Chapter 32
I’d driven to the end of Wendy’s street when my phone buzzed against the console. I glanced at the screen, expecting a message from Foley or Whitlock.
Instead, I saw Vaughn Lambert’s name.
I pulled over, letting the engine idle while I read the text.
I spoke with Tilly after I left your house, and we need to talk to you. Could you come by the house when you get a chance?
I stared at the message a moment longer, weighing the timing.
Given it was almost six o’clock, I’d planned to call it a day, giving myself some time to take in everything I’d learned today and set up my plans for tomorrow.
I also didn’t like the way the last conversation had gone with Vaughn, and I wasn’t interested in going for round two.
Earlier, he’d stood in my kitchen demanding his son come home.
Now he wanted my time, my attention, and, I assumed, my information.
Had they been alerted to the fact that I knew about the night of the bonfire and the secrets they’d been keeping all these years?
I needed to know.
I’m nearby, I typed back. I can stop by.
He responded right away.
Thank you. We’ll be here.
I put the car back into gear and headed toward their neighborhood, the ocean fog rolling in low and slow as day turned to night.
Tilly opened the door when I arrived, and her demeanor felt a lot different than the last time I’d seen her, less rigid and not wound as tight.
Her hair was pulled back, her sleeves rolled to her elbows.
She offered me a faint smile as she invited me in.
“We appreciate you coming over so soon,” she said.
Who was this woman?
And what had they done with Tilly?
Vaughn stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. He straightened when he saw me, his expression cautious but controlled.
“I didn’t think we’d be seeing each other again so soon,” he said.
“Neither did I,” I replied. “What’s on your mind?”
“Before we get to that, I want to apologize about my behavior this morning,” he said. “I now see all that you’re doing for our son. It means a lot to us.”
First Tilly.
Now Vaughn.
It was like I’d stepped into an episode of The Twilight Zone.
Tilly nodded, then gestured toward the table. “Please. Sit.”
Vaughn cleared his throat. “After I saw you this morning, I came home and told Tilly everything Logan had said about the locket, the cabin, and the missing girl.”
Tilly nodded. “Vaughn told me that no one ever mentioned her name. But when he described her—where she disappeared, the timing, the cabin—it felt familiar. Too familiar. And I started thinking.”
“We were wondering if the locket Audrey found belonged to a young woman named Anne,” he said.
My pulse quickened, though I tried to remain unfazed by his comment.
“Yes, the locket belonged to Anne,” I said.
Outside, a gull cried, the sound sharp against the stillness of the room.
“We never imagined,” Tilly said. “Not once did we consider her name would come up again after all this time. Or that she could be tied to what happened to Audrey.”
“And now?” I asked.
“Now we want to help,” Vaughn said.
Of course they did.
Because they were also tied to Anne and to Audrey, which landed them in a prime position on my suspect list. I couldn’t decide whether they were being straight with me or working together to butter me up. If it was the latter, they would soon find it was a waste of time.
Vaughn cocked his head to the side, looking at me like he knew what I was thinking. “We swear to you, we had nothing to do with Anne’s disappearance or Audrey’s murder.”
“I hear you,” I said. “But I need more than assurances.”
Tilly nodded. “We understand. How can we give them to you?”
“Tell me about the bonfire,” I said. “Start from the beginning. What you remember. What you saw. Who left first. Who stayed the longest. Everything.”
Vaughn and Tilly exchanged a tense glance.
“How do you know about the bonfire?” Tilly asked.
“I have my ways.”
Tilly crossed one leg over the other. “It was supposed to be a great night. And then it all went wrong.”
“Tell me how Anne fits into it all.”
“A few of us met her at the convenience store, and Wendy, who always wants to know everything about everyone she meets, learned Anne was in Cambria visiting her aunt, and she invited Anne to join us.”
“She seemed nice,” Vaughn added. “A bit on the quiet side from what I recall, but she was kind to everyone.”
“Did she have anything to drink? And by drink, I mean alcohol.”
“If she did, I didn’t notice,” Tilly said. “While I was there, she stayed close to Wendy.”
“And you two?” I asked. “What were you doing?”
Vaughn looked down at the floor. “Arguing.”
Tilly’s jaw tightened, and they both went quiet.
“I know about the affair, and the baby,” I said. “You just told me it was supposed to be a great night, but from what I heard, you were suffering even before you got there. I can’t imagine it would have been a great night for you either way.”
“I’d hoped having a bit to drink would help drown out my emotions. It did the opposite. I had too much to drink, and before I knew it, I’d confessed everything.”
“What happened next?”
“Everything blew up,” Vaughn said. “Everyone was weighing in with their opinions and judgments. It was too much for me to handle, so I left.”
“When?”
“Earlier than most, I guess.”
“Did you drive?”
He shook his head. “I walked.”
I turned toward Tilly. “What did you do?”
“I went after him. I thought if I could talk to him, maybe we could salvage our relationship.”
“Are you saying you left together?” I asked.
“Not together,” Vaughn said. “I left first. Then she chased after me.”
“Did either of you see Anne again after that?”
“No,” Tilly said.
“Did you see who she was with when you left?”
They shook their heads in unison, and Tilly said, “I was so caught up in what had happened that night, I didn’t give Anne another thought—not until we found out she was missing.”
“And that’s when the group met again,” I said.
“Yes,” Vaughn said. “We were all still angry, but when we realized we might have been the last people to see her, we set aside our grievances so we could figure out what to do next.”
“And you all decided to make a pact.”
“I’m ashamed to say we did,” Tilly said. “We agreed that if any of us were interviewed by the police, we’d all say we were together that night, but we wouldn’t mention the fact that Anne was with us.”
“We were afraid,” Vaughn said. “Afraid if she wasn’t found, one of us could be blamed for something we didn’t do.”
“And no one questioned that decision later?” I asked.
Tilly shook her head. “We convinced ourselves whatever happened to Anne had nothing to do with us.”
I sat back, taking in their story.
It fit, but almost in a way I found too neat.
“Now we see how wrong we were,” Vaughn said. “If Audrey was digging into this, and if someone killed her to keep the past from coming out, I wish we would have spoken up back then.”
It was a comment I kept hearing over and over as I’d started speaking to all those at the bonfire that night.
“Do you believe one of your friends could be responsible for what happened to Anne and for Audrey’s murder?” I asked.
Tilly looked at the floor, and Vaughn hesitated.
“I can’t say it’s impossible,” Vaughn said. “But no. I don’t think anyone in our group had anything to do with what happened to either one of those women.”
It occurred to me that Vaughn or Tilly or both may have searched their son’s room before he took off or after.
They could have stumbled upon the hidden notebook, seen the rendering of the locket.
If so, Vaughn or Tilly might be the killer, or one could be covering for the other.
They were two theories I wasn’t ready to lay to rest.
“What about you two?” I asked. “You say you’re innocent, but you have yet to convince me.”
“We’re cooperating, telling you everything we know,” Tilly said.
“You are now, and I’m willing to bet it’s because the truth is starting to come out.”
“We’re owning up to the mistakes of our past to protect our son.”
“And because it’s the right thing to do,” Vaughn added.
Was it because it was the right thing, though?
Or was it out of necessity and the need to appear innocent?
“Is there anything else I need to know, anything you haven’t told me already?” I asked.
Vaughn met my gaze, and they both said no.
“We want this solved,” Tilly said. “For Anne. For Audrey. For everyone who needs answers.”
“I do too,” I said. “And in that vein, I have a few more questions.”