We finally stop at a small, primitive campsite. There are signs that people have stayed here fairly recently, but it’s definitely not one of the more popular locations.
“This is where we set up our tents,” Vivian says.
“Is this the same place you would stay when your parents brought you?” I ask.
“Yes,” she nods. “That’s how we knew how to get here.”
“Okay. So, you get here, and you set up your tent. What did you do then?”
“We started a fire,” Allison chimes in. “Back then, there was a rock ring right in the corner over there. We got a fire going and started cooking the food we brought in.”
“Right off the bat?” I frown. “You just got to your campsite and you’re already cooking? I thought you said you were there in the early afternoon.”
“We were,” Allison says. “But we didn’t have enough ice in the cooler and we were worried about the food. So, we went ahead and cooked it. Ashley was worried about her parents. She hadn’t told them we were staying here overnight. Then she went to the bathhouse. She was gone for a while, and when she came back, she said everything was fine. She said she would be picked up in the morning. I figured she had talked to them and everything was okay.”
“How about after that?” I ask. “That night and the next day.”
“We hung out. Talked. Then we went to bed. The next morning, we woke up and made some coffee. Had breakfast. Then we decided to go on a hike,” Vivian starts.
Allison makes a sound beside her and Vivian looks over.
“A hike?” I frown. “Was that before or after you realized Ashley wasn’t with you anymore?”
Vivian looks embarrassed and startled. She opens her mouth as if she’s going to say something, but she can’t get it out. A few sounds creak out into the thick air before she looks back at me.
“I mean…” she starts.
“It’s been a long time, Vivian. It’s hard to remember exactly what you told the police, isn’t it? Because according to what you told Ashley’s parents, the three of you argued that day and she stormed off. You knew they would pick her up, so you didn’t question it. I have to say, that makes a hell of a lot more sense than the story you just rattled off.”
“Vivian,” Allison whispers.
“What actually happened? Because I’ve known this story was a lie from the beginning. I just wanted to see how far you’d get yourself into it. So why don’t we start from the beginning again? Did you actually come here the day Ashley went missing?” I ask.
Allison lets out a heavy sigh and Vivian nods.
“Yes,” Vivian says. “We really did come here. That’s true. It really had been raining and we really were tired of being cooped up with our families, so we decided to come out here and have some fun.”
“Who brought you here?” I ask. “The story of stealing your sister’s car is cute. It’s too bad you didn’t get to tell that one to the police. It would have given you more validity. But I know that’s not how you got here.”
“My boyfriend,” Allison finally admits. “I told him we wanted to come out here, so he picked us up. He told us a couple of his friends were going to meet up with us later.”
“Okay,” I say. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Is this actually where you set up your tent?”
“Yes,” Vivian says. “This is the spot my family likes to camp in, so we came here.”
“You set up your tent. What next? I can’t see three teenage girls going to the grocery store for supplies and making a full camp meal. And you already told me the weather was still overcast and cool enough that Ashley had to wear a hoodie. If that was the case, there would be no ice emergency.”
“My boyfriend told me his friends were at the park, but they wanted to meet us at Arrow Lake. They’d heard all the stories about the campground and wanted to see it for themselves. We’d never been down there, so we took the hike down there. Brady was there with two of his buddies. One of them had hung out with us a few times before and had a crush on Ashley. She’d been talking about him a little bit for the last couple of weeks, so she was happy to see him there,” Allison says.
“Okay, so you go to the campground. Is there anyone there? Did you see anything? What did you do?” Dean asks.
“It really wasn’t that interesting,” Vivian says. “I think we were all a little bit disappointed. The whole idea of this haunted campground had been built up and when we got there, it was just like any other campground. It was just empty. It didn’t look to be in the best condition; there are a lot of campgrounds in this park that look rundown and old.”
“We ended up going back to the campsite. Ashley and the guy, Tegan, were flirting and getting pretty friendly with each other. It was starting to get dark.”
She looks over at Allison. Their eyes plead with each other without any words being said. I look between both of them, leaning slightly towards them as I wait for something else.
“Go on,” Allison says. “At this point, we might as well tell her. She knows we haven’t told the truth.”
Vivian’s shoulders drop as she lets out a breath, then turns back to me.
“We got the fire going and were going to hang out for a while before going to sleep. But then Ashley said she and Tegan were going to be alone for a while. She said not to wait up.”
“And you just let her go?” Dean asks.
“Yes,” Vivian says without hesitation. “As I said, she had been talking
