Page 74 of The One Before

She pulls out a recording device. “I’m Detective Jensen. An informant gave us this recording earlier in the week.” She pushes a button, and I listen to a snippet of my conversation with Bailey in the park. I imagine I hear the birds flying above and the leaves crinkling at my feet. I wish I was back at that beautiful day.

It was right after Bailey had told me there was nothing we could do.

“What about a confession?” I asked, avoiding eye contact. “Would that be enough?”

“Do you think Cooper might have told someone what he’d done?” Bailey asked, her brow wrinkling as she tugged a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Coop told me he killed Laura.”

Bailey’s mouth opened, and she leaned closer. Whatever she expected me to say, it wasn’t that. “What? When?”

“He told me last week after my conversation with Helena. That’s why I reached out to you.”

“Why didn’t you go to the police?”

“I’m not in immediate danger, but I don’t have the resources to leave. Josephine has half the town in her back pocket. Coop’s best friend is the chief of police. If I come forward and they stall on arresting him, or word got out I was trying to pin him for something… then I would be in danger. That’s why I came to you.”

“Are you sure you’re safe?” Her tone was unconvinced, scared even.

“I am now because Coop thinks I’ve forgiven him. He thinks I’m on his side. But he’s become possessive since he told me. If he gets the idea I’m turning on him, I don’t know what he’ll do. And I don’t have anywhere else to go. His family has more connections than we do combined. I can’t walk away in constant fear he’ll come after me.”

Bailey turned quiet, no doubt contemplating what a confession from Coop meant. For him. For me. For her own relationship with Regina. But like me, Bailey must have gauged the magnitude of wrong and right.

“My detective friend in the county where Laura went missing is intrigued by what I’ve told her so far. If you tell her what Cooper said, she’ll make an arrest. I can arrange a meeting—”

“I already told you: I can’t. He’s watching my every move. Checking our mail and scanning my phone records. I can’t sit down with a detective and go home that same night.”

“Then tell me,” she said, pulling out her phone. “Tell me everything Cooper told you. I’ll record it and pass it on.”

“Will that be enough?”

“It’s worth a try. What do we have to lose?”

I had everything to lose. Bailey had proven reliable, but how much could I truly trust her? Especially knowing the depth of her relationship with Regina? Coop, the person I trusted more than anyone in this world, turned out to be a murderer. But Bailey was right about one thing. After eleven years with limited evidence, this was our best shot.

“Start recording,” I said.

Detective Jensen stops the tape, pulling me back to the present. I’m now living the aftermath of what I’ve done. “Is that you speaking, Ms. Sharpe?”

“Yes.” I clear my throat and sit up straighter. “I told Bailey to give you the recording.”

The officer takes a pen out of her pocket and hovers it over a writing pad. “I’m going to need you to tell me everything you know. Start from the beginning.”

“Where’s Coop? Is he—”

“He’s speaking with another detective,” she says, raising her hand. She has to remain professional and objective, but I see a glint of sympathy in her eyes. Or perhaps it’s judgment? My words are what brought us here. I turned on Coop. I take a deep breath, praying this ordeal is almost over.

Sixty-One

Helena

An hour ago, I received a phone call from a woman named Detective Jensen. When she introduced herself, a series of images flashed through my mind: the gun tucked inside my waistband, my mad march to Nectar, the crime I’d almost committed on a crowded street. Then Detective Jensen spoke that sweet name: Laura. She was calling me about Laura, my darling girl I thought this world had forgotten.

Now, I’m sitting at the Whisper Falls Police Station, waiting to meet Detective Jensen. She’d assumed I was back home in South Carolina. When I informed her I was in Whisper Falls, she suggested a face-to-face meeting.

Like me, Detective Jensen is visiting Whisper Falls on business. Given her job, it can’t be often she’s in the position of spreading good news. Regardless of how tired she might be at this hour, she’s excited to share an update.

“We’ve made an arrest related to your daughter’s case,” she says, after taking a seat. It could be the overhead light or the lack of sleep, but I see a glimmer in her eyes. “His name is Cooper Douglas. He was your daughter’s boyfriend at the time she was reported missing.”

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