“You don’t know that. He would’ve just looked for another opportunity. Besides,” I stand and go to her, “maybe Mom and Dad shouldn’t have left me with our alcoholic neighbor. Maybe they should’ve found someone else to watch me, or, God forbid, maybe one of them could’ve stayed home that day. Anyway, it wasn’t your fault. You were a kid yourself. It was no one’s fault but his.” I hug my sister, and we stand there together. “You were always there when I needed you.”

“I’ll always be here, Molly.” We draw apart, and Corrine wipes her cheeks. “Sorry if I’m an overbearing pain in the ass sometimes.”

I smile. “That’s what I like best about you.”

CHAPTER 75 - Rita

CHAPTER 75

Rita

LAUREN WALKS INTO MY OFFICE WITH HAYES BRANCH BEHIND HER.

“He wanted to speak with you,” Lauren says.

I drop my pencil on my blotter. “Sure. Mr. Branch, have a seat.”

He turns and watches Lauren leave and shuts the door behind her before taking a chair.

“What can I do for you?”

He runs a hand through his hair. He’s had it cut short, and the wild curls are gone.

“I want to confess.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Okay.” I reach for my phone. I have no idea what he’s about to say, but the way things have been going, I don’t want to take a chance. “Mind if I record you?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “That’s fine.”

“What’s this about?”

He takes a deep breath. “I lied before.”

“About?”

“My wife’s death.”

I lean forward, grab my notebook.

His eyes widen. “I didn’t kill her. It’s nothing like that. I miss Amelia every day.”

I sit back in my chair. “What then?”

“She didn’t die from her heart condition. She had one, and it might’ve killed her one day, but not that day.”

“What happened then?”

He rubs his eyes under his glasses and blows out a breath. “She killed herself. Suicide. She battled depression her whole life. She was in treatment and took medicine, but she overdosed. On purpose. She left me a goodbye letter on the kitchen table. I still have it locked in my desk drawer.”

“Why not come clean at the time?”

He lays his glasses on my desk and blinks. “My daughter. Alice was only five years old.” He smiles slightly. “Five going on fifteen. I didn’t want her to know that her mother chose to leave her. I didn’t want her to have to live with that.”

“I understand.” I do too. Suicide of a loved one is hard enough for a grown person to handle, let alone a child.