Page 151 of What She Saw
“I’m not judging. I’m trying to understand that day.”
“I never saw her using, but she was super agitated that day.”
In 1994, I’d bet she’d been using coke. “And she was with Colton?”
“He was with a lot of girls that night. But yeah, she was clearly into him.”
Luring her to a trailer for sex wouldn’t be a stretch.
“Why are you so interested in Tristan?”
I sipped my soda. Time to bait the hook. “Because she’s still alive.”
“What?”
Her shock was amusing. “I know. She escaped the festival and has been in hiding for thirty-one years. Crazy, isn’t it?”
“Shit. Where is she?”
“She was in Northern Virginia. She has had a dance studio up there for twenty years.” The soda slurped as I drained the cup. “Now she’s in the wind. I’m not sure where she is. On the run, I guess.”
“Her daddy must have known.”
I nodded. “Yep.”
“Does Paxton know?”
“He will soon enough.”
“You’re so different than Patty,” she said.
I detected no traces of disappointment. “I’ve heard that.”
“But maybe that’s a good thing. Better to be tough in this world.”
For once, it might be nice to wear rose-colored glasses. But the universe had never delivered my set.
“Do you remember a gas station with a pay phone on Tanner’s Run? It would have been due south of the concert.”
“Yeah, that was Izzy Bay’s gas station. My brother bought bait there all the time. But it’s been gone twenty years.”
I thought about the old barn on Tanner’s Run Road. Kevin had seemed fascinated by the structure. “Was there a barn near that station?”
“Yeah. It was part of the Foster family farm. Quite the spread in the 1930s. The barn is all that’s left, and it’s barely standing.”
“The Fosters are from the area?”
“No. Foster Sr. came from the east. He came to Dawson to mine gold, but that was a bust, so he became a farmer.” She shook her head. “I remember Kevin used to talk about the mines. He wondered if he could get rich if he dug in them.”
“It’s played out.”
“That and it’s now ready to collapse.”
A customer called out, and Callie glanced over her shoulder. “Better get going.”
“Thanks, Callie.”
Paxton entered the diner, and the instant he saw me, he frowned. I motioned him forward.
