Page 55 of Stay Away from Him

“I wasn’t speeding, was I?”

The cop bent down. Reddish hair, round face, skin slightly red in the sunshine.

“Just want to talk.”

“Talk? About what?” A patch on his vest said SPPD—Saint Paul Police Department. But they were in the burbs, not in the city. “You’re far from home. Is it even legal for you to pull me over out here?”

The cop just blinked at her, and for a second Melissa thought she’d gone too far—it wasn’t a good idea to antagonize a cop. But when he spoke next, it was to say something Melissa didn’t expect.

“Kelli sent me,” he said. “Kelli Walker.”

“Oh,” Melissa said, then again, as she put it together:“Oh.”Kelli’s source on the inside, the one with all the information on the evidence against Thomas.

But something still wasn’t adding up. The case against Thomas had been handled by the county. The sheriff’s department would have been the agency investigating Rose’s disappearance. What business did a Saint Paul cop—a beat cop, at that, not a detective—have with information about a murder investigation conducted in the north suburbs?

“How long have you been following me?” Melissa asked. “Was that you sneaking in the trees about fifteen minutes ago?”

“I wasn’t sneaking,” the cop said. “I was on official business.”

“Uh huh. Outside your jurisdiction.”

He sighed and sank lower onto his haunches, steadying himself with a hand on the side mirror, until he and Melissa were eye to eye.

“Maybe we’re getting off on a bad foot here,” he says. “I scared you, you’re mad, I get it. But I’m trying to help you. Can we just talk for a bit? Kelli told me that’s what you wanted.”

Melissa sniffed. “Might be a little generous to say Iwantit. I agreed to it.”

He gritted his teeth, glanced up the road. “Look. There’s a café not too far from here. Can we sit down and talk this through?”

Melissa looked ahead, her hands clenched hard on the steering wheel, her vision blurring. She felt sick with fear and anger at the way this man—she still hadn’t gotten his name—found her. It felt less likefindingand more likestalking. But he was right about one thing: She had agreed to this, even if she didn’t necessarily ask for it. And maybe she even wanted to hear what he had to say.

“Fine,” Melissa said. “I’ll follow you.”

Chapter 14

They ended up at a family restaurant plunked next to a gas station and auto shop at the intersection of two roads. The cop was already sitting at a booth when Melissa came through the door, a bell chiming above her head. Seconds after she sat, a server materialized at her shoulder.

“Coffee,” the cop said, then raised an eyebrow at Melissa. “Coffee?”

“A little late in the day for me,” she said. “Iced tea.”

Then the server was gone, and Melissa and the officer were just looking at each other.

“So, I should probably introduce myself,” he said. “My name is Derek Gordon.”

Melissa nodded. “I’m guessing you already know my name. Don’t you?”

Derek grimaced, like maybe he knew it was a little creepy for him to have this information, to have been invading Melissa’s privacy the way he and Kelli Walker had been. But to his credit, he admitted it.

“Melissa Burke,” he said. “Yes. I know your name.”

“Did you use your cop databases, or whatever, to find that? Runa background check on me? You know my social security number too? My parking tickets?” She didn’t actually know what kind of information police officers could gather on people, but she figured they must knowsomething.

Derek shook his head. “I didn’t do anything like that. I’m part of a Facebook group.”

Melissa gave a dark chuckle, shook her head. Of course he was. “Is it called Justice for Rose Danver?”

“It is.”

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