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“I guess... there’s a knife in my backpack. But it’s not a weapon. It’s just for... you know, stuff.”
“Stand up. Lift up your jacket and shirt and turn around.” He did what I asked, but he moved slowly, like he was seventy years old, instead of twenty. There was no gun. And his pants were too fitted to be hiding much of anything. “Sit down,” I said. “We’re going to talk.” I put my pack down, slid out my water bottle, and took a long drink, but I never took my eyes off him, and I didn’t lower my gun. He sat back down again on the floor, too carefully, and cross-legged, like he was about to start a yoga class. Other than his hat and gloves, he was still wearing all of his layers.
“I want you to tell me exactly what happened between you and Nina on Friday night in Stowe. Every single thing. Everything you said, everything she said.”
“But... my parents already told you. I told them, and they told you. I swear, I told them everything I know.”
“Don’t you lie to me.”
“I’m just as worried about her as everyone else. More, probably.” He leaned forward. He was pale, and his eyes were wide and honest. They met mine without flinching. “I loved Nina. You know I did. Do. I always have. Just because we had a stupid fight, that doesn’t matter. That was only, like, five minutes. So we lost our tempers. That doesn’t change anything about how much we love each other.”
I looked at him and said nothing. He seemed to think he was getting through to me.
“I dream about her, all the time. When I’m sleeping, when I’m awake. I dream that this has all just been a nightmare, and that when I wake up, she’ll be there, beside me, and our lives will just go on the way they were supposed to.” It was word for word what he’d said in the television interview. I don’t think he realized. Or maybe he did, and he didn’t care.
“I’m sure you do.” I said it quietly. Gently, almost. As if we were friends, sitting in a diner somewhere having coffee and talking about the girl who got away. Simon’s face crumpled, as if he wanted to cry. Though there were no tears. His eyes were dry.
“Just tell me,” I said. “I already know most of it. There’s no point in lying. You can’t help yourself that way.”
Simon shook his head.
“I don’t know what you think happened, but I’ve told you the truth. Nina and I had a stupid fight. She’d been drinking. Only a few glasses of wine, but you know what she’s like. She doesn’t drink much, and she can’t hold it very well. She gets emotional. I decided that I should leave to give her some space to calm down. So that she could see things straight. That’s it.”
“I thought you said you broke up.”
“We did. I mean... yeah, we did, but I don’t think either of us really meant it.”
“So. You walked away to give her some space. And what do you think happened after that?”
He looked away from me, looked down. “I don’t like to think about it. And I could be wrong.”
“Just say it.”
He looked back at me, his eyes still wide, still full of that false sincerity, and I felt a black wave of dislike start low and crash all over me. I didn’t know this kid. Sure, I’d seen him a hundred times at the school or at kids’ sports when they were all little, and when Nina grew up and they started dating, I’d seen him around our house, but I’d never truly looked at him. I’d never felt the need to. Because I’d known him his whole life. I thought that made him safe. I thought he was a nice boy who was in love with my daughter. He had some growing up to do, for sure, and maybe he was a little spoiled, but at his heart, a good kid. I’d been so far from the truth. I was looking at a shell of a person. He understood people well enough that he could play the part, when he needed to, but that’s all it was. A role. A thin layer of decency wrapped around what? Wrapped around a fucking animal.
“I think someone took her,” Simon said, in a choked half whisper. “Maybe she left a window open. Or maybe I... maybe I didn’t lock the door when I left. Oh God. That must have been it. I was upset. I wasn’t thinking. And someone came and broke in. Maybe to rob the place. You know people do that. They case vacation homes, make sure they’re empty, and then they come back at night and break in and take what they can. I mean, someone could have been there earlier in the day. Nina and I were out all day, hiking. They might have thought the house was empty. And then they come back and find Nina alone.” He was speaking faster, getting more enthusiastic about his story.
“And then what?”
“I... I guess, they kidnap her? Take her somewhere.”
“So you think she’s still alive?”
I saw the knowledge in his eyes. There was a no, sitting right there and looking at me. His head even started to move into a shake before he stopped it. It was the smallest twitch, but I saw it.
“I think yes. I think... I hope so. Even though whoever took her... I mean... But I want her to be alive. I want her to survive and come back to us.”
I leaned forward.
“You’re lying, Simon. You killed Nina that night. You hid her body in the woods. That’s why that dog went crazy. And somehow you went back and moved her, when you found out we were coming. I don’t know how you did that, maybe the police are close to finding out. Something’s spooked you, hasn’t it? Which is why you’re running away.”
He was breathing hard, his face reddening. His hands, which were on his knees, clenched tight.
“I’m not running away.”
“No? You’re just... meeting a friend?” I glanced around the hut and widened my hands in a questioning gesture.
“I just... I needed to get away. My lawyer...”
