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CORRINE

It would have been so easy for me to haul off and smack Mina Sobel in the face. Claw her skin off. How dare she come here? How dare she accuse me of trying to ruin her life? Didn’t she know? She had a life that could never be ruined.

Her life. She had no idea what I’d been through. She’d probably been handed everything she wanted since she was a baby. Probably a straight-A student. Teacher’s pet. U of M Law School. A job for the county government where she never had to worry about health insurance, even without Lock’s money. She probably took it all for granted. She was the girl whose parents told her how special she was. And they should. That’s what parents are supposed to do. The problem was, I think she believed it.

I didn’t want to hate her. I didn’t want to be that girl.

But I’d been given nothing. Everything I had, I had to fight or beg for. And every time I had something, someone took it away.

Not this time. I could not let that happen. I wouldn’t survive it another time. Just the thought of hitting bottom again threatened to tear me apart. How many times could one person get back up? How much was I expected to endure and not break?

Mina would be just fine. She would hurt. She would be sad. She would feel rejected. But you can’t lose something that was never yours in the first place. It would take time, but eventually, she’d see that.

I went to the top of the stairwell and peered out the window. I felt myself start to sweat. She had just gotten in her car. She smacked her hand against the steering wheel. