How does he know that Keith tried to blame me? Only the police and our lawyers knew about the accusation when Keith’s lawyer tried to get him out of the murder charge. Thankfully, it didn’t work, and no one ever leaked it to the press, so Corrine told me years later when I heard my parents whispering about it at the kitchen table. But I worried. What if? I was bigger. I was scared. That has been the most hideous monster always lurking in the back of my mind, all these years, all this time.

I choke on my tears. “Who told you that?”

“I have my sources.”

“Did he tell you? Have you spoken to him?”

“Yeah. I have actually.”

My skin crawls, and I wrap my untethered arm around my stomach. “You wrote the letter. The letter to Jay that was supposed to be from him.”

“I did.”

Tears start to run down my cheeks. “You hate me that much, Cal?”

He huffs out a breath. “It’s not about you. Why do you think the world revolves around little Melinda? So high and mighty, Molly. You thought you could outrun your past. But you can’t. Nobody can. What’s done is done.” He leans over, so close I can smell the alcohol on his breath. His lips are near my ear, and I shudder. “I’ll be back, sweet Melinda.” He scrambles to his feet.

“Where are you going?”

“To see my cheating bitch of a wife,” he says nonchalantly, as though they’re meeting for coffee. His hand reaches behind his back, and he pulls out something that glints in a stray beam of the streetlight. A gun. He tilts it back and forth—to be sure, I guess, that I see it. “Unfortunately, I might need this. Laken’s not a tiny little thing like my mother or the others. She might actually be able to put up a fight.”

He walks to the ladder, turns to face me. “After I see Laken, I’ll come back here to the cellar. This is where it will all end. It’s only appropriate to end this where it started.” He plants one foot on the ladder. “Too bad Jay’s dead. I’d get star billing in his book, don’t you think?”

CHAPTER 69 - Rita

CHAPTER 69

Rita

AFTER BRIEFING EVERYONE ON THE CALLER’S MESSAGE, JOE AND I head to Mrs. Bradley’s house. Her sister is there and has been calling nonstop for an update. We can’t hold her off any longer.

Corrine Alworth meets us on the porch. “Have you found anything?” she asks, her blond hair blowing in the frigid breeze. We follow her inside.