Chapter 7: What Melissa Knew
Melissa chose a coffee shop twenty minutes from her office, a small place with mismatched chairs and a window that looked out onto a side street where nothing much happened.
She was already there when I arrived, both hands around a cup she hadn't touched, her coat still on.
She looked up when I sat down and said immediately, "I should have called you weeks ago.
I've been telling myself it wasn't my place, and I was wrong."
"Tell me now," I said.
She exhaled.
"Owen came to me about two months ago.
He said he was in serious financial trouble and that he had a plan to stabilize things.
He said he'd found out you were buying a house and that the family was going to help him establish residency there — his words, establish residency — while he sorted out his debts."
"Establish residency," I repeated.
"He made it sound almost administrative.
Like a temporary arrangement." She wrapped both hands tighter around the cup.
"He said you'd understand once it was explained properly.
That you'd always had more flexibility than him.
That Mom and Dad agreed it was the fair thing."
"Did he say how he found out about the house?"
"He said Mom had seen some paperwork." She paused.
"I didn't ask more than that.
I should have."
"Did he tell you about Daniel Marsh?"
Her expression shifted.
"The lender?"
"Owen contacted my lender under false pretenses to get my address and closing date."
Melissa closed her eyes briefly.
"I didn't know that part."
"He also accessed my personal email.
Or had someone do it."
She opened her eyes.
"Rachel—"
"I know."
"That's not — that's not a family argument anymore."
"No," I said.
"It isn't."
She was quiet for a moment.
Outside, a delivery truck rolled past the window and then was gone.
"What do you need from me?" she asked.
"I need you to tell Grace Okafor everything you just told me.
She's the attorney handling the legal side.
Owen told you about his plan.
That makes you a witness to his intent."
Melissa nodded slowly.
"He's going to know I talked."
"Yes."
She looked at the untouched cup in front of her.
"He called me last night, after everything happened at the house.
He said it had gotten complicated but that he was going to fix it.
He said you were being unreasonable and that the family needed to present a united front."
"What did you say?"
"I said I needed to think." She looked up.
"I've been thinking ever since."
I gave her Grace's number.
She put it directly into her phone.
"There's one more thing," Melissa said.
"Owen mentioned, when he first came to me, that he had someone on the inside who had confirmed you wouldn't push back.
Someone who knew you well enough to be certain."
I went still.
"Did he say who?"
"No.
But the way he said it — it wasn't Mom.
He talked about Mom separately.
This was someone else." She hesitated.
"Someone who apparently told him that when it came to family, you always backed down."
I thought about that on the drive back.
Someone who knew me.
Someone Owen had consulted before he'd even approached my mother.
Someone who had assessed my character and told him I was safe to take from.
I thought about every person who had been in that house last night.
And then I thought about the one person who hadn't been.
My father had left early.
Before the officers arrived.
Before Nina.
Before I had a chance to look at him properly.
Dad had left before any of it landed.
I called Nina from the car.
"I think my father knew before my mother did," I said.
A pause.
"What makes you say that?"
"He left before the police arrived.
He was the only one who did.
And Melissa just told me Owen had someone who confirmed I wouldn't fight back.
Someone who knew me well enough to be certain." I kept my eyes on the road.
"My father has spent thirty years telling Owen that I was the one who didn't need protecting."
Another pause.
May you like
Longer.
"I'll look into it," Nina said quietly.
