as everyone else that they leapt at the chance to pay to hear what she had to say.
Telling themselves, I look so innocent. A real murderer would never do this, right?
Maybe that explained why Garfield, at first, agreed to listen to her. But something had happened during their conversation. Things had shifted. He’d become anxious. Had she actually hit on something? By accident?
Was it when she said his wife was cold? When she said something about the car being off the road? Had those comments been close enough to the truth to make Garfield think she was on to something?
It was time to bail. Maybe-and she couldn’t believe she was even thinking of this-even give him back his check. Say something like, “You know what? Whatever vision I may have had, it’s gone. I’m not picking up anything. The signals have faded. The flashes, they’re over. So I think the best thing to do would be for me to return your money and I’ll just be on my-”
But just then, a flash of pink before her eyes. Not a vision this time, though. It was the sash, from the robe.
And now Garfield was looping it around her neck and drawing it tight.
TEN
Melissa
Before Melissa would tell her story to the detective, whose name was Marshall-which struck her as kind of funny, a policeman named Marshall-she wanted assurances that the police would go easy on her father. “There are, what do you call them, extenuating circumstances?”
Marshall, seated across the table from her in the interrogation room, said, “It’s kind of hard for us to make promises where your dad is concerned when we don’t know exactly what it is he’s done.”
“I don’t want to get him in trouble,” Melissa said. “Even though I know that’s probably what’s going to happen.”
“But he knows something about what really happened to your mother,” Detective Marshall said. “That is why you’re here.”
“Sort of,” Melissa said. “You know what? I know I only just sat down, but I really have to pee.”
“Sure, okay,” Marshall 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 Marshall said gently. “Can you tell me… is your mother still alive?” She mumbled something so softly he couldn’t hear what she’d said. “What was that?”
“No.”
“No, she’s not alive?”
“That’s right. But if I tell you everything, you have to promise to be nice to Dad. Because he’s a good man, really.”
“Like I said, Melissa, without knowing the facts-”
“I don’t want to get him into trouble. He’s already going to be really mad at me.”
“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,” the detective said. “But I’m guessing you’re thinking that sometimes you have to do what’s right.”
“Yeah, I guess that is kind of what I’m thinking.”
“And 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 think. 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 okay, we have divers for that kind of thing.”
Melissa was surprised. “They can go in the water even when it’s super cold?”
“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.”
Marshall gave her a warm smile. “That’s my wife. It’s got to be like a sauna before she’ll get in. So, Melissa, your father, he put the car in the water?”
“Yep. He drove Mom’s car out onto the lake, where the ice was thin. And 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. “I feel real bad, but I also feel a bit better, you know? Coming in here and telling you what happened.”
“Of course you do.”
“It’s not the kind of secret I could keep.”
“Melissa, you realize we’re going to have to go out and talk to your father, but I need to ask you, does he keep any guns in the house?”
“No, I don’t think so. He’s never been interested in guns.”
“We just don’t want to have to hurt him, you know? When we go out there. We want to be able to bring him in peacefully. Do you think he’s dangerous?”
She was puzzled by the question, and shook her head. “Dad’s not dangerous. I mean, it’s not like he’s ever killed anybody or anything.”
“You mean, before your mother.”
“Oh, he didn’t kill my mother. Is that what you were thinking? I guess I should start at the beginning.”
ELEVEN
Keisha
When Keisha Ceylon saw the pink sash drop past her eyes, she reached up instinctively to get her fingers between it and her neck. But she wasn’t quick enough. Wendell Garfield wrapped it tightly around her throat and began to twist.
“I swear, I don’t know how you know, but you’re not going to tell anyone,” he said.
Keisha clawed at the sash, her fingernails ripping into her own skin as she tried to loosen his hold on her. But the satiny ribbon was already cutting deep into her neck.
Garfield was leaning down over her, his mouth close to her right ear. His breath was hot against her cheek.
