August 20, 1996

Someone left a note for me today. I can't imagine who would want to meet with me. It can't be Melanie or Greg. They wouldn't have bothered with all the theatrics. There's only one other person I can think of but why wait until the party? Why send me a note? Only someone hiding something big would be so secretive. Is it possible someone else knows what they did? I wish. I haven't been able to turn up anything on my own. It would be nice to have help. I'm starting to worry that they're going to get away with it. 

Andra navigated the narrow path that led down to the lookout at the Bluffs. Cameron was just ahead of her and moving along quicker than Andra was comfortable with. Having been here quite a few times with his friends he knew the trails well. They had been looking for a quiet place to discuss their plans and what they knew so far. Neither one of their houses were viable options.

Cameron's little sister was home for the day sick with what his mother referred to as a summer cold. His mother had stayed home to look after her. Andra's was also occupied since they had yet to finish repairing the busted water line at her mother's office. After some discussion, they decided that the Bluffs would be the best place. Not only was it quiet but Andra was hoping the connection it had to Savannah might get her closer to the answers she needed.

They had been out earlier in the afternoon to purchase new cell phones. Cameron admittedly had it a little easier than Andra. He told his parents that he had accidentally dropped his phone into Rob's pool while they were messing around. He had gotten a lecture on being more responsible but they eventually gave him the money to replace it. Andra on the other hand had been forced to pay for hers from her own pocket. The guy who had come out to look at the security cameras had told her mom that it seemed to be some kind of power surge that had fried not only the cameras but everything else plugged into an outlet in their kitchen. As a result, Andra hadn't had much choice but to keep the phone situation to herself. They had been through too much for her mom to be getting suspicious now.

Arriving at the bottom of the trail they walked across the clearing to the fence that separated the open space from the drop below. They took a moment to take in the view. The day was sunny and the late afternoon sun sparkled off the surface of the water as if it were coated in diamonds. The tall trees that grew in and around the embankment danced in the breeze that rolled in off the water. Cameron was the first to break the silence.

"So this note, did you get a chance to really look at it?"

"I did and I see what you're saying about the clues but I'm still at a loss."

On closer examination, Andra realized that there were a few things about the scrap of paper that she hadn't originally noticed. It was written on some type of thin crisp brown paper that had several dark stains scattered around it. There was also a shiny gold emblem emblazoned in the bottom right-hand corner. It had been circular Andra thought but the way the paper had been ripped had left the design jagged and misshapen.

"Do you have any idea what this could be?" She said pulling the note from her pocket and turning it toward him.

"Maybe. That emblem in the bottom corner looks a lot like the one on the menus at the diner." He said tapping the edge.

"So you think it came from there?"

"Yeah, I do. That would explain the dark spots. They're grease stains. It's the same kind of paper they use for the fry baskets."

Andra thought about that. It made sense. Someone sees Savannah out. Decides to leave her the note and tears off a piece of the fry paper to write on. 

"Alright," Cameron said. "That aside what else do we have to look at?"

"Not a lot. We're scraping the bottom of the barrel on leads here. I have a couple of phone calls to make. One to the previous occupants of the house. The ones who were renting it right after Savannah died and one to Jennifer Lewis."

"You found the people who lived there? How did you manage that?"

"They had kids and there's only one school around here. It was just a matter of locating the kids and then Google did the rest. As it turns out the kids are all that's left. Their parents died in a car accident a little over a year after leaving Inglewood."

Cameron ran a hand through his hair. "What is it with this place? I'm starting to think Conrad's wife was onto something. There's something bad about this town. It's like the people who manage to get out are still carrying a small piece of it with them."

"What does that mean for us? "Andra asked quietly.

"I don't know. I wish I could say I was hopeful but I won't lie to you. I'm concerned. It's not like there's a lot we can do about it. We're all in at this point. Hopefully ending this will have some kind of ripple effect that extends out into the rest of Inglewood."

"Do you really believe that's possible?"

"No. It's all I have to hold onto for now though and I'll keep clinging to that reasoning until we're done with this and I have time to focus on another solution."

Andra nodded understanding his need for hope. She just wished she could have that type of enthusiasm. Her confidence had taken a hit in the last few days with the brick wall they had seemingly run into. After their talk with Gloria, she wasn't sure they would ever solve Savannah's case.

"I'm just worried," she told Cameron. "If neither one of these calls turn up anything then there's nothing left."

"You've seen the killer. That's not nothing."

"Yeah," she said with a humorless laugh. "Let's not forget that. First of all, we're not even sure he is the killer. I never saw him push her remember? Second, we don't know his name and we have no way of identifying him."

"I'd already considered that," he replied non-plussed by the bitterness in her tone. "I think we should call Conrad and see what he says."

"And tell him what?" she asked. "We haven't exactly told him that I'm seeing dead people. You've met him, Cameron. Does he seem like the type of guy that believes in fairy tales to you?"

