Page 1 of Stay Away from Him

Chapter 1

No one bothered telling Melissa that Thomas Danver was an accused murderer. Not until she’d already spent a whole evening flirting with him—bumping elbows, brushing hands, exchanging glances, even giving him her number before they parted at the end of the dinner party. The other guests that evening were all friends of Thomas’s, people who’d always believed in his innocence, and perhaps that was why they didn’t warn her about who she was talking to: because they thought there was no reason to.

No reason to think Melissa might be in danger.

She’d first noticed him across the room during cocktails. Thomas looked like a movie star from an earlier age: square-jawed, broad-chested, salt-and-pepper hair, piercing gray-blue eyes. They were both stuck in separate conversations, cocktails in hand, but Melissa found herself taking furtive glances at him in between bits of small talk—and then she caught him looking back. Or perhapshewas the one who’d caughtherlooking. When he finally peeled away from the person he was talking to and began to cross the room toward her, Melissa’s heart leapt in her chest. She fumbled through an awkward apology to the older couple she’d been chatting with, then turned just in time to meet Thomas’s gaze.

“It’syou,” he said, as though he knew her already.

Melissa laughed. “Is it?”

“Yes,” he said. “The person everyone wants to meet.”

“Oh really? Are they talking about me?”

She made a show of glancing around the room, playing along—and was surprised to find that the other guestsdidseem to be stealing glances at her, talking low behind their hands.

“Let me guess,” Melissa said, returning her gaze to Thomas. “The sad divorceé living in Lawrence and Toby’s basement. Hiding out, fleeing from her evil ex-husband. Is that who I am to everyone here?”

He shook his head. “That’s not what I heard.”

“What, then?”

“The mysterious, beautiful woman who just moved into the neighborhood.”

Melissa shot him a suspicious look. “Liar. That’s not what they’re saying.”

He made a comically confused face. “They aren’t? Well, they should.”

Melissa was certain that no one had ever thought hermysterious, and it had been ages since anyone had called herbeautiful. Her ex-husband never did—not at the end. “No one would ever describe me that way,” she said.

“I would,” Thomas said without hesitating. “Iwill. The beautiful woman I met at a dinner party. But, tragically, I didn’t get her name.”

“Ah,” Melissa said. “A Cinderella story. How will you find me tomorrow? A glass slipper?”

“What about this cocktail glass?” he asked, reaching out, touching her—cradling the wrist holding the frosted coupe, studying her fingers wrapped around its stem with wonder, as though he’d never seen a hand before. “It fits you so perfectly. Like it wasmade for you. I think I could find you just by the way you hold a martini.”

“No need for that,” Melissa said, pulling her hand back. The feel of his fingers on her wrist lingered. “You can call off the search. My name’s Melissa.”

“Melissa,” he repeated, looking her in the eye and holding her gaze. “I’m Thomas. Thomas Danver.”

He paused after finally giving her his name, as though Melissa should know it—but she didn’t. Melissa was new to town. She hadn’t watched the Twin Cities news three years ago, when Rose Danver went missing, and “Thomas Danver” became a household name. She’d never debated the evidence against him with friends, never took a stance on his guilt or innocence.

At that moment she knew nothing about him at all—nothing aside from the fact that he was one of the most attractive men she’d ever spoken to, and that he seemed to be interested in her.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Thomas Danver.”

Transcript of Recording

[Exhibit A in the matter ofRamsey County v. Thomas Danver: transcripts taken from recordings of therapy sessions between Thomas Danver and Amelia Harkness, Danver’s therapist. The sessions took place over a period of three months following Rose Danver’s disappearance.]

Thomas:Wait, are you recording this?

Amelia:Excuse me?

Thomas:It looked like you were just setting up a recorder in that drawer.

Amelia:No, just putting my phone away. You have my undivided attention.

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