Chapter 2 

"First of all, you have nothing to be nervous about." Det. Sammons immediately assured Kate as they entered her office. "You've done nothing wrong and to be honest, you seem like the most innocent out of this friend group from what I can tell."

Kate looked at her questioningly. "How did you know about -"

Det. Sammons put her hand up. "It's all on the drive. Lance Bass documented everything. It was like he knew he might need to."

Kate's next question was going to be if she could read it, but she stopped herself from asking that. It was police evidence and she knew better. Instead she said, "He documented everything?" She could feel her face flush and tears come to her eyes. 

Det. Sammons smiled at Kate and nodded. "From the day he met you up until the night before he was killed."

Kate's eyes widened. She had never heard the incident referred to as that. Suicide was the only thing she'd ever imagined happened, up until she'd received the phone call from Sammons. "So...so he was...I mean..." She trailed off. "I mean, yes, it always appeared weird to me that he killed himself. He never showed signs of...of..." She shook her head. "Anyway, I'm sorry. You called me in and I'm just rambling before you ask me anything."

Det. Sammons nodded and got right down to the facts. "In the drive, Lance wrote that you were his best friend and that he'd come out to you just a few weeks prior to the incident." 

"Yes." Kate's voice was almost a whisper and she cleared her throat. "Yes, that's exactly what happened. And he had a really big thing for our friend Justin. But Justin was extremely homophobic and I think Lance knew better than to admit his feelings to him."

"His journal - that's what we're calling it - starts the day after he met you." Det. Sammons moved a few papers across her desk towards Kate. "You can read over it. It's all there."

Kate gingerly took the papers off the desk and looked down at them. She couldn't help but smile at the Comic Sans font that the journal was written in. She looked back at Sammons. "Can I...Can I actually take these and read them?"

Sammons nodded. "We have the original. And we haven't given you the incriminating parts of the journal only because we're still trying to sort all of that out. But I figured it would be a nice memento for you."

Kate tried her best not to burst into tears. Everything she'd felt for her best friend came back to her holding those papers in her hand. She missed him everyday, but she could feel his presence now. She gave a shaky sigh and put the papers in her bag that lay at her feet.

"Now, I think we need to start at the beginning and you can tell me first hand about what you feel like happened..."

LANCE BASS

MONTGOMERY HALL DORM

SEPTEMBER 7, 1997

We moved into the dorms two days ago. I already miss my family but I think I'm going to fit in well here at Carson. I'm the only one from my high school here, except for my friend Koren, who's in a girls dorm on the other side of campus. My roommate is Chris and he's older. He started college this year and he's 22. He says he wants the full college experience and that's why he didn't live in an apartment. I wonder how long that will last.

We start classes tomorrow and my schedule is pretty full. Chris asked me if I was going to join a fraternity but I'm not. I know my theater schedule is gonna keep me real busy. He's already flirting with Koren's roommate, Liv, and we've only been here 2 days. Koren has been harassing me all morning on AIM to find out if Chris is gonna ask Liv out. I wish girls knew that guys don't snoop like that. 

Last night, there was a party at a junior theater major's house for all theater students. I went, reluctantly, only because I knew I needed to get to know more than just Chris, Koren, and now Liv. That's when I met Kate. She was alone but it didn't seem to faze her. In a matter of five minutes, she'd gotten a plate of food, a drink, and was sitting on a couch between two guys who were shamelessly flirting with her. She looked uncomfortable, but seemed to know how to handle herself. 

A few hours later, I found myself standing next to her in line for the bathroom. She'd had two more drinks and was well on her way to tipsy, if not already there.

"I'm Kate." She said to me while she was crossing her legs and standing up. "And I really, really have to use the bathroom. Could I cut in front of you?" She batted her eyes at me and I chuckled. If she only knew this didn't work on me. 

"Lance. And yes." I moved so she could maneuver in front of me. 

She sighed and looked over the head of the guy in front of her. "Wish he'd let me cut, but I guess I can't be that picky."

"I think there's another bathroom upstairs." I had told her.

"Yeah, and two sophomores were going at it when I went up there." Kate shook her head. "Where are you from, Lance?"

"Mississippi. You?" I replied. 

She raised an eyebrow. "You came all the way from Mississippi to come to Carson?"

"I got a scholarship." I shrugged and continued, "And it's cheaper to go here out of state than it is to Tulane."

She let out a gasp. "You got into Tulane?!"

I had to laugh and immediately told her no, that I was just giving her an example of how much some private in state schools had cost. 

She just nodded her head. "I'm from Columbus. Just outside of Auburn. I auditioned for Auburn's theater program but was deferred. By the time I got their letter of acceptance, my dad had already put down the first payment for here." 

"Nervous for auditions this week?" I asked her. We have to audition this week for the entire season of theater. There are a total of seven shows and freshmen are required to be in at least three of them. From what I hear, not many freshmen make the cut and most of us will be working backstage. 

"Yes, definitely." Kate furrowed her brows. "My theater teacher in high school told me it was cutthroat in college and I'm just expecting to be in the bottom tier of the department for a while."

I was about to ask her what shows she'd done in high school, but the bathroom door opened and the guy in front of Kate let her go in front of him. She gratefully thanked him and then disappeared into the bathroom. 

The next time I saw Kate was today at lunch in the cafeteria. She was looking around for a place to sit and so I invited her to sit with me and Chris and Liv and Koren. She immediately clicked with the girls, who it turned out were in the same dorm hall as she was. It's already made the transition easier having new friends.

~~~~~~~

"Wow." It was all Kate could manage to get out. She looked back at Det. Sammons and wiped away a tear that had started to trickle down her cheek.

"I know this is hard, but I need you to read over these pages and let me know if anything comes to mind. Anything at all that you might have forgotten. Sometimes things like this can trigger forgotten memories." Det. Sammons stood and walked around to Kate, sitting next to her in the vacant chair. "You and your husband are mentioned a lot in these pages. I think it's only fair that you share it with him."

Kate nodded. "We're actually meeting our friends in two days at a beach house in Clearwater Beach. They're the ones Lance talked about. Koren and Liv and Chris. And I'm sure he mentioned Joey and Justin."

Sammons's expression didn't change, but Kate felt the air in the room shift somewhat. "Yes, all of them are talked about. You say you're meeting them all in two days?"

Kate nodded. "We do a vacation together in the same spot we've gone to since Lance died. It's kind of...well, it's kind of like a memorial to him."

"Even Justin?" Sammons asked.

"Yeah. He's coming a day late, but he'll be there." Kate answered and looked down at the papers in her hand. "So he talks about us a lot?"

Sammons didn't answer her. "Take the hard copies with you. Read over them. It might be best to read over them before you leave. I wouldn't mention this to anyone on that trip except your husband."

Kate wanted to ask more questions. She wanted to know what Stacy had said. She wanted to know about his family, how they were handling it all. She'd lost touch with Lance's family a few years back and now she desperately wanted to talk to them. But she knew this time was drawing to an end. She could tell Det. Sammons was all business and was ready to get on with the day's work. 

"Thank you." Kate stood up and shook Sammons' hand. "I appreciate this. So, what happens now?"

"We'll be in touch. We're still sorting through all of the hard drive evidence and a few other things. Don't take the hard copy with you on your trip. You need to keep this in a safe place." Sammons said in a firm, but kind tone. 

"I will." Kate nodded and went to the door. "Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you."

Julie nodded and watched as Kate walked out of the office. She picked up her phone and called a friend of hers who was on the police force in Clearwater. "Hey, Deonte, it's Jules. Do me a favor. I might need you to stake out a beach house on Clearwater Beach."