“If you think skipping school was bad, then I hesitate to tell you some of the other things we did as teenagers.” Melinda laughed with a bit of scorn and looked at Val as if Val was a goody two shoes.

“Mel, we weren’t that bad. We did stupid kid stuff,” Bethany said. “Val, you just have to understand, Gabi always did what she wanted to do. The more you told her not to, the more she wanted to do it. We followed her. We did what she said. When we were young, it was fun, fun to be rebellious.”

Val had been under the impression that Melinda was the alpha in the group. But maybe that was Gabrielle?

“But that day wasn’t fun?” Val asked. “Or at least I’m assuming it wasn’t.”

“It’s been my nightmare since it’s happened. I can’t tell you how glad I am to get it off my chest now,” Bethany said.

“Me too,” Melinda added. “The Morgans thought they were protecting all of us by making it go away, I can’t fault them for that. They thought they were doing the right thing.”

Hard to bury a secret when at least one other person knows the truth, Val thought. Risky questions sometime come up in an investigation but Val thought she needed to go out on a limb. “Your family’s maid, Ingrid, saw you that day, didn’t she, Melinda? And she was fired after that?” Val tried to sound non-accusatory but it came out a little stronger than she wanted.

Melinda’s lips formed a straight line. “Ingrid was fired for her drug and alcohol problem. And the awful lies she said to try to blackmail the Morgans to support that problem. My parents had no hesitation getting rid of her. Honestly, what she was saying was so absurd that it was laughable.”

“What did she say?” Val asked.

“That we helped Gabrielle cover up a crime.” Melinda rolled her eyes and leaned back on the couch.

Val fought hard to keep her emotions calm, and her face straight, after that admission. She was speechless, trying to find her next words. “How did she come up with that conclusion?” she finally asked.

“Exactly,” Melinda said sarcastically. “No window from our house even overlooked the Morgans’ pool for Christ’s sake. The back of the Morgans’ house had two wings on each end that formed a square-shaped U. The pool was tucked inside the U. So, Ingrid didn’t see anything, not that there was much to see other than three scared girls finding two children floating in the water.” Melinda sat forward and locked her gaze on Val, in what Val saw as a challenging pose. “Ingrid’s story was complete and utter bullshit. She did see Beth and me running across the lawn to the side of the house after the twins were found, which was true. The rest she made up.”