Page 73 of Stay Away from Him

Amelia:I don’t know what I know, Thomas. Not anymore. And that’s why I’ve been recording. Because I wasn’t sure if I could trust what I thought I knew.

Thomas:Amelia, please. This is a betrayal. You have to delete them.

Amelia:No. Not after what happened last session. I’ve saved all the recordings on the cloud. And I’ve set it up so that if anything happens to me—if I die—an email will be sent with a download link to those recordings. Sent to the police and to the press. Including the recording in which you attacked me.

[pause]

Amelia:I’ve listened to it. The sound quality is very clear. I believe anyone listening would understand exactly what is going on.

Thomas:Why are you doing this?

Amelia:I needed to do that, and I needed to tell you about it, to feel safe in here with you. Unless I log into my email, unless I enter a password only I know and prevent the email from being sent each day—the police and the press will receive the recordings. And I imagine they’ll be very interested in them.

Thomas:Doesn’t that go against your professional ethics? Privilege, confidentiality?

Amelia:I’d say we’re well past that, aren’t we? You already pushed me to go against my professional ethics when you demanded that I be the one to treat you—in spite of knowing you, in spite oftelling youI was uncomfortable with it. You forced me to do this.

Thomas:So you figure you’ll just break everything now? Broadcast to the world things I’ve said in here in confidence?

Amelia:I’m not required to keep confidentiality in all cases. For instance, if I believe there’s imminent threat of a crime being committed, of a threat against a person’s life. In this case, I believe that person to be me.

Thomas:You really think I’d…that I’d kill you?

Amelia:It doesn’t matter what I believe. All that matters is that you know. If anything happens to me—if I die, or become incapacitated, the world will know everything that has been said in here.

Thomas:You’ve made your point. So what now?

Amelia:Now I have some questions of my own.

Chapter 17

Melissa woke the next morning from an uneasy sleep, pursued by a threatening dream whose details skittered like cockroaches to the deep recesses of her mind as soon as her eyes opened. She groaned and put a hand to her head, recalling not the dream—that was long gone—but the events of the prior day and night. Carter, the fight, Thomas in jail, Rose’s body discovered, the charges of murder coming back.

Reality was nightmare enough.

She rose and checked on Bradley. He was still fast asleep, exhausted. In the kitchen, she busied herself making breakfast. After the coffee was poured, she stood for a moment at the back window.

“What am I going to do?” she asked the woods.

The bare trees didn’t answer.

Her phone buzzed with a number she didn’t recognize. She let it go to voicemail as she sat with her yogurt and coffee, then checked the transcription of the message.

Hello, Mrs. Danv—excuse me, Ms. Burke. I’m Jonathan Klein, Thomas Danver’s lawyer. I’m here at the Ramsey County Correctional Facility, coordinating with my client on a few details, and he’s requestinga meeting with you. Today if possible. I wonder if you could give me a call back at—

Melissa left the message and immediately called the number back.

“He’d like to speak to you as soon as possible,” Thomas’s lawyer said when she got him on the line. “There are some complicated developments here, and—well, I know you’re not his legal partner, but it’s my understanding that—”

“I’ll come,” Melissa said, cutting him off. She didn’t want to talk about the proposal, didn’t want to ponder the question of who she was to Thomas with this man, a stranger. She did want to see Thomas, though, even if she couldn’t say why. Maybe she wanted to give him the chance to win her back one more time, convince her yet again that he wasn’t a murderer. Or maybe she only wanted closure, before she never saw him again. A goodbye.

“Normally there’s a process for scheduling a visit,” the lawyer said. “But I’ll pull some strings and get you on the list. Can you be here around noon?”

She agreed, then ended the call and started planning. She couldn’t take Bradley to the county jail with her. She’d have to get Lawrence to watch him while she was gone. It was still a long way to noon, which gave her plenty of time to get Bradley up, fed, and dressed, and to explain things to Lawrence.

The phone buzzed again, and this time she answered without even looking at the screen, thinking it must be Thomas’s lawyer again, calling with some important detail he forgot.

But it was a woman’s voice on the other end of the line.

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