The Girl and the Unlucky 13 (Emma Griffin™ FBI Mystery) by A.J. Rivers (i have read the book .txt) 📕

You’re not doing anything wrong. It’s just important to me when I investigate to give people involved as much space and freedom as I can to make sure they are really remembering, not just building off something they heard or were told. I wanted to give you one more chance to remember something else before showing you the footage.”

“Footage?” Ashley frowns. “Were there cameras near the campsite?”

“No,” I tell her, trying to gauge the emotion that filled her face when she asked that question. “But there were some in the hospital where you ended up that night.”

I watch her face, but there isn’t even a flicker of recognition. Misty is the one who reacts.

“She was in a hospital? How did she get there? Who was there with her? When was she there? How was I not notified of this?” she demands.

“Ashley, there is security footage of you in the emergency room waiting room and just outside. I’ve seen it. Can you think of anything that might be on it? Anything you might want to tell your mother?” I ask.

“No,” she says, her eyes slightly widened. “I don’t remember being at the hospital that night. Why didn’t they mention it when I was brought there?”

I shake my head. “Not that hospital. Will you look at the footage and tell me if it jogs anything?”

She nods, getting up from her chair to sit on the edge of her bed between her mother and me. I take my tablet out of my bag and hand it to her. The video is already cued up, so all I have to do is tap the center of the screen for the footage to begin. I purposely started it a few seconds before the group appears, to gauge her reaction and see if she seems to know what’s going on.

Her eyes flick all over the screen, searching the chairs and corners, trying to figure out what she’s supposed to be looking at. There’s no response. No change in her expression. Even when Vivian, Allison, and Sean show up all but carrying her into the emergency room, she doesn’t seem to realize what she’s looking at.

“Is that… Vivian?” Misty frowns, her hand clasped over her mouth in equal parts concentration and shock.

I nod. “Yes.”

She watches for another moment and gasps. “That’s Ashley. They’re dragging her into the hospital. Where did they find her?”

“Do you remember any of this?” I ask.

“Look at her,” Misty snaps, flinging her hand in the direction of the screen. “Does she look as if she’s in any condition to remember anything that was happening?”

I lift my eyes to her, staying calm and steady. “Misty, you need to let her watch and think.”

“They just left?” Ashley asks.

I nod. “This stays pretty much like this for a while. I’m just going to skip ahead a little bit.”

They watch the footage of Ashley getting up from the chair and walking out of the hospital.

“No one noticed,” Ashley says under her breath, almost saying it to herself. She looks at me. “What then?” I show her the footage from the camera outside, and she looks at me incredulously. “Then what?”

“We don’t know,” I say. “There are no other cameras that caught anything.”

“That’s it?” Misty asks. “That’s all you have? You have security footage of people who are supposed to be her friends dumping her at a hospital with who knows what kinds of injuries, then she just wanders away and that’s it? You lose her after that?”

“We didn’t lose her,” I clarify. “That’s why I’m here. I wanted Ashley to see this so that maybe she could remember something else.”

Ashley shakes her head. “I don’t. I don’t know what happened.” Her eyes go back to the screen and the empty corner of the sidewalk where she had just been sitting. “No one even noticed.”

“I can’t do this,” Misty says, standing up sharply from the bed and storming out of the room. “I need to get some air.”

“Why did they do that?” Ashley asks.

“Who?” I ask.

“Vivian and Allison. Why did they just leave?”

“They were afraid,” I say. “Something had happened that night before this. Something really bad. Do you have any idea what I’m talking about?”

She shakes her head. “No.”

“Okay. Give me just a second. I’ll be right back.”

“Can I watch it again?” she asks.

I nod. “Sure.”

Walking out of the room, I pull the door most of the way closed behind me and start down the hallway to look for Misty. I hear her voice before I see her. It’s low and muffled, a harsh whisper that says she wants the words out of her as fast as possible but for no one else to overhear them. Hers isn’t the only voice. I follow them both to the top of the steps. Standing just out of sight, I look down and see Misty and Leona standing in the entrance to the downstairs hall.

Their heads are close together and I can see Leona’s shaking as she rocks back and forth.

“No,” she says. “No. No. No. That’s not right.”

“Yes, Leona. Yes, it is. That’s what happened.”

“No,” Leona repeats. “It couldn’t have. I don’t understand. I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“Listen to me. Your sister is home. That’s all that matters. Do you hear me? Ashley is home.”

I sink back into the hallway, then walk down again with heavy footsteps to announce my presence.

“Misty?” I call.

“Yes?” she responds, rushing up the steps. “Is everything alright?”

“There you are,” I say. “We need to move forward with the next steps of the investigation. I wanted you to go over them with us.”

Forty-Four

Misty follows me back to Ashley’s room, where we find her curled up on the bed, her back pressed against the wall and her knees to her chest. One arm wrapped around her legs holds them close while the other hand supports the tablet. She’s fixated on the image on the screen.

“Ashley?” I ask. She doesn’t move. I take a step closer to the bed. “Ashley?”

Her eyes snap to me. I