Page 77 of Stay Away from Him

“That woman who hates Dad so much. And that…thatman.”

Melissa suddenly realized—she was talking about Kelli and Derek. But how could she have known that Melissa had been talking to them?

“Do you mean Kelli Walker?” Melissa asked. “And the detective who investigated your dad three years ago?”

“He investigated Dad?”

“He did. I know it must be confusing to know that I’ve been talking to them. But…” Melissa trailed off, not sure how to explain it. She couldn’t tell Rhiannon that she’d actually started to believe what they’d been telling her, that in the face of all the evidence piling up against Thomas, she no longer believed he was innocent. She couldn’t tell this poor girl that she actually believed her father killed her mother. So instead, she went with the truth as it stood just twenty-four hours ago. “I’m working with them to figure out who really killed your mom.”

“To prove Dad’s innocent?”

Melissa nodded. Itwastrue at first, even if it wasn’t the case anymore.

Then Melissa realized something. Something Rhiannon asked only seconds ago, about Derek.He investigated Dad?

“Wait a second,” Melissa said. “The man I’ve been talking to.You didn’t know that he was in charge of the investigation into your mom’s disappearance?”

She shook her head. “Dad shielded us from most of that. Always had us go over to Aunt Amelia’s whenever the police came over.”

“But nobody questioned you? Took a statement?”

“They had someone else talk to us,” Rhiannon said. “Some woman. A social worker.”

This made sense, Melissa supposed. You don’t want to traumatize two girls who’ve lost their mother, don’t want to interrogate them the way you’d interrogate a witness or a suspect. So Derek got someone who worked with kids to take their statement. But then…

“So how do you know Derek?”

“That’s his name?” Rhiannon asked. “I only know what he looks like.”

Melissa breathed out with impatience. “Yes, but fromwhere?”

Rhiannon swallowed hard. “Mom…cheated on Dad. He didn’t tell you that?”

Melissa clamped a hand on the side mirror, suddenly dizzy. “Wait, you’re telling me…with Derek?”

Rhiannon nodded. “I saw them together. Not, you know, likethat. But the way they were together. And Mom’s face when she saw that I saw. I knew. And then she admitted it. It turned into a huge fight at home, between Mom and Dad. But I was the only one who ever saw his face.”

Melissa’s mind raced. No wonder Thomas had never told her—an affair gave him a motive to have murdered Rose. Or…

“What happened after your mom admitted the affair?”

“She broke it off,” Rhiannon said. “But then he kept coming around.”

“Derek did?”

“Like I said, I didn’t know his name. But yeah. I saw him parked in a car down the street from our house a couple times. Spying on usor something. And once, when I was out with Mom at the store, he came up to her. Grabbed her by the arm, said they needed to talk. I thought probably they had started up again. But…”

“But what?”

“She was afraid of him. Mom was. Pulled away and told him to leave her alone. There were red marks on her arm afterward. From his fingers.”

Melissa backed away from the car door, literally reeling. In that moment, her body needed to move, to keep up with her racing thoughts. She looped away from Rhiannon’s window, then turned and saw the prison once more, looming across the road like an accusation. She’d made a terrible mistake. Part of her wanted to rush back over there, take back everything she’d said to Thomas—of course she’d marry him, of course she knew—knew—he was innocent.

Derek. The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office may have fired him, but he must still have had friends there—friends who’d given him access to the evidence from the old case, the fibers collected from the back of Thomas’s car. And he coordinated with the police department where Rose’s body was found, by his own admission. He could have planted evidence. Could have framed Thomas.

She needed to tell someone. She fished her phone from her pocket and dialed the first number she could think of.

“Kelli,” Melissa said when she answered. “Where is Derek?”

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