Kelly signaled me to start walking with a slight nod, and I did. She followed a few steps behind the whole way. We crossed paths with no one in the town, and when I closed the door to the lake house, she jumped into my arms. We ripped at each other’s clothes and fucked right there on the floor of the living room, on the bearskin rug, in front of the unlit fireplace. We fucked three times that afternoon. She couldn’t get enough of me, and I couldn’t get enough of her. Like heroin, she was addicting right from the first taste, the first high—and I never came down from that high—until today.

14. Sarah Morgan

14

Sarah Morgan

I don’t flinch when he tells me the details of how they met and fucked within four hours. I’m not here as his wife. I’m not here to judge him. I’m here to defend him. I’ll react when I can—when it doesn’t affect the case. Right now, I must listen. I simply take notes. I make eye contact with him sporadically, and I find he has a difficult time meeting my eyes. I’m not surprised. He’s been lying to me for the past sixteen months. He’s been fucking another woman. If he could lie to me for this long maybe he could kill. No, I have to stop thinking like that. It won’t do him any good.

“You met Kelly Summers sixteen months ago at her place of employment, Seth’s Coffee?”

He nods.

“And you fucked… I’m sorry had sex with her the first day you met?”

“Yes.” He pauses. “I’m sorry, Sarah.” He tries to reach for my hand, but I pull away.

“This isn’t the time.” I straighten my papers, aligning all the edges perfectly. It’s what I do when I don’t know what to do. I tidy. I clean things up.

He leans back in his chair and slides his hands down his face, pulling at his skin that seems to have paled from lack of sleep, grief, and stress. His eyes are bloodshot, and a five-o’clock shadow has taken up residence on his face. Despite what he has done and his appearance, he is still handsome to me. I can see why Kelly couldn’t resist him. I couldn’t resist him either.

“Did your relationship with Kelly continue regularly?”

“Yes, we saw each other several times a week, and she spent many nights at the lake house.” He lets out a deep breath.

“And you mentioned her husband, Scott. What do you know about him?”

Adam sits up straight. A sense of hope and anger appears in his eyes. I can tell before he even starts speaking, he hates this man and he wholeheartedly believes it was this man that killed Kelly.