Page 84 of Please Remember

"You're cracked!" I shout. "I didn't touch either of them."

Dr. Victor leans forward with her hands folded on the table. "Maybe Allie's abduction was a crime of passion, enacted when the opportunity presented itself."

"No, I told you people a thousand times. I went home before Allie showed up at the bar and cried myself to sleep. I never saw Allie that day."

"I think you did," Shields says. "I think you saw her in the parking lot, and you were the one who said her name that night. The one who hit her and caused her to fall and hit her head on the parking curb."

"You thought you’d killed her until she opened her eyes. Realizing how small of a window you had, you did the same thing you did with Heidi Moran. You put her in the back of her own vehicle and drove it out to the location you knew would be remote and never found."

Shaking my head, I laugh. "You have very active imaginations."

"We have your DNA in both vehicles, Laura," Shields says. "Now, I don't know if you held your former teacher in the basement like you did Allie, but she died. You buried her in a shallow grave close to the tree line. When you hit Allie, you had basic first aid training, and you tended to her wound. You knew how to keep her alive. You learned from the last time."

"You're crazy, you know that? I wouldn't do that."

"The house belongs to a family member of Danny Tomlin," Parsons says.

My eyes widen. "The guy who had an affair with Ms. Moran?"

"He never had an affair with Ms. Moran. You made up that rumor," Dr. Victor says.

"No, I didn't. I heard about it."

"You started it. Danny confirmed that," Shields says. "He also confirmed he took you out to his uncle's abandoned house when you were thirteen and he was fourteen."

I stare, dumbfounded. "I don't think I ever talked to Danny. I definitely never went with him to his uncle's house."

"You had a two-year sexual relationship with him that started that day. He said you were into a role-playing sexual game, but after two years, he knew something strange was going on. He called it off, and you two never spoke again," Shields says.

"Excuse me? You're saying I had sex with Danny Tomlin when I was thirteen?" I ask. "For real?"

Parsons nods. "Yes."

"No!" I say and laugh. "I didn't have sex for the first time until I was twenty-one. It was with a drunken asshole at the bar. So romantic."

"He has a picture of the two of you in bed. It's obvious you're not wearing any clothes, but you're covered up. You're kissing his neck while you take the picture, and he held onto it as a memento because you were his first," Shields says. "He also said it was your idea to spread the rumor that Ms. Moran was having an affair with a student, but he didn't realize you were telling people it was him until it was too late."

Shaking my head, I lean back. "No."

"That was why you told Allie and Sage that the situations with Heidi Moran and Allie were so similar. You knew they were almost exactly the same, except Allie was kept alive."

"I noticed the patterns!"

"If you didn't do it, who did, Laura?" Dr. Victor asks.

The way her lips thin makes me uncomfortable. She looks like someone about to break bad news to a child, and I can't help but wonder ifshe knows. She looks like she knows. "Fine! I know who did it, okay? I've known since the night Allie's memory came back."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Parsons asks.

"Because I was trying to protect my friend. My only friend. She did it for me because she wants me to be happy. It's totally misguided and wrong, but I swear, I had no idea she hurt Ms. Moran. If I did, we probably wouldn't be friends."

"Who's the friend?"

"Natalie Gill."

My stomach churns as I feel like I've just committed the ultimate betrayal. She may not be answering my calls, but I don't want to rat on her. She's still my friend, as far as I know.

"You haven’t mentioned Natalie before now. You say she's your only friend?"

---