“Brianna was sending me texts all day with pictures of outfits she was thinking about and countdowns of the minutes until school was over. I’m not really supposed to have my phone out at school, but I kept sneaking to check it because I just couldn’t stand not thinking about the concert. When I got out of school, I went straight to her house. I brought my stuff with me so we could get ready there immediately and not waste time. We got ready, went to pick up our other friends, and headed for the arena.”

  “Do you have any pictures or anything from when you were getting ready or when you were at the concert?” I ask.

  “Yeah, a ton.”

  She takes her phone out of her pocket and clicks through a few screens before handing it to me.

  “That’s from when we’re getting ready. If you just scroll through, you can see everything from that night,” Samantha says.

  I take the phone and look at the first image. It shows Brianna and Samantha in a bedroom posing together. They are both in leggings and hoodies with very little makeup on, which tells me this was taken at the beginning of the evening when Samantha had just arrived at the house. I scroll through and watch the progression of the girls choosing outfits, putting on makeup, and doing their hair. There are silly poses and short video clips of the two of them dancing and singing what I assume are songs of the band they were going to see.

  After a few dozen images, I see the two of them in a car and then a sequence of images with a new face in each picture until they show the entire group traveling together to the concert. The next series covers them arriving, including a picture of the spot where Samantha parked. The pictures continue, documenting the entire evening from them standing in line, to visiting the merch stand, to finding their seats and the show beginning. Everything looks completely normal. They are all happy and smiling. The body language is comfortable and at ease. It doesn’t look like any of the images are constructed or faked.

  Brianna looks excited and happy in all the pictures. She’s posing with all the girls and doesn’t look upset or worried. It looks like a typical group of friends heading out for something they’re excited about.

  I look through several more pictures of the concert and come to one that looks like the group is singing along to the songs, but Brianna is no longer in the frame. The girls are lined up in front of their seats, but in this particular image, the girls are leaning together to fill the empty space where Brianna was standing. I show it to Samantha.

  “Is this after Brianna left?”

  She nods. “Everything was great until they played her song with Ethan. It’s one of their older songs, so I wasn’t expecting them to play it. She was really attached to that song. Almost obsessed. When she and Ethan were together, she listened to it all the time. She used to say that she was going to play it at their wedding.”

  “I don’t know what happened between the two of them. Why did they break up for good this time?”

  “I guess it’s just a buildup of a lot of little things. They were really good together at the beginning, and I’m not saying they were a bad couple or anything, but the longer they were together, it just seemed like the more cracks were starting to form. I mean, they were getting older and sort of discovering themselves more. Just who they were and what they wanted in life, and that didn’t always line up. I couldn’t really tell you the exact thing that made them break up. She never really went into major details. I don’t think she ever wanted anybody to think anything bad about him. Especially because she always thought they were gonna get back together.”

  “So she didn’t want to paint him to be a bad guy and then have anybody try to dissuade her from getting back with him or being mean to him if they did,” I say.

  “Yeah, that’s kind of what I always took out of it. And I didn’t ever push her because I felt like it didn’t really matter what was going on between them. She was my best friend, so all that really mattered was me supporting her. Whether it was a huge fight or they just weren’t getting along anymore, I’d be on her side. The point was that they broke up. I was going to be there for her. As long as it wasn’t anything crazy like he was abusing her, I wouldn’t stick my nose in it.”

  “That makes sense. Especially if you knew him too. If you’re friends with a couple, it can get really complicated when they break up. All right, back to Friday. The song comes on. How did she react? What did she do?”

  “She got really quiet. I could tell she was upset and didn’t want to listen to it. Before I could even say anything to her, she just said she would get some food and be right back. She was obviously shaken up. She wasn’t smiling anymore. But she wasn’t like crying or anything like that. It was like she just kind of shut down a bit and wanted to get out of the situation. I asked her if she wanted me to come with her, but she said no. She didn’t want me to miss anything. I feel really awful about it because I should have gone anyway. I should have just not even offered. I should have just gone. If I had just gone with her, then we would have gone to the concession stand, gotten her some food, hung around until the song was over, then gone back. Everything would’ve been fine,” she whispers.

  “You can’t think that way. It will never do you any good to think that way. I understand how you’re feeling, but in situations like this, it doesn’t do any good to focus on things that could’ve happened if you had made different decisions. What matters right now is that we figure out what happened after Brianna left her seat to get food. Don’t get wrapped up in wishing you had done something different or coming up with ideas of what would’ve happened if you had. It’s the details that are important right now, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Good. So she left, and you stayed with the rest of the group and continued enjoying the concert. When did it occur to you that she hadn’t come back to her seat?”

