Page 132 of Nobody's Fool

“Whose idea was the party?”

Caroline puts a hand to her chin. “You know something? I’m not sure. I think we were just talking about what we should do that night. It was a big deal, of course. New millennium and all that. We both figured there’d be a party—maybe at her house or, more likely, Farnwood. The Burketts threw a lot of parties there, as you might imagine. But my parents were having their own shindig, and Victoria and I wanted to do our thing. We wanted to feel like grown-ups, you know?”

“You said you hadn’t seen Victoria since the night of that party.”

“That’s right.”

“So eleven years later, when Victoria came back…?”

“No, I didn’t see her.”

“Why not? I mean, you two had been close friends. You must have been happy or at least relieved when you heard she’d been found?”

“I was. Very much so. And I did reach out to her. I think some of the other girls did too. At first, we were told she needed time to recover. She was in extensive therapy. At some point, the family made it clear that it could be harmful for Victoria to look backwards. After a while, I think we all just moved on.”

“You never bumped into her?”

“Never. For a while we heard rumors that she was living in Costa Rica. The Belmonds have an estate there. But I don’t know if that was true. I never saw her in town or at any restaurants, if that’s what you mean.”

I nod. “Can you tell me about the night Victoria vanished?”

Her face darkens. “It was really hard on me.”

“I’m sure it was,” I say, laying on the empathy with my best hangdog face. “You were close friends. You cohosted a party together. And then, poof, she just vanishes. That had to be traumatic for you.”

“It was.”

“Do you remember the last time you saw her that night?” When I see her stiffen, I backpedal a bit. “Or maybe start at the beginning. How did you and Victoria arrive at McCabe’s Pub?”

“Thomas. Her brother.”

“Thomas drove you?”

“Yes.” She makes a face. “He was drunk. We kept trying to get him to pull over so one of us could drive.”

“But he wouldn’t listen?”

“He wouldn’t listen,” she echoes. “I think back in those days, there used to be some rule about being nineteen in order to drivein Manhattan. Thomas may have mentioned that—that we were too young so even if we wanted to take the wheel, it wouldn’t have been legal.” She smiles. “I think Victoria countered by saying something like, ‘Well, drunk driving isn’t legal either.’”

“Touché,” I say, sharing in the joke. “Anything else you remember about that ride?”

Caroline thinks about it. “Not really. Victoria and Thomas were pretty tight. He was upset about something—I can’t remember what anymore…”

“Maybe a girl?”

“Yeah, maybe. Vic told him he should come to our party. I remember that. I was kind of mortified.”

“About her brother coming?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because he was too old and obnoxious and drunk.”

“Right,” I say. “So he drops you off at McCabe’s Pub. You and Victoria are the first there. So I guess you, what, set up?”

“Yes. It wasn’t a big deal. Some balloons. We ordered those glasses with the year 2000 on it. Hats, streamers, noisemakers. Like that.”