Cameron stood quietly looking out over the water considering what she had said. "No, he doesn't. You're probably right but I still think he could help. There's got to be a way to talk to him about it without actually talking to him about it you know what I mean?"

"Yes. I know what you mean. Give me some time to think about it. I'll give him a call."

Andra ran her finger over the face of her new phone nervously. She'd had to text Melanie to get her to resend Jennifer's number. She had lost her text messages when Savannah fried their phones.

Hitting the highlighted number in the message box she put the call on speaker. She and Cameron stood listening to the ringing phone that sounded obnoxiously loud in the silence of the wooded clearing. Andra was just beginning to think that no one was going to answer when a woman's voice came on the line.

"Hello?"

"Hi. This is Andra Morris. Is this Jennifer?"

"It is. Melanie told me I'd probably hear from you. Give me a sec will you?"

"Sure," Andra replied. From the other end of the phone, she heard shuffling noises and then movement. A few seconds later Jennifer's thick Southern accent was back. "Sorry I had to step outside. As you can imagine none of us are comfortable discussing Savannah. The only reason I agreed to this is because Melanie told me that ya'll were making some headway on her case. Is that true?"

"Well I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but it seems that way. My friend Cameron and I have been working on some new leads that have presented themselves. Cameron is actually here with me today and sitting in on this conversation.

"Hi," Cameron said amicably and waved at the phone as if Jennifer could see him. "Hello," she replied.

"All we need from you," Andra continued "is anything you know about the night that Savannah died. Anything no matter how stupid you might think it is could be relevant."

"Ok. I can do that."

"Then I'll just start with a few simple questions. So you were at the party that night?"

"Yeah, I was there."

"Did you witness the argument between Savannah and Greg?"

"I did."

All of these questions were just a formality working toward what Andra wanted to know. She was already aware of what had occurred at the party that night. Savannah had shown her. What she needed to know now was what had happened during the time that Jennifer and Savannah were alone together.

"Was Savannah under the influence of alcohol or drugs?" Andra asked

"Not that I could tell. She was incredibly coherent. We talked for quite a while that night and at no time would I have thought she was impaired."

Andra tensed. Jennifer had come to the heart of the matter on her own. They had talked for quite a while that night. Andra was desperate to find out about those conversations.

"Alright," Andra hesitated for a moment as if she were reading off a pre-written list of questions. She didn't want to seem too eager. "My notes say that you and Savannah left the party around nine correct?"

There was a short thoughtful pause before Jennifer answered. "That sounds about right. There was a local radio show that used to air on the weekends. It was this weekly top forty thing. I used to listen to it every single weekend. It would air at seven and wrap up around ten. I remember it was almost over when we got out to the car. Savannah made me leave it so that we could hear what the number one song was."

"So you're in the car around nine give or take. You told the police that Savannah didn't arrive home until somewhere around midnight. Could you fill in those missing couple of hours for me? Where did the two of you go? Did Savannah say anything that in hindsight might mean something today?"

"Yeah. I kind of figured that's what you wanted to hear. It's the only thing the cops were interested in back in '96. I keep going over it in my head trying to remember every single detail. It was one night of my life at the time it was happening I never realized it would end up being this important. If I had I would have paid more attention."

She paused for a moment taking a shaky breath before continuing. "After Greg and Savannah fought Melanie caught me and asked me to make sure Savannah got home ok. Melanie already had her hands full with Greg who at that point was barely standing but we could both see that Savannah didn't need to be alone. I almost didn't catch her. I don't know where she thought she was going. She couldn't drive. Anyway, for the longest time, she didn't speak so we drove around listening to that radio show I told you about."

"After a while, I started getting hungry and thought she must be too. I stopped at the diner and got us food to go. She was getting a little more talkative by then but she said she wasn't ready to go home yet. We took our food to the little park in the center of town and just sat and talked. For a while, it was just about regular stuff. Things that don't mean much to anyone but teenage girls."

"It didn't take her long though to start settling back into that same depressive mood she'd been in for weeks at that point. I asked what was going on and told her she could talk to me. I didn't think she was gonna answer me for the longest time and then she said that I wouldn't understand. That nobody understood. She said I was a good kid and that if I was lucky enough to find someone I could trust to hold onto them. She hadn't had that for a long time she told me. She told me about her dad and how he had been the one person she felt she could trust but he was gone."

"I told her I was so sorry for what she had been through. She looked right at me and smiled. Her eyes were this gorgeous blue anyway but at that moment they were ice cold. In the dark, they almost looked like they were glowing." Andra shivered when she heard that. She had seen those eyes more than once and she had a horrible feeling that she'd be seeing them for a long time to come."

Jennifer unaware of Andra's reaction continued. "The anger she felt was so strong that it was almost a physical thing. Even the air around us had changed. It felt charged and electric. It felt dangerous. She looked right at me and told me thank you but it was ok. The people that were going to be sorry were the people who took him from her. She said she would make them pay."