Page 58 of Forbidden Secrets
“This is important.”
Melanie filled in the required fields, then handed over her phone so Gage could link the app to his account.
With that done, he pointed to the screen.“Tap here and you’ll find my notes on each person.One subject died in a car accident about six years ago and one from an overdose a year and a half ago.Of the couples you identified, three married, and a fourth married and divorced.One female subject was arrested for DUI and a male subject served time for domestic violence.Only fourteen from the list still live in Sisters.”
“Oh man.Pete Orona is the one who died in a car accident.He was a nice guy.At least I think he was.”When she spoke again, her voice was subdued.“The person who attacked me grabbed me from behind and put a hood over my head.I never saw him.One of the awful consequences is I suspected everyone.Any one of those guys I knew could act like a normal guy, but it could be a mask over an evil soul.It makes it hard to trust anyone.”
“You say that, but you trusted Walker enough to testify in his defense.”
“True.But I knew Walker from being friends with Delaney.He’s always had this unshakable integrity.During my sophomore year I had a flat tire on my way home from choir practice at the high school.It was dark, the road was deserted.He came by on his motorcycle and stopped.He changed the tire and loaned me his cell so I could call Mom.And all the while he was changing the tire he talked about Delaney.”
She shrugged.“During our senior year, he would pick up Delaney after school on his motorcycle.He had this hot bad boy vibe.You’d think he was in a boy band because the girlslovedhim.One day there was a group of senior boys, Chase Bradford, Greg Delano, and some others, making crude comments to girls as they walked by.Walker was pissed.He confronted them and whatever he said shut them up.”
He gave her a considering look.“It took a lot of faith in Walker to stand up in court and defend him.”
“I did have faith in him.I can’t see a rapist acting like he did.But that’s not all.Walker’s a big guy.He’s tall and has big hands.The man I fought against that night didn’t seem as big.But because I couldn’t see anything, the prosecutor was dismissive of my claims.”
“Which made you feel powerless all over again.”
She nodded, surprised at his insight.
“Tell me more about Chase in high school.”
She sorted through her memories.“He was popular, especially our senior year.The football team made it to the state championships, and he was quarterback.They’d only had one loss all season, which was attributed to a bad call on his part.In fact, the bootlegger was the day after that game.”
“Any questionable behavior you know about?”
She told Gage about Chase defending Thad Stimson only to later slam the boy into the lockers.
“Sounds like a fucking narcissist.”
“You’re probably right.”Melanie leaned her head back against the cushion.“Oh, I almost forgot.He asked me to prom junior year.I turned him down.He seemed okay about it but that afternoon he was in an awful fight with another boy.Broke the kid’s nose.The football coach got Chase out of any punishment.I don’t know if that’s connected.”
He gave her a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding look.“Hell yeah, it’s connected.It shows you had his attention and his use of violence when he’s thwarted.”
“I thought he was a jerk but didn’t see it as a pattern.”
“Crushing on you is motive, so we’ll be looking hard at him.You were the girl he couldn’t get any other way.That said, I don’t want tunnel vision and miss clues that might lead us to someone else, so we’ll keep our scope broad.”
“It makes me sick to my stomach to think he could have done that to me.”
Gage caught her hand and brought it to his lips, where he pressed a kiss to her palm.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he murmured.Their gazes caught and held.“I should get going.”He didn’t move, and neither did she.“And you need something for that headache.”
Her hand tightened around his.“I’ll take something before I go to bed.I’m glad you came over.”
The tension, energy, whatever it was that heated the air between them flared and all she could think was how much she wanted to lead him to her bedroom and dive into something deeper.Despite the temptation, she couldn’t violate her hard and fast no-sex-when-Addy-is-home rule.Until now, a rule she’d never been tempted to break.
Gage cleared his throat and nudged his dog with his toe.“C’mon, Pancake.We need to go home.”
Pancake opened an eye, yawned, then closed it again.
Melanie laughed.Letting go of Gage, she swung her feet off the couch and gave the dog her own nudge with a stockinged foot.“Pancake, where do I put my feet?You’re taking up all the space.”
Pancake didn’t even twitch.
“She’s fake sleeping.She thinks if she’s asleep I can’t make her leave.You and Addy are the cool kids and she likes it here.”
