“Of course she came to Gabi and Adam’s funeral to pay her respects and I wouldn’t begrudge anyone that. Nor would I have created a scene. Melinda and I stay away from each other. And she stays away from James. Sorry if I don’t feel the need to display pictures of her… anywhere.”

“She said you were like a mother to her.” Val shook her head. How could Melinda have betrayed Mrs. Morgan like that?

“I was. That’s why this hurts so much. But I don’t think she wanted me to be her mother as much as she simply wanted to win over James.”

“Why would she do something like that?” Val couldn’t help but sound disgusted.

“Melinda’s home life was bad. Wealthy parents don’t always make good parents. I let Gabrielle be friends with Melinda even though I knew Melinda had some problems. I regret that decision now. I just thought that maybe providing a welcoming environment would help her, but I was wrong. Some bad in people can’t be changed. It’s who they are.”

“Bad?” Val couldn’t help notice Mrs. Morgan’s emphasis on the word.

“Melinda had done some things that were concerning back then, when she was young. The problem is she’s doing concerning things now. It’s why I wanted you to come today.”

“Concerning in what way?” Val inched a little closer to Mrs. Morgan, eager to hear what she had to say.

“At the beginning, stupid things really, like stealing trinkets from the house. The things she took weren’t of any value so I thought she was just trying to get attention. But as she got older, what she started to do became more mean-spirited. She seemed to like to do things that caused harm to people. She actually appeared to get joy out of it.”

“Do you think she has anything to do with Gabrielle’s death?”

“That’s what I want to know. Three of my four children are dead. My grandchild is dead. James has accepted that Gabrielle committed suicide, taking Adam with her. He feels that if we cover up any more tragedies with our family we’ll be ruined. The public can be very judgmental, you know. They think we covered for Gabrielle fifteen years ago and they think we’re doing it again. You should see the decline in value of Morgan Foods stock. James wants the cards on the table so he can move on. Re-establish the brand. But I can’t have that—trade my family for the company. I don’t want any more regrets. You see, I’m not so sure Gabi killed herself and Adam.”