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They’re leaned close together when I peek my head around the partially open door and both look up atme.
“Good morning,” I say. “How areyou?”
Miranda looks at Holden, then back at me. “Better, Iguess.”
I walk up to her bed and see the bandages wrapped around her arms. They are attached with clips rather than tape around the edges, making them slightly loose, and when she moves one arm the gauze slips, revealing an angry-looking red rash encircling her forearm. There’s a bandage on the back of her head I hadn’t noticed yesterday. I know from experience that a head injury can cause a tremendous amount of bleeding, which could explain the copious blood in and around the cabin.
“Are you ready to talk to me for a few minutes?” I ask.
Her hand tightens around Holden’s as if she’s already anticipating the difficulty of the conversation ahead. She takes in a breath and releases it as she nods.
“Alright.”
“Great. Holden, if you could wait out in the waiting room for just a little bit,” I tell him. “Maybe go get something to eat or drink. I know you want to take care of Miranda, but you can’t do that if you aren’t taking care of yourself, too.”
Miranda looks almost panicked and doesn’t let go of his hand. “Can’t he stay? It makes me feel better to have him here withme.”
“We spent days thinking each other was dead,” Holden adds.
I nod, trying to look understanding. “I know. And I promise I won’t take any longer than I absolutely have to. But like I explained yesterday, I have to take everybody’s statement privately. It’s just part of maintaining the integrity of the investigation. It’s been the same for everybody else. The only people who had anyone with them while we were questioning them have been the campers who had their parents with them. Everybody else has beenalone.”
Holden leans down and kisses Miranda’sforehead.
“I won’t be far away,” he tells her. “I won’t even go down to the cafeteria. I’ll be right in the waiting area so that when she’s done I can come right backin.”
Miranda shakes her head. “No. You really should go get something to eat. I’m going to be fine. I’ll see you when you getback.”
“I loveyou.”
“I loveyou.”
I wait for him to leave and close the door behind him, then take one of the chairs and pull it up to the side of the bed. I nod my head in the direction of the door.
“The two of you remind me so much of my husband and me,” I tell her.
She seems to like this. “I can’t wait to marry him. Going through this has just made me want it even more. Life’s so short, you know? It’s just so damn short and messedup.”
“I definitely know that,” I say. I remember Holden confiding in me about buying her ring and smile a little at the thought of how happy she’s going to be when all this is through and they can put it behind them together. “I know this isn’t going to be easy for you to talk about. I want you to believe me when I tell you that I know from personal experience it can be really hard to talk about going through something like this and having somebody ask you questions about it. I promise I will keep this as brief as I can, and you can take as much time as you need with eachquestion.
“Some of the questions I ask you might be uncomfortable. I’m not asking them because of any opinion I have about you, or anything that I think about you. This is not a judgment or an assumption. I’m asking you these questions only because I need to know the answers in order to continue moving forward with the investigation. Which means I need you to be absolutely truthful with me. Okay? Even if you’re embarrassed or it’s something you don’t want anybody else to know, I need you to trust me withit.
“I can’t promise you that every single word you say to me will be kept between us. That’s part of an investigation. But I can promise that I will take anything you tell me and respect it as much as humanly possible. I will use only what I need for the investigation and the rest doesn’t have to go any further thanus.”
“Okay,” she says, adjusting her position to sit up a little higher like it will prepare her for the conversation.
“I don’t want to lead you in any way, so I’m just going to ask that you tell me what happened. In your own words, starting from wherever you think is the appropriate beginning. Just tell me everything you can remember about Fridaynight.”
Miranda closes her eyes for a second and takes a deep breath. “I had a really bad headache for most of the day. I get migraines and I was afraid it was going to turn into one of the full-blown attacks I have sometimes, and I really didn’t want that to happen. But, I also knew I was supposed to fulfill all of my counselor duties and go to the campfire that night. I didn’t want to do anything wrong and get in trouble. Holden was really excited about us getting these positions and he told me that if this session went well, maybe they would think about reopening the camp on a permanent basis next summer. Which might mean we could be counselors for the wholesummer.”
“And you were excited about that?” Iask.
“Yeah. I mean, not as excited as Holden was. He was the one who came up with the idea of us going in the first place. I never went to camp when I was younger, so I guess I don’t really understand the whole thing like he does. But the idea of having a job like that all summer and being able to spend it close to him sounded good. And I really was having fun, so I didn’t want to ruin it if I got caught not going to the campfire. But it was getting bad. My head was killing me. Holden told me I really needed to rest and take care of my headache so things didn’t getworse.
“I knew he was right, so I did go, at the very beginning of the campfire, and then kind of slipped away when nobody was paying attention. Anthony was telling a bunch of ghost stories and all the campers were still ramped up from the day, so they didn’t notice me leave. I went to my cabin and got in bed. I was honestly hoping it was going to just get better so I could go back, but it was really bad. I’d taken some medicine and it helped take the edge off enough that I could fall asleep.
“I don’t know how long I was sleeping when I heard somebody come into the cabin. I didn’t really think anything of it at first. I figured I had slept through the campfire and it was the other girls coming back to the cabin for the night. Or maybe it was Holden and he’d snuck away to come check on me. But when I opened my eyes, it was a huge man. He was holding a hatchet. I barely even had time to react before he swung it at me. It grazed my arm,” she says as she holds up one of her bandaged arms. “I tried to get out of his way, but ended up getting tangled in my bedding and falling onto the floor. I really don’t know what happened afterthat.
“It’s all kind of a blur. He was trying to get me and I was screaming. I fought against him and I guess I picked something up and hit him. Or maybe I pushed him and he fell into something. He hit his head. I know that. He was bleeding and he touched his hand to it, then looked down at it like he couldn’t believe he was actually bleeding. That gave me enough time to go through the window. It scraped my back up pretty badly and when I fell, I cut my leg. It didn’t matter. I got up and ran as fast as I could. I knew he was following me. All I could do wasrun.”
