Page 23 of Vanished in the Mist (A Mystic Lake Mystery #2)

Shanna always hated this part of an investigation, the point where she had to involve the police and relinquish her control over the case she’d been working on. But at least Chief Dawson was letting her and Kaden sit in on Peyton’s interview.

Not that he really had a choice.

For some reason, once Peyton had broken down and told Shanna and Kaden that she and her friends had killed Tanya, she’d clung to Shanna and sobbed on her shoulder.

From that point on, Peyton had refused to let go of Shanna’s hand.

And she’d threatened to call a lawyer and not say anything else unless the police interviewed her at her home and allowed Kaden and Shanna to be there.

So now, Shanna sat on the couch beside Peyton, offering comfort to the girl who was apparently, at least partly, responsible for the death of the young girl they were trying to find. Sometimes life really sucked.

Across from her, Chief Dawson asked Peyton questions, with Officer Fletcher recording the session off to the side as unobtrusively as possible.

Kaden sat beside Dawson, his gaze locked on Shanna most of the time, silently offering her the support that he seemed to instinctively know that she needed.

She smiled her thanks, but then something that Peyton said had both her and Kaden looking at her in surprise.

Chief Dawson leaned forward, his forearms resting on his thighs. “Wait a minute. Now you’re changing your story and saying you and your friends did not kill Tanya Jericho?”

“What? No. No, I’m just explaining what happened.”

Shanna exchanged a quick look with Kaden, who shrugged, as confused as she was.

“Let’s back up,” Dawson said. “Two weeks after graduation, the third week of May and the night that Tanya Jericho went missing, you said she again followed you and your friends to one of the bonfires you liked to hold out in the woods by the lake.”

“Yes. I’ve told you that like four times already.”

“It’s important to get this right. It’s a different bonfire than the one in that picture that Ms. Hudson showed me, correct?”

Peyton clutched Shanna’s hand more tightly. “Yes. This was a different one, the last bonfire we ever held because—because of what happened that night.”

Dawson referred to his notes on the coffee table in front of him. “Got it. You were all five partying as in drinking and getting high on marijuana. You heard a noise and realized Tanya was watching you. That made you mad.”

“Well, yes. Of course. We’d told her to stop following us around and spying. We’d all graduated by then and thought it was ridiculous for a kid to be following five adults around like a lost puppy.”

The empathy Shanna had begun to feel for Peyton after she’d broken down earlier was rapidly drying up.

Did the girl have no clue how bad she sounded?

She’d admitted to murder and here she was, victim-blaming.

The whole thing made Shanna want to pull her hand free and join Kaden on the other couch.

But she couldn’t risk doing anything that might stop the confession.

They still needed the final clue, the location of Tanya’s body.

Tension showed in the lines around Dawson’s mouth as he continued to politely question Peyton. But his professionalism kept him from revealing any anger or disgust as he worked at getting the truth. “Where exactly was this last bonfire held?”

“In the woods, by the lake.”

“Near where our divers have been searching? Where we found Tristan Cargill?”

She frowned. “No, of course not. I’ll never understand why Tristan was found over there. All of us, including him, stayed on our side of town.”

Dawson blinked, looking confused. “Where is our side of town?”

“You know, past the marina, but on the other side of the lake. On the same side as Stella’s B and B but way down.”

“So it’s past the campground.”

“A few miles past, yes. But—”

“On the other side of the lake. Got it. Is there a landmark you can give me?”

“I don’t know about any landmarks right there, but it’s past the Andersons’ place and the mountain that looks like it’s been split in two.”

“Cooper’s Bluff?”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s it. Maybe a mile past that.”

“All right. We’ll get you a map in a bit and maybe you can show me. Let’s get back to what you were saying earlier. At this bonfire, when you saw Tanya, Jack dragged her into the clearing by the fire. And the rest of you…spoke to her. Correct?”

Her hand squeezed Shanna’s again. She was shaking, ever so slightly, her face pale. Maybe the way she was talking was more false bravado than lack of caring about her victim. Shanna squeezed back and Peyton gave her a grateful look, leaning into her side.

“Correct,” Peyton said. “But you’re—you’re making it sound better than it was. We were mean, Chief Dawson. We said terrible, hurtful things. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have said them sober, but I don’t think me or the others would have been quite as…horrible if we weren’t drinking and smoking.”

“But no one hit her, or assaulted her in any way?”

She cleared her throat, her gaze falling to her lap. “Not at that point, no.”

