Page 46 of What She Saw
“I had moves back in the day.”
It was hard to accept that Laurie was dead when her voice hit and held such high notes like a pro. “No one saw her vanish.”
“The world eats up good people all the time,” he said. “If she’d lived, she’d have had a hard road ahead of her. The music industry destroys girls like her.”
“She deserved the chance.”
“I didn’t say she didn’t. Look at me. I was an experienced singer and guitar player, and it ate me up and spit me out.”
“How?”
“Signed my rights away. I was so hungry for the short-term gain I didn’t see the future. I never would’ve saw myself here now.”
His career path didn’t interest me, but for the sake of bonding, I asked, “So why keep at it?”
“It’s in the blood. Won’t let me go.”
“The café looks packed. You must still have some moves.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t good. Had the business sense of a rock.”
“After Laurie’s set, it was the end of the Terrible Tuesdays’ performance, right?”
“Yep.”
“She must have been jazzed and not ready to leave.”
“The bug bit her good. Euphoria is high when a set goes well. It was the band’s ninth show in eight days, but they were juiced. I had to hustle to keep up.”
“What did you and the guys do after your set?”
“Broke down the equipment with the road crew and loaded up the van. Laurie stuck around to help.”
“And after?”
“I saw her walk off toward the toilets by the woods.”
“And then what?”
“I would’ve followed her if I could. She was amazing.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I had to pack up so the next band could get onstage. I didn’t think about her for several more hours. And by then she was gone.”
“But you stayed at the festival?”
“Everyone could see getting out was going to be tough. The main and fire roads, even to foot traffic, approached gridlock. We found a small clearing near the farmhouse. Most guys in the bands pitched tents and spent the rest of the night partying. I hoped Laurie would find us, but she didn’t.”
“This was about one a.m.?”
“Yes.”
“Was it raining then?”
“It had been most of the evening.”
The farmhouse fields were ringed with woods. If a young woman had gotten too close to the trees, someone could have lured her into those woods. Darkness and rain would’ve made it even harder to findthem. Later Taggart and others searched those woods. They’d found Laurie’s blue guitar case.