  “Well, she actually sent me a message. She took a picture of somebody standing in line in front of her who was wearing the exact same outfit as the one she had almost worn. Seeing that text made me feel better. Because she was being silly. She was sending that picture like she was relieved because she didn’t wear that outfit. So I was feeling better. I didn’t want the song to completely ruin her whole night. That message made me feel like it wasn’t going to.

  “But it also showed me how long the line was. There were a lot of people out getting food. When the song was over and she still hadn’t come back, I didn’t really think much of it because I figured she was still just standing in line. And this will sound horrible, but after that, I got really swept up in the music. A couple of songs later, they played my favorite song. I was just dancing and singing, not really paying attention. But after that song, I noticed that she still hadn’t come back yet. I tried to call her, but she didn’t answer. I looked at her social media, and there was a post that said she needed some time to clear her head.”

  “Can I see it?” I ask.

  She takes the phone and finds the post before handing it back to me.

  “‘I need some time to clear my head. Sunday I’m taking to the skies, but tonight I’m taking to my mind. Taking the time to find my own space,’” I read. “That’s… poetic.”

  Samantha nods. “She can get a little dramatic in her posts sometimes. I kind of made fun of her about it one time, and she said that everybody we know is constantly posting every tiny little detail about their lives. Like down to the stupidest little thing. And so she decided not to overdo everything and be super obscure with her posts. She has a particular talent for being vague and mysterious about anything. She could be making a post about eating a hamburger and somehow turn it into something that sounded like she’s writing a spy novel. It’s one of the little quirks about her that I don’t think a lot of people know about. Or at least don’t process. They just thought she was…” Her face falls. “Is… I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say.”

  Her eyes fill with tears, and she glances away, looking into the stacks of books like they’ll give her an anchor point to focus on so she can control her emotions.

  “Remember, right now we don’t know anything. Other than her being missing, we don’t have any other details. I’m not keeping anything from you. I’m not hiding anything. Truly, all we know is that she is missing. And from what her parents told me, this kind of behavior isn’t even completely out of character for her. What do you think about that?” I ask.

  She takes a breath and wipes a tear that is dragging bits of eyeliner down her cheek.

  “I guess they’re right. She has gone off before. But she’s always kept in touch. Even when she was gone for a couple of days, she would post on her social media or send me a message. She never just left without saying anything to anybody and stayed completely out of contact. That’s what’s bothering me so much about this.”

  “But she did post on social media,” I point out. “You just showed it to me. What do you think about that message? What was your immediate reaction when you saw it?”

  “Honestly? I saw it and immediately thought she was just more upset about the song than she was letting on and decided she wanted to get away from everything and everyone for a little while. She didn’t want to pretend to be happy anymore and didn’t want to drag the rest of us down. She would just, like the message said, take some time to clear her head. It even says in there that she’s taking to the skies on Sunday. Obviously, she was still planning on going on the vacation with her parents. I figured she just wanted to be alone for a little bit to deal with things.

  “And I’ll admit it made me kind of mad. I was trying to be a good friend and understand what she was going through, but all I could think about was that I had worked so hard to get her these tickets for her birthday so we could have this awesome night together, and she was so wrapped up in her own drama that she just left us. It felt like I didn’t even matter to her, and I was really upset,” Samantha says.

  “Which is completely reasonable,” I point out to her. “You need to realize that. Your reaction to her walking away and the impression that she was just leaving because she felt like being alone was absolutely warranted. Like you said, you worked really hard to get her those tickets so that you could spend time together and have this memorable experience. Then she just disrespected all that by only thinking about herself and what she was feeling because of this breakup. Anybody would be hurt and angry about that. You did nothing wrong by feeling that way.”

  “But maybe I should have worked harder to figure out where she was,” she says. “Maybe that was a cry for help.”

  “Listen to me. You know Brianna. You said it yourself that she can be dramatic, that she has gone off on her own before, and that she was really upset about this breakup. You asked her if she wanted you to go with her. She said no. She wouldn’t do that and then put out some sort of obscure comment, hoping somebody would chase her down. You called her, and that’s really all you could do. You were reacting based on your understanding of this person you know extremely well. There’s nothing to be upset or ashamed of about that.”

  “Thank you,” she says softly.

  “So what happened after that? You’ve realized that she never came back. You saw the comment. What did you do then?”

  “The concert ended, and we hung around by the car for a while. A couple of the other girls called her, but it went straight to voicemail. She either turned her phone off or it died. But no one could get through to her. The other girls agreed with me that she was just taking some time and figuring things out. One of the other girls had a strict curfew and didn’t want to make her parents angry, so we had to go. I sent her a message to let her know, and we drove home.

  “I really expected that I would hear something from her either late that night or at least the next morning. I thought she would call me and apologize, I would tell her how I felt about the situation, and it would all be over. But I didn’t hear from her. I didn’t hear from her all day. By that night, I was getting really worried. I went by her house to check on her. Her car was there, but the house was dark, and she didn’t answer the door. That’s when I really got concerned and decided to call her parents.”

