Page 96 of Good Girls Lie
Or wait for the anonymous emailer to expose everything.
A wild, terrible idea—if I’m not here, I can’t be hurt.
She gives herself a mental shake.Don’t be a fool, Ford. You’ve made a mistake. That’s all. Life will go on.
“Ford?” Melanie calls from the antechamber. “Sheriff Wood is here.”
Ford, startled from her dark thoughts, looks up to see the sheriff’s car is sitting outside her window. She hadn’t even noticed him drive up.
Without another thought, she deletes the email and exits the program. Yes, she is kicking the can down the road, but she needs time to think. To plan.
To talk to Rumi.
She pinches her cheeks and pastes on a smile.
“Send him in, Melanie.”
57
THE BABY
Tony looks wrecked, dark circles under his eyes. He’s wearing the same uniform as last night; she can smell spilled coffee and the acrid scent of his sweat.
She waits to see if his niece parades in after him, is relieved to see he is alone.
Though Melanie is floating around him like a hopeful lightning bug. “Sheriff? Coffee? Tea? I can send to the kitchens for some cookies if you need a boost.”
“No thanks, Melanie. Appreciate it.”
Melanie wilts, then pulls the door. If Ford wasn’t freaking out, she would laugh. Yes, Tony is a catch. For someone.
He takes a seat across from Ford. Balances his hat on his knee. Yawns.
“You look as bad as I feel.”
“You always were a charmer, Ford.” But the recrimination is made without heat.
“I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m sorry.” She is. She needs him on her side, on Goode’s side, now more than ever.
“No worries. I haven’t slept. I wanted to drop by and fill you in. The official report will be filed tomorrow.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“They found something on the post. Kid was still pregnant. Apparently, the pills didn’t work, or she never took them. They took tissue samples for a DNA run. Since no one claims to know who she might have been sleeping with, we’ll at least have something to go on. If you can tell me who she was seeing, we can get a match faster. Take a couple of weeks, minimum.”
Two weeks. This is good news.
She has time to warn Rumi. They can make a plan.
“Oh, how terrible. I don’t have any news on the relationship front, I’m afraid. What about her parents? Do they know?”
“No. The mom’s a real piece of work, isn’t she?”
“No comment.”
“I hear she’s making noises about a lawsuit? Care to comment on that?”
“Yes. She’s a lawyer, and she’s in pain. The two don’t go well together. People always want someone to blame. Though I am to blame. It’s my job to keep the students safe, and clearly I failed. I didn’t even know Camille was suicidal. Though in my defense, no one else did, either.”
