Page 59 of Finding Our Reality

Dakota is thinking about lying. She’s thinking about it real hard. I nip that shit in the bud. “There’s no point in lying, Dakota. We know a lot more than you think we do. If we wanted to come after you for the drugs, we would’ve done it way before now.”

Snorting, her face contorts into an ugly snarl. “No, she didn’t tell me you knew about the drugs. Catie was probably worried that me and Hannah would make her stop. We were always the ones worried about getting caught. Not Catie.” She pins Lulu with her stare. “Not Carrie.”

Lulu pulls her shoulders back. “So, you’re telling me if I check your purse right now, there won’t be any pills inside of a breath mint box?”

“It was college, Ella. Normal people experiment in college. Alcohol, drugs, sex. I can’t help it if you were some old married schoolmarm by the time you were eighteen.” She pushes away from the table, making an elaborate show of crossing her legs. “Of course, there’s nothing in my purse. I stopped my recreational drug use when I graduated college.”

I tap my finger against the table, drawing her attention. “So, tell us what you know about the drug business. Did Carrie ever talk about it? Discuss how she obtained the pills? Anything?”

“Not much. It all started with her knee surgery, with the pain pills. We noticed that she kept taking pain medication. One night, at a party, she gave us each an Oxy. High dose. That’s all it was for me and Hannah… party use. And Ritalin for studying. And the occasional sleeping pill when our schedules got off whack. For Carrie and Catie it was more. They used all the time. Basically, every day. But she never told us how she got the pills or who she got them from. She said she couldn’t tell us, that it would put us in danger.”

Lulu slams her pen down. “And did you even consider that this business would put my sister in danger? What about Carrie’s well-being? You were one of her best friends.”

“We paid for our product. Carrie said she was safe as long as she turned her money in and kept her mouth shut.”

I toss my hands in the air. “Safe? She was selling drugs, and you thought she was safe?”

Dakota doesn’t answer. She just raises her eyebrows, waiting for another question.

“She never talked about the supplier?”

“No, and I didn’t ask any questions. I don’t know where she got the pills, how she got the pills, or who she got the pills from.”

“What about her other customers? Do you know anyone who would hurt Carrie to get to her supply?”

She shakes her head. “She only sold to people she knew. People she was sure would keep their mouth shut. She didn’t want Caleb to find out.”

“But he did?” I ask, confirming what we’ve known for twelve years.

“Yes, that’s why he broke up with her.”

“What about me?” Lulu sounds like a small, innocent child. She reaches back, rubbing her scar.

Dakota sighs, shaking her head. “She didn’t want you to know, either. We weren’t allowed to say anything about it to you.”

Lulu’s breath hitches in her chest, and it breaks my damn heart.

I reach for the file folder. “Did you notice anything unusual in the months leading up to her disappearance?”

“No, nothing sticks out. Everything was normal until that Fourth of July weekend. She wasn’t answering our phone calls and texts as quickly as she normally did. And then she stopped altogether. When she didn’t show up for the party, we knew something was wrong.” She looks at Lulu. “That’s when Hannah called your mom.”

Opening the folder, I slide the pictures across the table, nodding for Dakota to pick them up. “Take a look at those pictures. Tell me if anyone looks familiar.”

Straightening the diamond pendant dangling between her massively fake breasts, she scoots closer and picks up the small stack of pictures. I don’t say anything; I let her study the images in silence.

“I don’t know anyone in these pictures besides Carrie. They’re not exactly the kind of friends I hung out with in college.”

“Meaning?”

She tosses her head to the side. “Really, Detective? You’re going to make me say it?”

You bet your ass I’m gonna make you say it, lady.

“Fine.” She tosses her hair behind her shoulder. “Low class, trashy, poor. We didn’t hang out with poor people. And I’m not being discriminatory. It’s just the way things were. Right, Ella?”She raises her eyebrows, waiting on Lulu to agree with her. “You know what I mean, all of your friends were privileged.”

Lulu stares at Dakota like she’s a rotten piece of meat.

My voice growls loudly in the room, startling the smug look from her plastic face. “Not all of them.” I point at the pictures. “Keep looking.”

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