Page 75 of Darkwater Lane

“Do you regret not asking more questions? Did you ever even consider what might be behind the locked door in the garage?”

I let out a long, painful breath. “You have no idea how much I regret. Absolutely, I wish I’d seen the truth about Melvin before it was too late for all those girls. I wish I could have saved them. I hate how many lives he has destroyed—not just with the women he murdered but also their families. My family too.”

Madison stares down at her notes for a long moment and chews the bottom of her lip. She’s clearly torn about something.

“What is it?”

She hesitates for a moment longer before saying. “There’s something I want to ask you, but I’m worried I’ll offend you. It’s just... I think listeners will be curious, and if I don’t ask you, they’ll think I’m pulling punches, and they’ll lose faith in me as a narrator.”

“Okay,” I tell her hesitantly.

She blows out a breath and clears her throat, sitting a little straighter. “You don’t think Sam is a murderer.”

“No.” I say it as emphatically as possible.

“Do you consider yourself a murderer?”

“No.”

“Even though you killed Melvin Royal.”

“Like I said, that was in self-defense.”

“Because he threatened your family.”

“Right.”

“You lived with Melvin Royal for more than a decade. You built a life with him, had kids together, shared a bed, and you had no idea he was a monster.”

“Yes, he was that good an actor. No one suspected him. It wasn’t only me. Neighbors had no idea, our priest, his coworkers.”

“So, he had you fooled.”

“He did, unfortunately.”

“How do you know Sam doesn’t have you fooled as well?”

I’m on my feet before I realize it. “We’re done here.” There’s a tremor to my voice. My heart thunders in my ears as adrenaline surges through my body as though I’d been physically attacked.

I rip off my headphones and drop them onto the table.

“Gwen, wait.”

I’ve already started for the door.

She calls after me. “You’re angry because you know I’m right.”

My lips twist bitterly. That’s rich coming from her. “Fuck off, Madison. We’re done.”

21

GWEN

The minute I get home, I drag Lanny out for a run. I need to blow off steam from the recording session with Madison, and Lanny’s been complaining about being bored. A run kills two birds with one stone. We start out slow, warming up our muscles as we turn the air in front of our mouths into clouds.

The farther we get from the house, the easier it is to fall into step. We used to run like this often, though more often than not, it was against Lanny’s will. She eventually came to love it, though, just like I did. When we moved to Knoxville, however, we ran together less and less. Our neighborhood didn’t have an easy loop, plus work and school always seemed to get in the way.

Finding my familiar rhythm with Lanny makes it even more apparent how discordant the last several months have been. I’ve spent so much time trying to figure out the best way to approach Lanny about the college letters, only to realize there’s no such thing. She’s going to be ticked regardless. So, I decide to rip off the Band-Aid.

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