Page 49 of Theirs to Ruin

Conroy consulted his notepad. “Why were you so far from the lake that night?”

“I’d been looking for Ava and someone told me she had gone upstream. We’d had an argument earlier. I was hoping we could clear the air.”

Conroy’s gaze didn’t waver. “What was the disagreement about?”

I gulped. I hadn’t said anything about the roofie incident to my dad but now wasn’t the time to keep secrets anymore. “About an incident last month.” I glanced at Officer Davis. “I got roofied at a bar. Ava made fun of me for it in front of everyone. She accused me of being on drugs, like I did it on purpose.”

“Jesus Christ, Camille,” Dad muttered, but I avoided looking at him.

Conroy scribbled down some notes. “Right. We have that incident on file.”

Davis cleared his throat. “It’s unfortunate she felt that way. Clearly that wasn’t the case. So you were looking for her, and then…”

I took a deep breath. “I heard a voice.”

“What kind of voice? Man? Woman?”

I shook my head. “I couldn’t tell.”

“Go on.”

“I spotted a body in the river. At first, I didn’t know who it was, but then I recognized her from…” My voice choked up, the memory of the nightmarish scene flooding back. “I recognized the sparkly top she was wearing. I jumped in to help her." I shook my head, trying to dispel the cold memory. "The water... it was freezing. I reached Ava and tried to pull her to the shore, but the current was too strong.”

Conroy leaned in. "Did you see anyone else? Hear anything?"

"There was... someone. I think. Up on the riverbank, but I don’t know which one." I hesitated, my memory fragmented and distorted. "I saw a figure, in the distance, but it was so dark…I couldn’t see much. I don’t even know if I was imagining it, to be honest. Everything started to fade, and then nothing."

"Wait, so you passed outinthe water?” Conroy asked, his attention now riveted to me.

I nodded.

“Do you remember being pulled out?Whopulled you out?”

"No. The next thing I remember is waking up, and before I knew it…” This was it. The time to tell them about Ty. Instead, I said, “Dante found us."

“Dante Morillo,” Conroy confirmed, and I nodded. “Camille, do you remember which way he came from when he found you?”

I hesitated. Dante had come from upstream, when everyone else had come from downstream, from the lake. Did that mean anything?

“I—I don’t know. I woke up and he was there.”

The officer stared at me as if he knew I was lying.

Which I was.

Butwhywas I lying?

Dante didn’t kill Ava. For one thing, he was bone dry when he found us. Then again, that just meant he wasn’t the one that pulled us out. Dante wouldn’t have needed to get wet to drown Ava. Or strangle her before throwing her into the river. My stomach twisted into knots. Shit, why was I thinking this way?

Conroy turned to Bianca. “You saw Mr. Morillo?”

“No. But I was behind the pack.”

Conroy frowned, scrutinizing my sister’s face. “And what about you, Bianca? Hadyouseen Ava that night?”

“Hold on one second,” my father said, raising his voice. “This isn’t an interrogation. My daughter is traumatized and you’re not going to start pointing fingers at my other one. You can leave now."

Davis cleared his throat. "We understand, Congressman. We'll reach out if we need more information."

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