Lies Left Unsaid

Detective Brandon

I pissed myself with excitement when Martìnez told me that he had the diary and that it contained some juicy content about a boy named Curtis. Was this Caitlyn's secret boyfriend? Was he the father of her child? Did he know what happened to Caitlyn? Was he the cause of what happened to Caitlyn?

None of those questions could be answered if we couldn't locate Curtis. But in order to locate him, we had to figure out who "him" actually was. The real question became, which one of the people on the short list of those who actually knew Caitlyn, would know who she was referring to when she repeatedly mentioned Curtis in her journal. It was obvious that no one in Caitlyn's family knew. She was hell bent on keeping him a secret from them, hence the code name. And it was unlikely that Madison knew since she said Caitlyn never told her the name of her secret admirer. Emily seemed the least likely person for Caitlyn to share this kind of secret with, but she had known Caitlyn the longest, so if there was anyone who might know our mystery man, my money was on her.

The other recent discovery that was eating away at me was the doctor's accusation that Caitlyn had been stealing pain medication from the hospital. For a long time now, I had wondered if drugs played a role in Caitlyn's disappearance. Everyone said she wasn't the type of girl to drink or do drugs, but it was my experience that it's the ones you least expect that are usually using. The opioid epidemic was huge, and nowhere more so than in affluent white communities, with opioid overdose deaths for caucasians being nearly seven times higher than those of the black or Hispanic population. It was the rich white man's drug, or in many cases, the drug of choice for wealthy white unhappy housewives. To people with money, there was a difference between pills prescribed by a doctor and dirty street drugs for junkies, like heroin or meth. Because pain pills were legal, they were somehow seen as being safe and acceptable. It was what made them so dangerous. The other thing that made pain meds so dangerous was the ability of people to abuse them without anyone noticing. Caitlyn wouldn't have had to go somewhere secret to shoot up or snort a line. She could simply pop a pill, even possibly while in class, and everyone would most likely think it was just an ibuprofen. This meant that it was entirely possible that Caitlyn was abusing pain medication right before everyone's eyes and no one knew. Interning at a hospital would have allowed for accessibility. The year she was sent away also began to make more sense. Avery had indicated that before Caitlyn left for school in St. Louis, that Caitlyn and her mother had gotten into a big fight about going to Thomas Jefferson High, but that Caitlyn acted like it was her idea when she and her mother told her father about the change of school. Maybe Vivian knew about Caitlyn's drug problem. Maybe Dr. Patrick had, in fact, told her. He had lied before, so it was entirely possible that he was lying again. Maybe Caitlyn made a deal with her mom to attend Thomas Jefferson if Vivian didn't tell her father. It could explain why Caitlyn had so much anger towards her mother. Whatever the reason, there were too many "maybes" and not enough answers, so I set out in search of some. Martìnez and I needed to interview Emily again. If her reputation preceded her, then she might not only know if Caitlyn were doing drugs, she may have been doing them with her.

I knew exactly where to find Emily. She, along with most of the town, was going to a candlelight vigil for Caitlyn that night in Rosewood Park. It had been three weeks since Caitlyn's disappearance so some of the students from school, organized by Emily, decided to hold an event as a tribute to Caitlyn. When Emily was interviewed by a reporter, she said they put the vigil together as a way of "honoring Caitlyn while keeping her disappearance in the forefront of the news in hopes that it would lead to the police finding her sooner." I tried not to be offended by her thinly veiled attempt to point out that we hadn't yet solved the case, and I almost believed her anguish over her best friend's disappearance as she wiped away her invisible tears on camera. Of course, no one bothered to point out the morbidity of holding the vigil in the location where Caitlyn's finger, hair and cum filled panties had been found. I had a stinking suspicion that the media had influenced Emily to hold the event at the park. It would make for an excellent backdrop for their nightly news story.

When I arrived at Rosewood Park that night, there was quite a large crowd gathered. I sent Martìnez off to ease drop on conversations and to keep his eyes peeled for anyone suspicious. While some criminals preferred to keep their distance, there were others that derived a sick sort of pleasure from being close to the scene of the crime, mingling amongst the living, messing with their heads. It was going to be a challenge though to spot a psycho among the masses. There must have been several hundred people present, both students and parents. Caitlyn's case was the talk of the town and her vigil, the hottest event in Highland Park. Not making an appearance said a lot more than making an appearance, which is what I thought as I took note of the faces in the crowd. There was Emily, of course, standing by a huge blown up photo of Caitlyn: the same photo that seemed to plague me everywhere I went, plastered on billboards, posters, and magazines with Caitlyn's eyes following me around like the Mona Lisa as I passed by. Emily was set to speak any minute, which I'm sure had less to do with finding Caitlyn and more to do with dragging out her 15 minutes of fame for as long as possible.

There was a cove near the lake where everyone was gathering and in the middle stood Caitlyn's family, all three of them, politely shaking hands with attendees and thanking the community for coming. Surprisingly, Vivian appeared to be sober. The only thing more powerful than her alcohol addiction was her need to look perfect to the outside world. She had pulled it together for tonight, but I had a feeling there was a flask in her purse waiting for her the moment the vigil was over.

Phillip was making a rare appearance, which I had no doubt was a result of his wife's urging. She knew it would look bad to the media if he weren't present. In cases like these, the parents were always suspects to the public until the real criminal was caught. Phillip didn't seem like the type that liked attention. His pain was evident and it seemed genuine. It was a pain, I could tell, he would rather experience in private.

I watched as Vivian pawed at Avery's dress, trying to straighten the creases and pull up her sleeves so that her bra straps wouldn't show, but Avery appeared to care less. She was lost in a daze, trapped somewhere between the past and the present, hoping that the future would rewrite itself so that Caitlyn was back and she was no longer the little sister of the beautiful murdered teen girl from Highland Park.

Colin was there of course, but he wasn't his usual self and seemed rather somber. He had ditched his slew of beards for the evening. With the media swarming, he had to at least appear to be saddened by his girlfriend's disappearance.

I noticed Maddie hanging about towards the edge of the water. She saw me staring at her and gave a friendly wave. It didn't surprise me that she had made the long trek from Missouri. She might be the only one present who actually gave a damn about finding Caitlyn.

Noticeably missing was Dr. Terry Patrick, which wasn't a huge surprise. He was, most likely, trying to distance himself from the Coates family, given the recent discovery of his affair with Vivian.

I hung around to hear Emily speak and I have to say, she put on a good show. I could see her as an actress one day. She had all the best qualities to become a successful performer: narcissistic and cunning. She was already gaining quite a lot of notoriety. Ironically though, if she weren't careful, her fifteen minutes of fame could turn into a lifetime of always being seen as the girl who was that murdered girl's best friend, second rate to Caitlyn even in her death.

When Emily was done speaking in front of the crowd and had made her rounds with the television cameras, I approached her and asked if we could speak privately. I believe her exact words were, "Ugh." She was awfully put out by the idea of speaking with me for a girl who, just moments earlier, cried in front of the entire crowd over her desperation to find her, "dear sweet best friend." I thought back to the comment Madison made about how Caitlyn said her mother was two-faced. It was a statement that seemed to apply to Emily as well, and Colin for that matter, not to mention Dr. Patrick. I guess in some respects, we were all going around being one person in public and another in private; some of us were just better at hiding our true self than others. Pill popping princess or not, it was clear that Caitlyn had another side of her that she kept from the world. Between the secret boyfriend and the hidden pregnancy, she was more similar to her mother than she would have liked to admit. Now I just needed to figure out Caitlyn's true self, and I was hoping Emily could aid me in that endeavor.