Page 50 of The One Before

“I don’t care what you say.” I cut her off before she can finish. “I know Coop did not kill Celia.”

She looks down, like she’s already lost the battle. Without moving, she takes a deep breath. Then she speaks:

“I know everything about Celia Gray. Her height. Her weight. Even her zodiac sign. I know how long her body was allegedly in that water before the police fished her out. I have her whole file memorized. But she’s not my daughter.” She looks up, a gleam in her eyes. “My daughter’s name was Laura Price, and Cooper Douglas killed her.”

Thirty-Seven

Helena

It feels like forever since I’ve said her name. Laura. My beautiful, sweet Laura. Speaking of her brings her back, and for a moment, it’s like she’s here with me, giving me the strength to continue.

Madison stands in the doorway, one hand on the knob, but both feet are outside. She’s staring at me, as if she misunderstood what I said. After several seconds, she speaks.

“Who is Laura Price?”

“She’s my daughter,” I say, letting out a controlled breath. I move forward, and she doesn’t tremble, which is a good sign. “I’m Helena Price. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you that earlier.”

Madison pinches the bridge of her nose and shuts her eyes. “I don’t understand. Why are you… how are you…”

“All I ask is that you hear me out. I’ll tell you everything, then if you want me to walk out of your life, I will.”

She looks down, like she can’t trust her own judgment in this bizarre moment. “My fiancé… Coop is—”

“Cooper is out of the house. That’s why I waited until tonight.” After some digging, I found out he was expected to attend a press function in Nashville tonight. I’d have made my move earlier, but his siblings stayed later than I expected. I waited for them to leave so I could have Madison all to myself.

“I don’t even know you,” she says, dropping her hands by her sides. She’s struggling over what to do. Over whom to trust. “You’re following us around. And throwing out names I’ve never even heard before.”

“Let me in,” I say, gently. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

Madison looks me up and down, assessing the potential threat. My hands are bare, and only a small handbag hangs from my shoulder. She walks inside, holding the door open for me to follow. She still won’t look at me, like she’s an opponent defeated in a match. The point of this has never been to beat her. I’m trying to beat Cooper, but in order to do that, Madison needs to know things. Things that will hurt.

We walk into the living room. She pulls her feet onto the sofa and holds a pillow between her knees and chest. “Who is Laura?”

I clear my throat and smile. Despite the intensity of this moment, I finally get to talk about her again. That makes me happy. “She’s my daughter. We lived in South Carolina, a good distance from here. She attended college in Tennessee. The same one as Cooper.”

“And that’s where they met?”

“Yes. They started dating during their sophomore year. She told me a lot about him. He made her so happy.” I stop. I always struggle juggling my happy memories of Laura against the painful reality that Cooper gave her those elated feelings. “As I said, I didn’t live close enough to visit often. I never met him when they were together.”

“How long did they date?” She’s trying to compare every detail I provide against her own knowledge of events. Searching, hoping for an inconsistency.

“Several months. She was in love, there’s no doubt about that. At the beginning of the year, she was very homesick. When she met Cooper, her whole outlook changed; I’d never heard her more excited. We’d talk on the phone every day, and she’d share about their studies and their dates. Their campus wasn’t far from here, so she was no stranger to Whisper Falls. His family had the pleasure of meeting her, too.” I tighten my jaw, wishing desperately the story could end here with my daughter’s happiness, but I must continue. “The last time we spoke, she sounded different. Upset. She said she’d heard a rumor. Something bad.”

“What was it?” she asks, jumping in.

“I don’t know. We got off the phone just as Cooper arrived at her apartment. She promised to call back that next day, but never did. No one had contact with her after that night. She was just gone. I did everything I could to find her. I visited the campus and handed out flyers. Social media wasn’t what it is today, but several of her friends reached out to help. She had so many friends, my Laura.” I smile briefly, then my stare hardens. “Do you know who never once offered assistance?”

“Cooper.” His name leaves her lips in a whisper. She’s hesitant to say anything else because she’s unsure about what she knows. That helps.

“The first time I met him was at a vigil her friends organized. He didn’t know who I was, and when I told him, he retreated like he’d seen a ghost. Refused to speak with me. I told the police he was the last person to see her. He cooperated with them, but he actively avoided me. Who does that to the mother of their missing girlfriend?”

“I don’t know.” She cracks her knuckles and looks away. She’s aware something doesn’t add up. “What did the police say?”

I hadn’t wanted to tell her this part; I know it won’t help my case, but I promised Madison the truth. All of it. “The police had this ridiculous theory she took off to some music festival and something happened to her there. But they didn’t know my Laura. All college kids are a tad rambunctious, but she would never leave the state without telling me. We were close.”

She’d badgered me for weeks about that festival, but I’d refused to give her permission to go. Imagine my surprise when the police showed me a receipt of her ticket purchase. They believed that was proof she’d left town, that something had happened to her while she was gone. But I didn’t believe that. Laura would never leave without telling me.

“So the police never found her?”

---