Page 39 of The Girl on Hallow's Eve

I laugh. “That was her brilliant entrepreneurial idea?”

He smiles a little wider. “I didn’t say it was a good idea. I just said she was compelling when she talked about it. Like she’d done a lot of research and really knew what she was talking about. She did not win. But she was memorable. Maybe that’s just because I personally like cotton candy a lot.”

I laugh a little harder and he manages a hint of a chuckle. It’s good to hear. It’s a release valve, even in the worst of times.

“She’s going to get through,” I tell him. “Then she’s going to tell us what happened and point us in the right direction.”

Cary comes around the corner right then.

“Hi, Agent Griffin,” he says. “Good to see you again.”

His voice doesn’t really hold a lot of that sentiment, but I’m going to take him at face value.

“You, too,” I say. A thought occurs to me. “Hey, George McCarthy mentioned something while we were interviewing him and I’m interested to know what you can tell me. He mentioned a guy showing up before the doors were even open shouting about his brother. What happened with that?”

They describe the upset-looking man storming the mall while they were clearly filming, shouting about his brother being missing and it being the fault of the mall.

“You should go to the news station,” Cary says. “They had their cameras rolling the whole time. I’m sure they got footage of the whole thing.”

“That’s actually where we were already headed,” I tell him. “You two have a good evening. I’ll be getting back in touch with you soon.”

At the news station, we’re directed to a small conference room where we wait for a few minutes before a woman comes in. She looks tired, her eyes puffy and red, and she’s wearing only traces of makeup. Her thick hair is pulled back and held in place with a clip. The ends of it look like they were curled at one point but have fallen over time.

“Amy Carrigan,” she says, extending her hand toward me when she comes in. “I’m one of the producers of Action News.”

“Emma Griffin,” I say. “Good to meet you.”

“I know who you are,” she says. Her tone is tense, almost forceful, and she cringes as soon as the words come out of her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I just meant because of my job, I’ve heard a lot about you. I’ve done a lot of research into your cases. Does the fact that you’re here mean that the FBI has gotten involved?”

“Not formally. I live in Sherwood,” I tell her. “I was watching the news coverage of the party and it seemed like something was wrong so my husband and I responded. I’m going to investigate the case to the fullest extent that I’m allowed. What happened there was horrific. Beyond words horrific, and I want to do everything in my power to find who was responsible for it and stop them from ever being able to hurt anyone again.”

“Thank you. I guess you already know I lost several colleagues there. More than colleagues. They were my friends.” She shakes her head. “I should have been there. I was there. But I should have stayed.”

“So, you were producing the show last night?” I ask.

She nods. “Yes. I’m the one who came up with the idea to do it. I’m sure George will say he did, but that was me.” She lets out a short, mirthless laugh. “I bet you think I’m crazy for even being here right now. Everybody says I should be at home.”

“No. I don’t think you’re crazy,” I tell her. “If you’re anything like me, work is what you know. It’s what you’re used to, your routine. It might not always be the most pleasant thing in your life, but it’s comforting. And when you’ve been through something horrible that leaves your world feeling out of control, doing something as familiar as going to work helps make things make sense again.”

She nods again. “Yeah.” She lets out a long breath. “I honestly didn’t know what else I was supposed to do. Last night, I was at the mall. I was there from the very beginning. We filmed the pre-recorded segment and just edited it right there on the spot. I made most of the editing decisions before that segment went on air and I was going to stay for the live footage. That was actually the part I was most excited about. I thought it would be so interesting for viewers to be able to get a first-hand view of what was going on.”

“What happened?” I ask. “What made you leave?”

“George. He was furious about the editing decisions I made and came to confront me in the parking lot. I just… honestly, I just couldn’t take any more of him. I’ve been working with him for a long time. Since the beginning of his career. And he has changed so much. The personality that he puts off while on the air isn’t the same that people encounter off-screen,” Amy says.

“I got a little glimpse of that today. But I can imagine it’s even more difficult to have to work with him on a daily basis,” I say.

“I don’t want to make it sound like he’s a horrible person. Because he’s not. He just has a very big view of himself and it can be a lot. And yesterday, it was a lot. There’s some things going on in my personal life with my marriage and my kids. Nothing really serious, but enough that I felt like I needed to separate myself from the situation. I’d just had enough. I know I didn’t really need to be there. Not for that part. The others on the team knew my vision and what to do. So, I left.” Her head drops and she lets out a small sob. “I left them there. I should have been there. They were there because of something I came up with and I went home. I feel so guilty.”

“Don’t do that to yourself,” I tell her. “Your children got to keep their mother. That’s worth everything. You can’t let yourself feel bad that you weren’t there. Whatever thought went through your head that made you decide to call it a night sent you home with your children and your husband, rather than in that van.”

She sniffles. “Thank you. After I heard what happened, I didn’t know what to do. My husband said I should just take the day off. Maybe take several days off. Just let myself grieve. And that was what I intended to do. But I couldn’t. I just couldn’t make myself stay there. All that makes sense was to come here. It’s where I would be if what happened last night didn’t happen. So, it’s where I am now.”

“I’m glad to have the chance to talk with you. I know this is really hard and I appreciate you being willing to do this. Can you explain to me why no one at the station seemed to notice something was wrong? The transmission from the camera with George shut off and there was no longer any communication from the team out in the parking lot, but no one thought to check on them and find out what was wrong?” I ask.

I don’t mean it to sound accusatory, but I don’t understand how there wasn’t any concern for them, how nobody thought to go check on them when everything broke down.

“The live section was intended to go for a few hours,” Amy explains. “And the anchors from the evening show were going to stay on for the first couple, providing commentary and transitions with commercials, but then they were done for the night after that. It would just be the live footage without anything else. By the time the camera went out the way it did, the anchors were about to be done. It’s not all that uncommon for there to be equipment failures and things during live broadcasts. We’re at the mercy of technology and a lot of the time, technology wins.

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