"That's not how it happened."
The sound of Dean's voice makes me jump. I didn't realize he had come back into the room and is standing just inside the doorway.
"What?" I ask.
"That's not how it happened. The search started as soon as Carrie and Travis started looking. Before the police ever got there. People from the campground rushed into the woods to help. And they were anything but calm and organized. They were shouting and running up and down the trails, and tromping through the woods," Dean says. "Violet heard them. I'm guessing that's why she was on that particular path. She was trying to get back to the campground."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I was there."
Chapter Twenty
For an instant, I can't speak. I'm so stunned by the revelation, all I can do is stare at my cousin in disbelief.
"You were there?" I finally ask.
Dean nods, his expression dark.
"I was there with a group of friends. We weren't supposed to be there. None of our parents knew we were."
"You were only thirteen," I say.
"I know," he confirms flatly, seeming to acknowledge how incredibly young that sounded for him to be off with friends and have no adults know, but unwilling to elaborate. "My buddies were going to the river to fish, but I didn't feel like it. We weren't staying at the campground itself but had put up tents in the woods not too far from there so we could use the bathhouses and steal food from the people who left it out.
“I decided to go back to the tents and ended up on one of the back paths leading up toward the campground. One that isn't used very often. It was mostly overgrown then. I don't even know if it would be visible now. I saw somebody moving in the trees ahead of me. I hadn't seen anybody in a while, so it was surprising. That's what caught my attention.
“I didn't see where the person went, so I just kept walking. After that, things get a little fuzzy. I know that a few steps later, I saw a girl in the woods ahead of me."
That makes the breath catch in my throat.
“Dean,” I say carefully. “Are you the witness?”
He draws in a breath and holds it for just a little too long, as if he needs to hang onto the air in his lungs so every bit of it doesn't leave him.
“Yes,” he says. “Not everything you read is accurate.”
“What happened?” I ask. “Why do things get fuzzy after that moment?”
“I know I was there that day. I still have nightmares about it. Through the trees. She was far ahead of me. Too far for me to really see her face. And she was behind trees and undergrowth, so I couldn't see how tall she was. All I saw was a few flashes of color from her clothes. Then I heard footsteps behind me. I know I ran. I can remember the fear. I know I felt something grab me.”
“The person you saw in the woods?" I ask.
Dean shakes his head slightly and gives an almost imperceptible shrug.
"I don't know. I didn't see who grabbed me. Or I don't remember it if I did. Something grabbed my leg and hit me in the back. I remember stumbling, but I don't know if I actually hit the ground. The next thing I remember is running down the path near the campground. Not the biggest one that leads from the parking lot. One of the smaller ones that comes down from the opposite side. I could hear footsteps, but I didn't look back.
“I didn't want to be as visible, so I ran into the trees. I saw the girl again. She was closer this time, but I still couldn't tell you exactly what she looked like or anything. I looked over my shoulder, then I don't remember anything again until I heard a scream, then I was running. There seemed to be voices all around me. I know now they probably weren't. But that's what it sounded like. As though I was completely surrounded. I didn't want them to get near me, so I kept running."
"Then you fell down the embankment," I say. "It was in the case file. A group of people found you down at the bottom. You were covered with blood.”
Dean nods.
“They were searching for Violet. I didn't know that at the time. But they found me before the police got to the campground. I didn't even know there was a little girl missing until the police were questioning me, and I mentioned seeing the girl in the woods. I gave the officer every bit of information I could think of. They didn't respond too well to me. That's not much of a surprise. I had already clashed with the police a couple of times by then. They wanted to know about my injuries and where the blood came from. They had me describe the girl and the other person in the woods. All I could tell them was a man grabbed me, but I got away.”
I’m completely shocked. I open my mouth and close it and open it again. Then close it.
“The point is,” he continues, “you can't believe everything that you read on these forums, because those people weren't there. And even the ones who were, or who think they got first-hand information from somebody who was, might not know the full story."
He hesitates there for another moment, then walks toward the back of the house. I immediately get up to follow him. When I get outside, he's leaning against the banister of the back deck, staring out over the land rolling behind Xavier's house.
“Are you okay?” I ask, coming up to stand beside him.
“I have to be,” he says. “I don't have a choice.”
“That's not what I asked you,” I say.
Dean looks at me, and I see the same storm in his eyes I saw the first time we encountered each other on the
