And I mean it. I remember him as a warm, funny person who I once imagined being in Mel’s life forever.
“What aboutyou?” he asks. “I sense something’s going on.”
“It is. I’m in Cartersville now, and, confidentially, the cops have some doubts now about Melanie’s case. They’re wondering if someone other than Ruck murdered her.”
“What? Oh my God. Do—do they have a new suspect?”
“Not yet. It’s possible the police will reach out to you at some point, but in the meantime, I wondered if anyone comes to mind.”
“You mean, could it have been someone sheknew?” he asks.
“There’s no suggestion of that right now, but it has to be considered.”
While I’m speaking, I fish quickly in my purse for my pen and notepad.
“Wow, off the top of my head, I can’t think of anyone,” Harry says. “As you know, Mel didn’t suffer fools, but people liked her. And though she sometimes got irritated by some of the slackers on the literary magazine or maybe a castmate in one of the plays she did, it never seemed like a major deal.”
“What about her personal relationships? Were you ever aware of any conflict?”
“Uh, not that I remember, but, of course, it’s been a while. Are you wondering about the romantic front, too?”
As far as Logan and I were aware, there’d been no one since Jack, and we guessed she was still smarting from the breakup, but who knows, maybe something had begun to percolate.
“Right, the romantic front, too.”
“There was nothing full-blown as far as I know, but I had the sense she’d started seeing someone new. And that she might have been smitten.”
The hairs on the back of my neck have shot up. “We weren’t aware of that,” I say. “Did you mention this to the police?”
“Yeah, and I figured they’d look into it, but I assumed they lost interest in that angle once they made the arrest.”
“She never said a name?”
“No.”
“But what made you think therewassomeone?”
“She was walking around with a certain look on her face, like the cat that ate the canary. At first, I thought it was all because of the weather. It had been cold and rainy during the first half of October, and then suddenly there was this beautiful stretch of Indian summer, which put everyone in a good mood. But I finally suspected it was more than that with her. I asked her something like, ‘You don’t have a new squeeze, do you?’ and she laughed and said, ‘My lips are sealed.’”
I take a deep breath, jotting down some of his words. I know my daughter was a mystery to me, but it always hurts to be reminded of that.
“So this was right before she died.”
“Yeah.”
“She must have been over Jack finally,” I say.
“Oh, she waslongover him.”
“She wasn’t heartbroken anymore?”
“God, no, she was never heartbroken over Jack. Mel dumpedhim, though I know he let everyone think it was the other way around.”
Chapter 11
I gasp but hope Harry hasn’t heard. I can’t let on that I’m suspicious of Jack. After all, there’s never been any evidence linking him to the crime.
“Do you think the cops knew that?” I ask.
