Page 100 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

38

STRANGER THAN FICTION

A True Crime Podcast with Harley Granger

“The Disappearance of Chloe Miranda”

Rough recording for editing

Harley Granger:So this wouldn’t be a true investigation unless we talked about some of the people who believe that Chloe Miranda has not been harmed by Maverick or anyone at Extreme. And that, in fact, she has disappeared by choice. So today, I’m here with Lizzie Burke who is a life-long friend of Chloe’s, someone who has known Chloe and been close to her family since grade school. Welcome, Lizzie.

Lizzie:Thank you for having me.

Harley:So when did you first get to know Chloe?

Lizzie:We were in second grade, I think. Yeah, like really little, you know? And Chloe was such a tiny thing, so quiet. Some of the boys were teasing her, not giving her a turn on the swing set. And I stood up for her because, yeah, I was big for my age and the boys were a little afraid of me. From that day forward, we were friends. It was Lizzie and Chloe, Chloe and Lizzie—always. Grade school, middle school. We were always together, knew each other so well. When we weren’t together, we were FaceTiming, gaming, or texting. You always think that kind of friendship is forever, don’t you?

Harley: I’m not sure I ever had a friend like that.

Lizzie:Maybe you’re better off.

Harley:How’s that?

Lizzie:Because then you don’t know what it feels like to lose her.

Harley: Did you?

Lizzie:Yeah. It’s funny. In my memory of her, there are two versions of Chloe. There’s the girl she was before—when we were kids.

Harley:And then?

Lizzie:There was the girl she became after her mother died.[Lizzie starts to cry here.]Sorry. Can I have a minute?

Harley:Of course. Take your time. Let me stop recording until you’re ready.

[Recording pauses.]

Harley:Ready to start again? Tell me about Chloe after her mother died.

Lizzie: She just kind of went dark, you know? Like all the light and laughter, all the goofy sweetness. It was gone. She started hanging out with a rougher crowd. There were rumors—drinking, drugs, bad boys. She ghosted me, essentially, before it was a thing.

Harley:Did you ever confront her?

Lizzie:Yeah, I went to her house one day. Her mom had been gone about a year then. Sometimes we still gamed together onRed World, so we were still connected that way. I just missed her so much. She had a boyfriend by then. This guy who everyone called Stash, a real loser who was supposedly a drug dealer.

Harley:What happened?

Lizzie:She came to the door, and she didn’t even look like herself. She was all sunken around the eyes and so thin. She’d dyed her hair, and she had a hickey on her neck. She didn’t even invite me in. I told her I missed her, asked if we could talk. But she just shook her head. And I’ll never forget what she said.

Harley:Tell me.

Lizzie:She said that the Chloe I remembered was gone. That I was a part of her life that didn’t exist anymore. She saw the world for what it was—random, unfair, dark. And everything we thought we knew was a lie. And that looking at me reminded her how silly, how young she’d been and that we weren’t friends anymore. She asked me to leave and not come back.

[Soft sobbing.]

Harley:I’m sorry.

Lizzie:She broke my heart. I’ve lost other friends, broken up with boys, or been broken up with, and nothing else ever hurt that bad.

---