“Walk me through it, right up to where you said she was in the water. That’s where you lost me earlier. After you had the shouting match by the bonfire, Tristan grabbed her and—”

“No. Tristan shoved her. His leg was hurt, remember? He was using a cane to walk so he couldn’t grab her arm. He would have fallen. He bumped her, really. Hard. It was Jack who grabbed her and dragged her toward the lake.”

“What did you and the others do when Jack was dragging her toward the water?”

“Well… Jessica, I think she was the least drunk of all of us. She was mad. At us. She kept telling us to leave Tanya alone. She hung back by the fire.”

“But she didn’t physically try to stop any of you, or help Tanya?”

“No.” Her voice was quiet, sad. “Neither did I. I stopped at the edge of the water.”

For the first time since she’d begun her confession, she sounded as if she felt ashamed of what she’d done.

Or what she hadn’t done.

“Peyton,” Dawson said. “This is important. Did all three of the boys—Tristan Cargill, Sam Morton and Jack Neal—did all three of them help pull Tanya into the water?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“And what did Tanya do?”

“She…” Peyton squeezed her eyes shut, all her earlier annoyance gone. It was as if she was finally facing the horror of what she and the others had done, and realizing just how awful they’d been.

“What did she do?” Dawson pressed.

“She was crying. She—she cried for her mom, asked them to let her go. She promised she’d never try to…try to be our friend again.” Peyton let out a keening sob and covered her mouth. “Oh, my God. What did we do?”

“We’ll take a break soon,” Dawson said. “Hang in there. Once they got Tanya into the water, what happened next? Did they hold her under? Choke her? Hit her? What exactly did they do?”

She frowned, staring off into the distance as if trying to focus on the memories. “It all happened so fast. They pulled her out, pushed her. Then, she just disappeared.”

Kaden exchanged another searching glance with Shanna. That’s the part all of them were trying to understand.

“When you say pushed her,” Dawson said. “Do you mean they pushed her head under the water?”

“No. No, nothing like that. They were trying to scare her. They reached one of those sharp drop-offs in the lake, about fifteen feet from shore. Then they just…pushed. She fell backward into the water and went under. That’s it.”

“She fell underneath the water and didn’t come back up?”

“Exactly.”

“Did anyone dive in to help her?”

Her chin wobbled. “We couldn’t. We were drunk, high, scared. You know what happens at Mystic Lake. People go in and they don’t come out. The lake took her. I swear we only wanted to scare her. But we killed her. She drowned, and it was our fault.”

She broke down, crying again as she curled up against Shanna.

Shanna fought tears in her own eyes, hating this tug of war with her emotions.

She hated what Peyton and her friends had done.

But Peyton’s anguish was real. She hated herself in that moment, and she was all alone in her grief and shame.

Shanna wrapped her arms around her, whispering soothing words against the top of her head.

“I think it’s time for that break,” Kaden said.

Dawson nodded. “Agreed. I’ve got to get Jack Neal and Sam Morton into custody as quickly as possible before they compare notes and concoct some bogus story to try to cover what they’ve done.

Peyton, you were seen at the restaurant when we found Jessica DeWalt.

So were Sam and Jack. Until Mr. Rafferty called to tell me you were here, we’d tried to find all three of you and couldn’t.

Where did you all go after you left Stella’s? ”

Shanna gently helped Peyton to a sitting position and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Where are Sam and Jack?”

“I—I don’t know where they are. I heard about Tristan and called them. We were upset and wanted to get together to talk about it. I couldn’t… I couldn’t get in touch with Jessica.” She wiped the streaming tears from her eyes. “I don’t understand what’s happening around here.”

“Did you meet with them at the restaurant?” Dawson asked. “I just need to know where they are.”

“No. I mean yes. I…saw Mr. Rafferty carrying Jessica and I—I ran and found Sam and Jack. We agreed to meet in the woods behind the public boat ramp. We thought we were cursed, or something. I mean, how could that happen to Tristan and Jessica? It doesn’t make sense, unless it’s the universe getting back at us for being so horrible. ”

“You haven’t seen them or heard from them since the boat ramp?”

“No. I heard the police, you, wanted to talk to me, so I—I hid until I thought you’d given up and then came home.”

“All right.” He checked his phone. “The time is seventeen thirty, five thirty in the afternoon. The first interview with Peyton Holloway is concluded.” He motioned to Fletcher to turn off the camera.