Page 93 of Montana Manhunt

The woman stiffened. “I’ll have to ask you to leave. I’m very busy today.”

“We’re not here to cause trouble. I apologize if I’m bringing up terrible memories, but I need to ask a few questions. My sister dated Bradley Melton. She was murdered a few days ago. Please, will you help me?”

Charity closed her eyes and sighed. “I should have known. It’s been so long. I thought enough time had passed that the mess with Bradley was dead and buried. Guess I was wrong. This will never go away.” She looked at Violet. “Ask your questions.”

“You and two friends accused Bradley of sexual assault.”

A flinch. “We did.”

Violet studied Charity. The other woman hadn’t bristled and insisted that Melton did indeed assault Charity and her friends. “Tell us what happened.”

“It was a stupid prank,” she muttered. “Just a prank.”

“Bradley Melton didn’t assault you or your friends?” Rayne asked.

Charity shook her head.

“Then why did you accuse him of rape?”

“Dana was mad at him.”

“Explain.”

“Look, we were just kids, all right? Nothing ever came of it. We should just drop this conversation.”

“Charity.” Rayne waited until the other woman met her gaze. “We’re searching for a killer. Something you say might either point in Bradley Melton’s direction or eliminate him from our list of suspects.”

List of suspects? As far as Violet knew, they only had one man on the list, and that was Cami’s boyfriend.

“The incident happened years ago. How can it possibly be of any help now?”

“People don’t change deep inside. You’ll help us understand Melton’s character.”

“He did nothing wrong. Don’t you get it?”

“The accusations were false, right?”

“Yes. Dana was angry at Bradley and wanted to get back at him.”

“For what?” Violet asked. “What did he do to her to cause that kind of backlash?”

Charity shook her head. “Nothing. Dana wanted Bradley to date her. He wasn’t interested.”

“So she accused him of rape.” Violet grimaced. “Rather extreme, isn’t it?”

“You had to know Dana. She was self-entitled and spoiled. Everything had to go her way.”

“You sound like you didn’t like her.”

“I didn’t.”

“Were you friends?”

“Sort of.”

“What does that mean?”

“I was the new kid at school, and Dana was the leader of the popular girls. Being her friend was necessary for survival.”

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