“Initially, yes. And that must be the real reason she called Riley a week or so after the assault and pressed her again to go to the cops. That way they’d know there’d been a similar crime before Mel was killed. Then Ruck was arrested, and everything fell into place for her without Riley’s help.
“But now, eight years later, the landscape had shifted, and she probably felt a lie would actually protect her. She might have even talked Riley into it when they first spoke this week, telling her that if she said she’d said she was assaultedbeforeMel, she’d be excoriated for not going to the authorities.”
“But how was the lie any protection?”
“First, think about how Morgan was probably feeling this week. For years she’d thought she gotten away with murder, and then out of the blue, Riley surfaces. Morgan probably felt freaked about it and maybeeven paranoid, worried that since so much time had passed, the cops might be more curious about her than they would have been before and wonder why she’d held on to the secret all this time. They might have started looking into her time at Carter.”
Logan nods. “So now it seemed better for the cops to think Riley was attackedafterMel died,” he says. “That way they’d never wonder about her being privy to the MO.”
“That’s what it seems like to me. She must have told herself that she’d be perfectly fine if she just kept her cool and did her best to back up a lie about the date.
“But then,” I continue, “she finds out that the truth was in danger of coming to light. And if shehadpressured Riley to lie, and Riley told Halligan about it, that would have seemed highly suspicious. It might not have taken forever to find a link between Morgan and Alison and Mel ... And this must be why Morgan was willing to talk to me and stay in touch. She was keeping tabs on things.”
“How do you think she heard Riley was about to change her story?”
I shake my head, uncertain. “I’m not sure how it played out. Riley might have called Morgan and told her that she’d decided to tell me the truth, or maybe after Morgan talked to me this morning, she just assumed things were about to come to a head. One way or the other, she went to see Riley, probably all nice and friendly, and then she must have slipped something into her coffee to make it easier to set up the hanging. And then ran the mugs through the dishwasher so there’d be no trace of her DNA.”
“Christ,” Logan says. “We just have to hope she left some other trace of herself.”
But what if she didn’t? This is still only my crazy theory, based on not much more than a quote from Plutarch. There might not be any real evidence connecting Morgan to Riley’s death.
I exhale, spent from sharing everything. But there’s still something else I need to say.
“You realize, don’t you, that I’m partly responsible for Riley’s death? I called her and questioned the date and pretty much forced her into telling the truth. I triggeredeverything. How can I possibly live with that?”
“You can’t beat yourself up over it, Bree,” Logan tells me. “You had every right to look for the truth and challenge her story once you saw the holes in it, and I’m sure Halligan will feel the same—if he ever fucking calls.”
Nothing Logan said makes me feel any better. If I’d thought it through, talked to Halligan first, there might have been a way to get at the truth without costing Riley her life. Noticing there’s a half-empty bottle of wine on the console, I get up and pour myself a small amount. Maybe it will stop my pulse from racing so fast.
“Not that I gave you much of a chance earlier,” I say once I’m seated again, “but you haven’t commented about Mel and Alison Handler.”
Logan shrugs. “It took me by surprise, but it doesn’t shock me. Mel was a free spirit, an adventurer ... open to all sorts of things. We always knew that about her.”
“I just wish I felt better about the person she chose. On the surface, Alison is enchanting, but she’s one of those people who move through life doing exactly as they please and not minding who they hurt in the process.”
Logan’s face goes taut with anguish.
“I’ll tell you what really bothers me,” he says, “and what could leave me undone if I thought about it too long. The fact that our daughter made a seemingly harmless choice that might have cost her life.”
I nod, because that could leave me undone as well. There’s a part of me that just wants to unspool right now, to let grief and despair have their way, but I need to keep my head clear for what’s ahead.
And then finally my phone rings with Halligan’s name on the screen.
I answer on speaker, laying the phone on the coffee table and explaining that I’m with Logan.
“I’ve just gotten off the line with Detective Pendergrass,” he says, sounding not at all happy. “You should never have gone to see Riley Reynolds today. You need to stay out of this and let us do our jobs.”
“Can you wait and chew me out later?” I ask. “There’s something critical I need to tell you.”
I relate the entire story just as I did with Logan. Halligan lobs a few questions at me but mostly listens.
“I want you to come in tomorrow and make a full statement,” he says finally, his voice still stern. “Ten o’clock. Until then, you’re to do nothing. Is that understood?”
“Yes, understood,” I say, chastened. “Good night.”
I reach down and tap the red button with my finger.
“He clearly listened,” Logan says. “And it sounds like he took you seriously.”
