in the crowd. It was almost like she wanted to prove a point. Like, they didn’t bother her, and she was having the time of her life.” Whitney’s voice caught.

Laura put an arm around Whitney in silent comfort. “There was a band playing, and we danced for a while.”

“A local college band?” Cami remembered reading a report that mentioned that the noise from the band might have covered up a scream if Amy had yelled for help.

“About how long were you at the bonfire before she got into the argument with Janelle?”

“We were there about an hour and a half, maybe two hours. Dancing… hanging out. I met Matthew that night. He and his friends were going to the Waffle House, and I wanted to go with them.”

“I had an exam the next morning, so I was ready to leave, too,” Laura said.

“I did, too.” Whitney averted her eyes.

“I drove…” Melanie finished quietly.

“Normally, we would never have left without Amy,” Lindsay insisted. “But she was being stubborn. She even pulled away from me when I tried to grab her hand.”

Cami made a note. “It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known what would happen.” She counted to ten in her head. “Would you say Amy was agitated?”

“I don’t know if I’d say that,” Whitney hedged.

“She wasn’t like crying or yelling or anything,” Lindsay said. “She just really wanted to stay.”

Cami could practically feel them closing ranks as they darted looks at each other.

“You're not hurting Amy by being honest,” Cami said sympathetically. “She faced her ex and her good friend as a couple. Who wouldn’t be upset? I know I would probably feel the same.”

An errant image of James popped into her head. Cami remembered how it hurt when she saw him with the girls he dated in college, and they had only been friends.

“I want to portray Amy how she was in life. She deserves to be remembered that way. I think it's important to tell her story authentically. I believe it’s a disservice when podcasts or documentaries describe their subjects as if they were always the brightest light in the room. To say things like, ‘They made everyone happy and never had a bad day.’ Let's be honest. There isn’t a person on the planet who doesn’t have a bad day, but that doesn't make them any less real or deserving of justice.”

Melanie’s lips lifted slightly. “Amy was sunshine. She was usually happy, but she had a temper, too. I feel terrible we left her there that night. At the time, it didn’t seem like a big deal.” A tear left a track through the woman’s heavy foundation. “But when I woke up, and she wasn’t there… I thought she’d hooked up.”

Laura shook her head. “I never imagined this could happen.”

Cami’s heart ached for these young women. An innocent mistake that would haunt them for the rest of their lives. “It shouldn't have happened. You were with friends in a safe place. Amy should have been safe. It wasn’t your fault, and it wasn’t Amy’s either,” Cami said firmly. “The only person responsible is the monster who took her that night.”

Melanie sniffed, and Lindsay handed her a tissue to blot her eyes.

“Did Amy say who she was planning on getting a ride from?”

“No,” Laura said. “We had a lot of friends there, guys and girls. Amy said she’d catch a ride with somebody in a little while.”

“Was that normal?”

“I wouldn't say normal, but it had happened before. Like I said, we all knew each other.”

“None of you witnessed the fight between her and Janelle? Is that correct?”