  “And you haven’t heard anything from her since then? No activity on her social media? You don’t know of anybody else hearing from her?” I ask.

  “No.”

  “Can you think of anyone she might spend time with? Relatives she’s close with? Friends who moved away from town?” I ask.

  “Nobody I can think of. As far as I know, her only cousins are a lot older than her, and she’s never been particularly close to any of them. She doesn’t have any close friends outside our group as far as I know,” she says.

  “Okay. I’ve probably taken up enough of your time. Thank you for sitting down with me. I really appreciate it. If you think of anything else, give me a call.”

  “I will.”

  I swing back through the kitchenette and make myself another cup of coffee, taking note of the brand and flavor so I can get some for home before leaving the bookstore.

  The air outside is sharp and cold, but the sun is bright. I lower my sunglasses down over my eyes before walking back to my car.

  “Hey,” I say to Noah over speakerphone as I’m pulling out of my parking spot. “Have you heard anything about Brianna Wright’s phone?”

  “Nothing new. We’ve tried to locate it, but it’s not responding. We’ve requested her records. We told the company it’s an urgent situation with a missing person, so I’m hoping they’ll come through today. How did it go with her family?”

  “As well as it could go. I found out more about her. I feel like there’s something weird about her father. I can’t really put my finger on it. Again, honestly, I might just be reacting to the situation, but he is on my radar right now.”

  “On your radar, like you think he might have something to do with her disappearing?” Noah asks.

  “I’m trying not to jump to any specific conclusions right now. I don’t want to place any significant suspicion on him yet. She’s missing, but that’s all we have right now. And as far as I can tell, he was on vacation with his wife when Brianna walked away from her friends, so he wasn’t even in the state at the time. But just the way he was talking about her and the situation… The dynamic just feels weird to me. That’s the best I can do.”

  “Okay.”

  “I also went and talked with her best friend she was with at the concert. I got some of the same information from both conversations. Brianna is known for being a little bit dramatic and has left home before. Never for very long. And Samantha insists that she always kept in contact with her when she left, so this is still unusual. But it sets the precedent for her being the kind of person who would just walk off on her own. It definitely sounds like this recent breakup with her boyfriend had a significant impact on her mental health, and that is a prevalent force in this situation. Other than that, I didn’t really get anything new to work with. I found out that she doesn’t have any family or good friends she would have gone to stay with, so not exactly a wealth of new leads,” I say.

  “So what’s next?”

  “I want to look into the venue. I’m hoping that there’s some security footage available that will show her movements. I’ll also reach out to her ex-boyfriend. I think a conversation with him would be beneficial. At this point, I know we can’t keep this story out of the media. She’s a missing teenage girl who disappeared from a super-busy concert by a popular group. That’s something we can’t keep quiet.

  “Not just because there might be somebody who knows something, but also, if this isn’t just Brianna taking some time for herself and it has something to do with the concert, people planning on going to see the shows for the rest of the tour should be informed. It’s a lot better if we get ahead of the situation. We don’t want rumors and inaccurate posts on social media to start coloring what people think is going on. We need to make sure the facts are out there and see if we can get anything from it,” I say.

  “I’ll draft a release and make a statement,” Noah says.

  “Perfect. How about Doe? Anything new?”

  “No, nothing new from any of the searches, and there have been no reports of somebody matching her description being missing. But on the good side, nobody has shown up at the hospital to cause any trouble.”

  “Silver lining. Make sure you go home and get some sleep. I don’t want a repeat of what happened last spring,” I say.

  “Are you ever going to let me live that down?”

  “Probably not. Give me a call if you find out anything.”

  “Will do.” I end the call and head for the hotel.

  I’ve just gotten to my room when my phone rings.

  “Agent Griffin,” I answer, holding the phone between my ear and my shoulder as I take off my boots sitting on the edge of the bed.

  “Hi, Agent. This is Samantha.”

  “Hey, Samantha.”

  “I just got a call, and I thought you’d want to know,” she tells me.

  “From whom?”

  “Samantha Percy. She goes to our school.”

  “Samantha Percy?” I ask.

  “Yeah. People have been talking about Brianna being missing, and she called me to tell me she got a message from her.”

  “Today?” I ask, hope jumping up inside me at the thought of someone hearing from the missing girl.

  “No, Friday night. Percy—that’s what I call her, and she calls me Jergens—had an early curfew Friday night because she’d failed a test. She missed it, so her parents took her phone from her. She just got it back and was going through her messages. She messaged Brianna Friday night to ask how the concert was, and she got a message back. But she thinks Bri actually meant to send it to me and was just confused by the names,” Samantha tells me.