Decker jumped into the touchy subject. “So when did you meet the Doodoo Sluts?”

The name caused her head to jerk back. “That part of my life was completely over before Ben was murdered. At least a year before.”

“I believe you,” Decker said, “but I need you to answer the question.”

“I met Primo first…at one of the poker casinos. I was about to bust and he bought me some chips. That night I won and Primo and I celebrated.” Again, she looked up at the ceiling. “Ben had taken the boys on a camping trip. No one was home. It wasn’t my first time being bad, but I hardly knew this guy.”

The room was silent.

Melinda said, “He drank, Primo did. He was loose with a buck. I liked that.” A shrug. “That’s it.”

“And how did you move on from Primo to the others?”

Her eyes became steely. “I don’t see the relevance between my psycho past and my husband’s murder.”

Decker said, “Let me tell you why we think it is relevant. We know for a fact that there’s a common link between someone in your past and a prime suspect in Primo’s death.”

Melinda seemed confused. “But they have Primo’s murderers behind bars. Punk kids. Certainly I don’t know them. The paper said it was a carjacking.”

“It was way more than a carjacking, and we’re just beginning to put all the pieces together. But there’s a key player, and I think we both know who that key player is.”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Figure it out,” Decker said. “We believe your husband’s death can be traced back to someone in the Doodoo Sluts. Primo’s dead. That makes three members left. Go down the list.”

She remained silent.

“Melinda,” Marge said, soothingly. “You’ve held in this terrible secret for so long. Get it off your chest. Unburden yourself. Tell us your side of what happened to your husband—”

“But I don’t know what happened!” She cried out. “I don’t know what happened! If I thought it had something to do with the Doodoo Sluts, don’t you think I would have said something a long time ago?”

“Maybe you were too scared to talk,” Marge said. “But now it’s all going to come out. This is your one chance to tell us everything you know.”

“I’m in the dark!” Melinda cried out. “Can’t you get that through your heads? Why would one of the Doodoo Sluts murder my husband? Who are we even talking about, by the way?”

Decker said, “Rudy Banks is missing. And we’ve got a witness who has implicated him in Ekerling’s death.”

“Rudy?” Melinda gasped. She seemed genuinely shocked. “I…I…Rudy murdered Primo? I can’t believe…Rudy? They were friends!”