Raines opened the box and slid it closer. “Help yourself.”
Melissa reached for a slice with trembling fingers, folding it in half before taking a bite.
Cal watched her chew, his thoughts tight. Most victims after that kind of ordeal couldn’t stomach food. But he reminded himself that didn’t mean Melissa wasn’t rattled to her core. Trauma hit people in different ways, and right now, food might be her way of grounding herself.
He stayed quiet, studying her as she swallowed and reached for another bite. The question wasn’t whether she was traumatized. It was what, if anything, she was hiding beneath it.
Melissa chewed slowly, her voice muffled around the food. “He grabbed me outside my place. Had a ski mask on. Tied my wrists and gagged me before I could scream. Drove me to that strip mall.”
She swallowed hard, blinking fast. “Another man showed up. Same thing, ski mask, same rough voice. Neither one of them was Dexter.”
Cal exchanged a quick glance with Alena, his jaw tightening.
Melissa pressed on. “But it had to be him. He must’ve hired them.”
Raines leaned forward, his elbows on his desk. “Did either of them say anything about Dexter?”
Melissa shook her head. “No. They didn’t mention him.” Her eyes darted between them, desperate. “But come on. It has to be Dexter, right? He hates me almost as much as I hate him. Who else would want me taken?”
Cal kept his expression even, though doubt churned at the back of his mind.
Melissa’s hand jerked, sending a bit of crust tumbling onto the blanket. “Wait. Was it Arneson? Did he do this? Is he the one who had me taken?”
The room went still, the weight of her question pressing down on all of them.
Raines’s tone stayed even, though his eyes narrowed slightly. “We don’t know yet who’s behind it. The strip mall’s still being searched for evidence, and what’s left of that travel trailer will be combed through, too.”
Cal leaned a little closer. “What about Kara? Do you think she could’ve hired those men?”
Melissa let out a sharp huff, the sound bitter. “Wouldn’t surprise me. Kara’s been all over me. She’s contacted me more times than I can count, telling me to back off on my posts about Dexter. She doesn’t like that I keep calling him out for what he is.”
Her hands curled tight around the slice of pizza. “And she had the gall to ask me to testify for him at his appeals hearing.”
Alena’s brows shot up, but Melissa pressed on before she could say anything. “She wanted me to say Dexter wasn’t of sound mind when he dragged me to that warehouse. That he wasn’t responsible.”
Melissa’s voice cracked, her face twisting with fury. “He’s not insane. He’s a bullying, controlling asshole, but he’s sane. And he knew exactly what he was doing.”
The room went quiet, the weight of her words hanging heavy.
Alena shifted in her chair, her voice careful. “Melissa, have you had any contact with Dexter this past year?”
Melissa froze, her fingers tightening around the water bottle. She took a long sip before setting it down. The half-eaten slice of pizza slid back into the box, forgotten. Her mouth drew into a tight line.
“I did,” she admitted after a moment. “Once. About four months ago. My therapist thought it might help me… face things.”
Cal felt his gut tighten, waiting.
Melissa’s eyes hardened. “It didn’t help. It was a disaster. I walked out of there convinced of one thing—if Dexter ever got out, he’d come for everyone who put him away.” Her gaze shifted to Alena, then to him. “That means me. That means the two of you as well.”
Cal’s chest tightened at her words, the warning settling heavy in his gut. “If Dexter wanted you dead, why not just kill you when he had the chance?” he came out and asked.
Melissa’s eyes flicked to him and then dropped to the blanket in her lap. “Maybe because he wanted to do it himself and not leave it to one of his henchmen. Or maybe Dexter intended to use me somehow. As bait. Possibly to draw Alena and you out.” She slid glances at both of them. “Maybe even use me somehow to try to get to David.”
The sound of his name dropped ice into Cal’s blood. He forced his face to stay unreadable, but his mind locked on the thought.
David.
There’d been others on the team who helped take Dexter down, but when it came to that night, the core had been Alena, David, and him. The three of them had carried the weight. They were the ones Dexter would never forgive.
