Page 23 of The Girl He Crowned

William Smythestared at her as if seeing her for the first time. “Is that true?”

“You can check,”Paige said. “I’m pretty sure the local news will find out about it soon enough,if they haven’t already.” They had before, in other places. They’d found outevery detail of her painful past. “I was there. I can still remember everydetail of the scene. I can also remember how helpless I felt. How much I wishedthat I could do something that could help catch my father’s killer.”

“And you’re sayingthat I should help catch Melody’s now,” William said.

Paige sighed. “I’msaying that I will doeverythingI can to catch her killer, but to dothat, I need information. Anything you can remember about the scene mighthelp.”

“All I remember isthat pendulum hanging over her,” William said, in a pained tone. “Just there,like it might plunge down into her at any moment.”

Paige could hearthe pain there, but she also guessed that pushing on with that line ofquestioning wouldn’t give her anything that the CSI unit wasn’t already workingon. Instead, she shifted tacks, trying to find something that only this witnesscould give her.

“Do you know ifMelody knew Siobhan Maraty or Debbie Danton? Do those names mean anything toyou?”

Since the firsttwo victims knew one another, it was possible the third knew them too, and shemight have mentioned it in the wake of the first couple of murders. Paigeneeded to find any connection that there was to find.

“I saw them on thenews,” William said, “but no, I don’t remember my wife mentioning them. Icertainly don’t remember seeing them around.”

That might meanthat there was no connection, or it might just mean that William just didn’tknow about it. Paige decided to try a different approach. She was fishing forinformation at the moment; any small fragment she found might prove helpful.

“Did Melody haveany enemies?” Paige asked. “Did anyone dislike her? Is there anyone you canthink of who might want to hurt her?”

William was silentfor several seconds after she said that, as if trying to remember, or possiblyas though he didn’t dare to say what was on his mind as Paige said it. Mostpeople said no almost automatically when Paige asked the question, so thathesitation spoke volumes to her. It suggested to her that perhaps William hadthought of someone, only he didn’t want to say it for fear of getting them intotrouble with the FBI.

“Whoever it is,however small it is, I need to hear it,” Paige said. “Even if you don’t thinkthey could have actually done something, I need to know about it so that I canwork to eliminate them from our inquiry. And the only way I can catch Melody’skiller is if I know everything.”

Even then, hehesitated for a second or two longer. “Melody and my sister Sadie didn’t geton.Reallydidn’t get on, so that they could barely manage to be in thesame room. Honestly, the two of them despised one another.”

“Did Sadie evermake any threats towards Melody?” Paige asked.

William hesitatedfor another few seconds.

“I know you wantto protect your sister, but you’re not making things better for her by stayingsilent,” Paige said, as gently as she could. “We need to find out the truth ofall of this, for Melody’s sake.”

He nodded. “Sadie…she’s married to a rough kind of guy. Harry Connaught, he’s a bookie, amongother things. He owns a bunch of small businesses around town. He’s always fineat family gatherings, but I know enough to know a thug when I see one. It’simpossible not to run into them, from time to time when you deal with money. Itried to warn Sadie away from him, but that only made her want him more. She canbe very… contrary. You know how families can be.”

Paige’s familyfeatured a father who had been murdered, a stepfather who had abused her, and amother who had spent years doing her best to turn her back on it all, unable tocope with it.

William Smythekept going before Paige could get too lost in her memories, though.

“Anyway, Sadie…she made threats to Melody once about some debt she said Melody owed her. I askedMelody about it, and she said it was nothing, but now…”

“Now you’re wonderingif it actually was?”

Paige saw Williamnod.

“Thank you, Mr.Smythe, you’ve been very helpful. The deputy will look after you for now.”

She left the poolhouse and found Christopher waiting for her outside. One look at his face toldher that he had something too.

“What have youfound?” Paige asked him.

“Siobhan Maratyhad debts,” he said. “She looked wealthy on the outside, but her marketingbusiness was kept afloat by a series of what appear to be loans. I’m not surewho from, yet.”

That caughtPaige’s interest. “Melody might have had financial issues too. Hersister-in-law apparently made threats over some loan that her husband didn’tknow the details of. More than that, she’s married to a bookie, and the way Mr.Smythe speaks about him, he isn’t exactly legitimate.”

The combinationwas intriguing. Was it possible that the victims all owed money on loans, inspite of the appearance of being wealthy? Maybe that was what the pendulummeant; that time was up for them to repay. Maybe this was all a very elaborateway of a criminal making a point to everyone else who continued to owe him.

Paige wasn’t sure,but she did know one thing: they needed to talk to the husband of MelodySmythe’s sister in law.

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