Page 10 of Sadie's Guarded Harbor

“Please, call me Melissa.” She dropped one hand and shoved the other through blond hair that was cut in a bob at her shoulders. “I just needed to be close to Shawn, but I don’t have akey. After seeing him on that metal table.” She squeezed her eyes closed, her skin taking on a sickly shade of white.

Sadie rushed to her side and braced her elbow in her hand, securing her other arm along the small of Melissa’s back. “Sit down. You don’t look well.”

Melissa plopped onto the sofa and leaned her head against the back of the couch, her face pointed toward the ceiling. “I can’t believe this is happening. We wasted so much time. Spent so many years hating each other. Fighting each other. Refusing to bend or fix our shit, or hell, just let go and say goodbye. And for what?”

“Sometimes it’s hard to see what the right thing is when you’re stuck in the middle of a mess. I’m sure you both tried your best.” She wanted to say more but hadn’t gotten a chance to dive into the details of Shawn and Melissa’s messy marriage. “I’m so sorry for your loss. Is there anyone you’d like me to call?”

“No. I just wanted a minute to sit here.” Leaning forward, she scanned the area around her. “But this is depressing. This was the life he chose. Soaked in alcohol and covered in trash. Why would anyone want to live like this?”

The same question had kept the wheels in her head spinning since the moment she’d stepped foot in the trailer. Not knowing what else to do, she perched on the edge of the cushion. This was her chance to prove she was good at her job. That she wasn’t too hard and cold to deal with a loved one of the deceased—a witness in an important investigation. Tommy might not be here, but she couldn’t pass on a perfect opportunity to gain some insight. “I’m sorry to hear you and Shawn hadn’t gotten along. Had you two been in an argument?”

A humorless laugh puffed from her closed mouth. “Sometimes I forget not everyone was born and raised in Water’s Edge. It’s refreshing when you meet someone who doesn’t already know your business. Shawn and I fell in love fast andhard, and we were so young. His mom had just died, and I’d dealt with my own loss. We bonded. We helped each other heal. But once he turned to the bottle, there was no way to reach him.”

“People in pain aren’t the easiest to help,” Sadie said, weighing her words carefully. “I’m sure he knew how much you cared.”

“I should have tried harder to mend fences, to get him help. But he wouldn’t listen. Completely shut me out. Hell, he wouldn’t even sign the divorce papers, as if keeping me married to him was part of my punishment. Now I’ll never have a chance to make things right.” She cleared her throat and wiped tears from the corners of her eyes. “You don’t need to hear all this.”

“Do you know if anyone wanted to hurt Shawn? Held a grudge against him?” Sadie pressed on, needing more answers.

Melissa shook her head. “I know nothing about the man he’d become these last few years. Only that he worked at the bar and was always drunk.”

“What about when you two were first married? Did he get into any trouble with drugs or other dangerous activities?” Shawn and Melissa might have had a rough relationship for a while, but there had to be years where things weren’t as strained. If something happened to send him over the edge, the judge might have some insight.

Melissa rubbed a palm over her jaw. “I can’t think of anything that could have been a warning sign about where his life would go.”

If Shawn had secrets, he obviously hadn’t shared them with his estranged wife.

A soft knock tapped against the still-open door. Deputy Grant stood in the doorway. “Brought your cruiser. I’ll ride back to the station with Philipps.” He dipped his chin in greeting toward Melissa. “Sorry about Shawn, ma’am.”

“Appreciate that.”

Deputy Grant gave a stiff nod then trudged toward the waiting car in the driveway.

Turning, she offered Melissa a sad smile. “I need to get back to the station. Are you sure there’s no one I can call for you to be with during this difficult time? Maybe meet you at your house?”

“I want to stay. Be close to him. Even if the place is a mess. I mean, someone needs to clean up sooner or later. No need putting it off.”

She could understand wanting to feel close to someone lost too soon. When Amelia’s father had died, she’d slept in his favorite sweatshirt every single night—refusing to wash it for fear it would erase the scent of his favorite cologne. She might not wear it anymore, but the shirt still sat in the back of her closet.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you stay. There’s more we need to do. Collecting evidence, dusting for fingerprints. I can’t have you accidently destroying something we could use.”

She nodded, the corners of her wide mouth dipping down as unshed tears hovered over her dark lashes. “I understand.”

“I need to grab a few things to take into the station. Then it’s best if we both leave.” Sadie hustled through the space and gathered the limited items she wanted to bring in for evidence.

Most of it wouldn’t amount to anything, but maybe she’d get lucky. She offered the judge a wave and hurried through the now-quickly falling snow to her car as she followed her outside. She set the bagged and labeled evidence in the back seat then climbed behind the wheel.

A heaviness settled on her shoulders as she watched Melissa Downs climb into her car and pull out onto the street. Sighing, she drove away with the image of Melissa’s tortured eyes burned into her brain—an image she’d tuck away with the rest of the cruel twists of fate she’d witnessed.

Tommy kepthis head down and made a beeline for Sadie’s desk. He’d woken to a text letting him know she was back at the station. Normally, he’d stop and chat with whoever crossed his path, but not today. Shame had kept him awake longer than he cared to admit. Snapping out of anger wasn’t something he often did, even when provoked. He needed to make things right with his temporary partner.

Even if she’d deserved to take the brunt of his irritation earlier.

Sadie sat at her desk, her singular focus on her computer screen. He noted the long strands of chestnut hair flowing down her back in a low ponytail. Shallow wrinkles rippled along her freckled forehead. “Reading something interesting?”

She shot up her gaze to meet his. “Financials. Shawn’s got quite a bit of money in the bank.”

Tommy wheeled a chair over from the unoccupied desk beside Sadie and took a seat, slipping out of his coat and draping it behind him. “Find something at the trailer that led you to his bank account?”

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