Page 59 of Melody

When Kyle stood, the policeman said, “Just her.”

“He’s with me,” she said.

“And he can wait for you out here.”

Well, this cop was a friendly fellow. Melody turned to Kyle. “Do you mind?”

“Nope. I’ll be right here.”

The officer, in uniform, led her in the back—but not before making her feel like she was a common criminal. He had her place her purse on a belt and ran it through a metal detector, and then he rifled through it before having her pass through another metal detector. When he was satisfied she didn’t have a weapon, he led her down a hallway. Soon, they were in a plain room with white walls, a table, and three chairs. It took her a second, but she soon realized this was probably an interrogation room, but it wasn’t like any she’d ever seen on television. There were nomirrors and the space was small, but she did notice a camera in the corner against the ceiling pointing down at her exact spot.

No wonder he’d indicated that chair for her to sit in—she’d be in the spotlight.

On the table sat a thin manila folder and a pen but nothing else. The chair she sat in was in a small space between the door and the table and immediately she felt like the door was too far away, like she was trapped. And then it dawned on her—in the time she was waiting for the officer to get her, he’d likely run a background check, and he likely knew she’d been Tommy’s girlfriend.

So, of course, they would probably think she was a criminal, guilty by association.

But he didn’t act that way, especially when he didn’t sit too close to her, so she took in a deep, slow breath, trying to make her heart slow down. “Thank you for coming in, Ms. Morton. You indicated that you wanted to report a possible crime.”

Before she could answer, another man came in the door, but this one was not in a uniform. Instead, he wore a long-sleeved white button-down shirt, khaki pants, and dark brown Oxfords. His head was shaved as was his face—and Melody thought he looked mean…but he had a tight smile on his face, maybe trying to soften his expression. He was the older and bigger of the two.

The other officer, with dark brown hair and eyes to match, moved closer to her to accommodate the newcomer. He said, as if it was an afterthought, “I’m Officer Friendly, and this is Detective Newcomb.” Was his last namereallyFriendly? Melody doubted it and was already regretting being here. Why had she let Kyle talk her into it?

But she noticed that the officer in uniform seemed a little less sure and even nervous now that the plainclothes guy had entered the room.

“What is the crime you wanted to report?”

Where should she even start? After filling her lungs again, she picked what she thought was the most logical place. “Before I came to Silver City, I used to live in Pueblo and I dated a man named Tommy Nogales. I think his real name is Thomas, but I honestly don’t know. Tommy’s the reason why I came to Silver City, because I felt like my life was in danger the longer I stayed with him.”

“Why did you feel that way?” Officer Friendly asked.

“He’d gotten rough with me a few times, and he a lot of times made vague threats about killing me or killing someone else. And he’s the kind of guy I believe would do it if his back was against the wall.” Or, in her case, if he even imagined it. She was starting to wonder, though, if part of what was going on yesterday was that he was possessive and felt like she belonged to him—and he was coming to retrieve his lost item.

She’d never fully understood the man, so she had no way of knowing for certain what had been in his head.

“When did you come to Silver City?”

“In June.”God, please don’t ask where I’ve been working or anything like that.

Detective Newcomb stood up. “Would you give us just a moment, Ms. Morton?”

Officer Friendly’s cheeks seemed to turn a slight shade of pink, although she might have imagined it, but the two men quickly left the room. It wasn’t two minutes later before they came back in.

This time, the detective sat closer to her with the officer at the far end of the table.

“Ms. Morton,” he said, “let’s start from the beginning. Tell me again why you’re here.”

What the hell was going on? She didn’t want to act frustrated, because she was at their mercy—and she tried to remember that Kyle wasn’t too far away. But what couldhedo? It wasn’t like heeven knew what was going on back here. Hoping her face didn’t betray was what inside, she nodded. “I used to live in Pueblo with a man named Tommy Nogales. I left last June and came here because I felt threatened. He was in jail at the time and I knew that would be the best time to get away.”

“Go on.”

Finally.She could maybe tell the whole story and be done with it. Detective Newcomb opened the file folder and, on a blank sheet of lined paper, jotted a note. Melody saw that he’d written “June-Pueblo to SC.”

“In April, he gave me a beautiful diamond ring and said he wanted us to get married. The ring wasn’t a just solitaire diamond. It was like a flower, with a round diamond in the center and oval-shaped diamonds around it pointing outward like petals. I’d never had any jewelry like it before. I started getting all kinds of compliments at work—more from customers than coworkers.”

“Where did you work?”

“At Sheldon’s. It’s on the northeast side, and I was a server. I had more than one customer tell me the ring had to be worth several thousand dollars. I was sure that couldn’t be right, because Tommy…well, he didn’t really work a steady job and I couldn’t imagine him spending hours trying to pick out the perfect ring.”

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