“Yeah, that was Melanie. I’ll go grab her.”
I watched the barista disappear into the kitchen. She reemerged a few minutes later and gave me a shifty look when I smiled at her expectantly.
“She’s … uh … doing something right now, but I’m sure she’ll be out soon.” The barista turned her attention to the next order.
Okay. Obviously, Melanie had told her she didn’t want to talk to me. But how long could she hide out in the kitchen? The line of customers was getting long again—surely they’d need her help soon.
Finally, after a few more minutes that felt like hours, Melanie Daniels walked out from the kitchen. She immediately spotted me, and her expression soured. Before she could run away again, one of the other baristas asked her to hop back on the espresso machine and start churning out drink orders.
I walked up and leaned over the counter. Under my breath, I said, “Hi, Melanie Daniels. Fancy meeting you here—did DCS give you the day off?” I smirked. She paled.
“What do you want?” she hissed through gritted teeth.
“I want to know what the hell is going on. If you’re working at Starbucks, I highly doubt you’re actually a DCS investigator. So what’s the story?” Despite my outrage, I tried hard to keep my voice low and my face neutral so no one would catch on that I was interrogating her while she worked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied. But the fear in her voice gave her away.
“Let’s not play games, Melanie. I don’t have time for it—and neither does my friend Savannah, who’s about to give birth next month, and doesn’t deserve this harassment.” I felt tears burning my eyes, and I realized that somewhere along the way, I’d started to feel protective toward Savannah’s baby. “Let me guess—Madison put you up to this?”
Her eyes flicked over to mine for just a second before she turned back to the espresso machine. “No.”
“No?” That wasn’t the answer I’d expected.
Then it clicked—we were one block away from Nora Clark’s office. This was probably her regular Starbucks. “No … it wasn’t Madison. It was Nora Clark, wasn’t it?”
Fear flashed in Melanie’s eyes.Bingo.
“Look—what do you want?” Melanie asked nervously. She glanced behind her to ensure none of her coworkers were listening.
I held my phone up and showed her the picture I’d snapped of her. “I want to know everything. Otherwise, I show this to Savannah—and maybe the police. I have a feeling that impersonating a DCS investigator is a crime, wouldn’t you think?”
Melanie’s face was strained. I could see her chest rising and falling with the weight of her panic.
“Tell them you need to take a break. Now.”
She glanced over at the line of customers, which had whittled down from the rush of a few minutes before. “Fine.”
She exchanged a few words with the barista in charge, then walked out from behind the counter and jerked her chin, telling me to follow her. Outside, we sat down at one of the black metal tables in the patio area. She crossed her arms and glared at me.
“Okay, Melanie—spill it.”
“What do you want to know?” she grumbled.
“Why are you harassing my friend, pretending to be a DCS investigator? Did Nora Clark put you up to it?”
Her eyes darted to the left and right as she clearly struggled with whether to answer me truthfully. Finally, she took a deep breath and sighed forcefully. “Yes.”
A jolt of energy shot through me.Yes! Now we’re getting somewhere!A part of me hadn’t believed I’d actually get the answer I’d been looking for. “Why?”
Melanie shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “Why do you think? She wants to rattle Savannah. Drive her over the edge.”
“Why?”
“Madison and Max want that baby. They’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
“What do you mean? Tell me more. Be specific.”
She sighed again. “Madison can’t have children of her own. Some kind of genetic disorder. Apparently it’s on Nora’s side of the family, and Nora got really lucky, having Madison so soon after marrying Mr. Clark. Doctors weren’t sure she’d be able to. But everyone knew she wanted to marry Mr. Clark bad, and he wasn’t interested in marrying someone who couldn’t give him a child.”
