Page 12 of Texas Scandal

“By proving your innocence, for one. I have investigators on the case to make sure the law dots everyiand crosses everyt. They’ll do their jobs correctly and find the real suspect. My people will also be searching for a killer,” he continued.

Melody nodded but there was pure panic in her eyes.

“My father is...”

“I know about Henry Cantor,” Prescott said with sympathy. “You aren’t your father, but we will be battling against his reputation.”

Melody sucked in a breath. “Just when I think I can distance myself from my father, something like this would happen, linking me with his name again and dragging me down right with him.”

“I’m sorry to ask this, given what sounds like a difficult relationship with your father. I know all the information that has been in the news about him so far. What else do I need to know? I’ll need you to tell me about everything.”

“Can I ask why you’re locking on to my father?” she asked, cocking her head to one side.

“The description of the person who was killed matched up with a missing-person’s report. Nothing has been ID’d, or should I say released, about the deceased but I have someone on the inside at the coroner’s office.” Prescott leaned forward as he spoke. “This is unconfirmed information, so it goes without saying that it doesn’t leave this room.”

“Okay,” Melody said with trepidation in her voice. The kind that said she realized she needed to know what was about to come out of the lawyer’s mouth but wasn’t all that sure she actually wanted to. Riding the fence meant she didn’t fall onto either side. It meant she was still in the in-between state of not knowing the horrific and real details, and having to deal with the news. Not exactly bliss but not hell, either.

“You know I won’t say anything,” Tiernan reassured when Prescott’s gaze shifted to him.

“The victim was bludgeoned to death with a sharp object, possibly an axe,” Prescott began as Melody shuttered.

“Sorry for the directness,” Prescott said.

Melody took in a slow breath. “I need to hear this. Please. Go on.”

“Based on lividity, he was killed forty-eight hours ago. His name is Jason Riker,” Prescott said, then not so subtly checked Melody’s reaction. “Does that name ring any bells?”

“Not for me, it doesn’t,” she said. “I feel like it should, though.”

She told him about the note she found on her vehicle after the job interview.

“Do you have an approximate time the note was left?” Prescott asked as he turned toward the small laptop and then opened a file. He made a note of the incident.

“My interview was at nine thirty sharp,” she said. “I was there for about an hour. It was there when I got out.”

Prescott nodded and added the time and then pulled up a map. “That would put you about...”

“Blanco, Johnson City or Meadowlakes,” she said before Prescott could run his finger fifty miles west. The cities had been committed to memory. “What’s going to happen at my home? What’s happening right now?”

“Right. Sorry. The sheriff called on a judge to issue a search warrant, saying he has an informant,” Prescott said.

“They won’t find anything,” she said almost immediately.

There was a scenario in which she was being set up. Tiernan had no plans to mention his theory at this point. But it meant the sheriff might actually find “evidence” linking her to the crime.

As Melody took a sip of coffee, Tiernan made eye contact with Prescott. The lawyer had the same idea, and there was something else. A piece of information that he was keeping to himself. Based on the look on his face, it was important.

“I have someone checking into any possible connections between you and the victim,” Prescott said after Melody set her mug down on the hard granite.

Was that it? He’d found a link?

MELODYDIDN’TLIKEthe sound of any of this. Her home was being picked through at this very moment and she’d never felt so helpless in all her life. Correction, this was the second time she’d felt completely helpless. The first happened when she caught her father, pants down, growling and grunting in a way that made her nauseous to think about to this day. She mentally shook off the image. And now this. All her private things being examined as her home was searched. This felt like a violation of the worst kind.

Tiernan reached over and took her hand in his as though he sensed she needed the reassurance. His touch brought on a lot of distracting sensations that she couldn’t focus on right now.

“I apologize in advance for the next question that I have to ask,” Prescott began. “Will the sheriff find anything incriminating in your home?”

Melody shook her head vigorously. “Absolutely not.”

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