Never Saw It Coming

Fourteen

Rona Wedmore found Melissa Garfield sitting in the interrogation room with Kip Jennings. Kip wasn’t the lead detective on this case so she was babysitting Melissa until Wedmore’s arrival.

“Hey,” Kip said when Rona entered. “We were just talking about kids.”

Melissa’s eyes glistened. She wasn’t crying right now, but it was a safe bet she had been, at some point, since walking into the station.

“Hi, Melissa,” Rona said. “How you doin’? I know that’s a dumb question, considering what you’re going through, but how are you holding up?”

“Not so great.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

“Melissa would like to talk to you about her dad,” Kip said, getting out of the chair and stepping aside for her colleague.

“Sure, I can understand that,” Rona said, taking a seat as Kip slipped out of the room. “He’s going through a lot. He must be worried sick. Just like you.”

Melissa nodded. “I want to tell you something.”

“Okay.”

“But before I tell you, I want you to promise me something.”

“Promise you something about what?”

“About my dad.”

“Well,” Rona said, “it’s kind of hard for me to promise you something before I know what it is you’re asking.”

“I want you to go easy on him.”

“Go easy on him?”

Melissa nodded. “Because of, you know, whaddya call them? Extenuating circumstances. I mean, I know, my coming here, and telling you things, that it might get my dad in trouble, but I want you to promise that you’ll take everything into consideration.”

“That’s what we do,” Rona said. “We try to look at everything. But I can’t promise you right now that there won’t be consequences for things that your father might have done.”

“I just hate getting him into trouble,” Melissa said. “Even though I know that’s probably what’s going to happen.”

“You know what I think, Melissa? I think you have to do what you know is right. I think you’re carrying around a huge burden right now, and doing the right thing is going to go a long way to relieving that burden. That is why you’re here, isn’t it?”

“Sort of,” Melissa said. “You know what? I know I only just sat down, but I really have to pee. What with the baby and everything.”

“Sure, okay,” Rona said. “Let me show you where to go.”

Melissa went to the bathroom and a couple of minutes later they were back sitting across from each other. Melissa had one hand on the table and the other on her belly.

“I really love my dad,” she said. “I really do.”

“Of course. And I bet you love your mom, too.”

Melissa looked down.

“Melissa,” Detective Wedmore said gently. “Can you tell me… is your mother still alive?”

Melissa mumbled something so softly Rona couldn’t hear what she’d said. “What was that?”

“No.”

“No, she’s not alive?”

“That’s right. Dad’s going to be really mad at me for telling you this.”

“We can make sure he doesn’t hurt you.”

“He wouldn’t hurt me, but he’s going to be super pissed.”

“I can certainly understand that,” Rona said. “But I’m guessing you want to do right by your mother.”

“Yeah, I’ve kind of been thinking that, too.”

“Why don’t we start with you telling me where your mother is.”

“She’s in the car.”

The detective nodded. “This would be your mother’s car. The Nissan.”

“That’s right.”

“And where’s the car, Melissa?”

“It’s at the bottom of the lake.”

The detective nodded again. “Okay. What lake would that be?”

“I don’t know the name of it, but I think I could show you how to get there. It’s about an hour’s drive, I guess. Although, even if I take you there, I don’t know where exactly it is in the lake. And the ice has probably already frozen over. It’s been cold. I just know she’s in the lake. In the car.”

“Okay, that’s not a problem. We have divers for that kind of thing.”

Melissa looked surprised. “They can go in the water even when it’s super cold? And when there’s ice?”

“Oh yeah, they’ve got these special wetsuits that help keep them warm.”

“I couldn’t do that. Swim in freezing cold water. I can’t even go in a pool unless it’s like eighty-five or ninety.”

Wedmore gave her a warm smile. “I’m like that, too. It’s got to be soup before I’ll get in. So, Melissa, your father, he put the car in the water?”

“Yep. He drove out onto the lake, where the ice was thin. Then he waited for the car to go through.” She started to tear up. “And then it did.”

“How do you know this, Melissa? Did your father tell you what he did?”

“I saw it. I saw the car go through the ice.”

“Where were you?”

“I was on the shore, watching.” A solitary tear ran down her cheek. She bit her lip, trying to hold it together.

“Why were you there?”

“Dad needed a car to come back. I drove up behind him.”

“So you saw all this?”

Melissa nodded.

“Melissa, do you know a woman named Laci Harmon?”

“I know who she is. She works at the Home Depot with my dad.”

“Do you know whether they’re close friends?”

Melissa cast her eyes down. “I think they’ve been having an affair.”

“How long do you think that’s been going on?”

“I don’t know. I only saw them the one time.”

“When was that?”

“Like, a month ago? I was driving past a hotel and I saw my dad’s car and I saw her in the front seat with him. They were kind of making out a little.”

“How did that make you feel?”

“Sad. And kind of… creepy.”

“Did you tell your father you’d seen him with this woman?”

“No.”

“What about your mother? Did you tell her?”

“No, I didn’t tell her. I kept hoping maybe I was wrong, maybe I didn’t see what I thought I saw, so I didn’t want to say anything.”

“Do you think that’s why your father killed your mother? Because of this woman? That maybe he wanted to run away with her?”

Melissa blinked. “What?”

Wedmore repeated the question, and added, “It happens, you know. A man starts seeing another woman, his wife finds out about it, they have a fight, and then, well, you know. The wife ends up dead.”

“Is that what you think happened?”

“It’s one possibility. But maybe you know differently. Do you know why your father killed your mother?”

“Dad didn’t kill her. Is that what you’ve been thinking?”

Now it was Wedmore’s turn to look surprised.

“Isn’t that why you’re here, Melissa?”

The dead woman’s daughter sighed and shook her head. “I guess I should start at the beginning.”