Page 33 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

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STRANGER THAN FICTION

A True Crime Podcast with Harley Granger

The Disappearance of Chloe Miranda

Rough recording for editing

Harley Granger: Are you comfortable? Can I get you anything?

Peter Miranda: I’m good. Thanks.

Harley: Tonight, I’m talking to Peter Miranda, Chloe’s brother and the person spearheading the investigation and ongoing search for his sister. Thank you for being here.

Peter: Thank you for having me. And thank you for helping to keep attention on Chloe. It means a lot to our family.

Harley: Let’s start with Chloe’s frame of mind in the weeks be fore she headed to Eaton House for Extreme’s Haunted Hide and Seek Challenge.

Peter: She was good, you know. Excited. Her career as an influencer was going well. Things haven’t always been easy with or for Chloe. She battled depression. There were two suicide attempts. Some issues with substance abuse. But she seemed stable to me. Happy.

Harley: Still, your family had some misgivings about the challenge.

Peter: Yeah, we did. My dad, he thought it could be destabilizing. She had this on-again, off-again thing with Maverick. My dad thought she was a little overfocused on him, especially as he was clearly in love with someone else. And the stress of competition could sometimes be a lot for Chloe. He said she seemed tired and stressed to him. Personally, I didn’t see it. But he was concerned that it wasn’t a healthy undertaking for her.

Harley: And what did you think?

Peter: I thought that maybe Chloe was tougher than our dad might have believed. I thought she would be fine.

Harley: Your father contacted Extreme and asked them not to accept her.

Peter: That’s right.

Harley: And how did Chloe feel about that?

Peter: She was pissed. Like extra. She claimed that he was infantilizing her, wanting her to be sick and vulnerable so that he felt like she needed him. They weren’t speaking when she headed to Eaton House.

Harley: Was there any truth to her claims?

Peter: [A heavy sigh.] Maybe? I don’t know. My dad loves us, wants to protect us, especially Chloe. Things haven’t been easy since my mom died—for either of them. For any of us. I can see why he wants to hold on tight, to make sure we’re well. And, well, now—he was right, wasn’t he? If she hadn’t gone to Eaton House, she’d still be with us.

Harley: What do you think happened to your sister?

[Silence, a shuddering breath.]

Peter: I’m sorry. I don’t know. I think someone at Extreme…hurt her. Probably Maverick. We just want answers.

Harley: And what do you say to the people who think Chloe used this event to run away from her life?

Peter: They’re wrong. She wouldn’t do that to us. She just…wouldn’t.

Harley: What do you have to say about the missing money from her bank accounts? The Chloe sightings in the area in the days after her appearance?

Peter: I don’t have any answers. Maybe someone stole that money. Staged those appearances. I think in some ways those things prevented the police from really investigating the way they should have. There was always this underlying suspicion that she’d run off or hurt herself. Because she’d done those things in the past.

Harley: Rog and I visited Eaton House last week, looking for anything that might further the investigation. On the property survey, we found something kind of interesting. We’re not sure what it means.

[The sound of paper being shuffled.]

Harley: Do you see this dotted line from the house out to the edge of the wooded area that surrounds the property?

Peter: Yeah. What is it?

Harley: It’s a tunnel. We went down into the basement and found a space under the staircase. If you climbed inside, there’s a door. It opens into this tunnel that leads away from the house and comes out through a hatch in the ground at the edge of the property.

[Silence. Throat clearing.]

Peter: So…what are you saying?

Harley: That it’s possible Chloe used it to leave the house undetected. It was less than a mile from the tunnel entrance to the road.

[Silence.]

Harley: But there’s another possibility, too. Someone used the tunnel to get into Eaton House undetected.

Peter: And take Chloe.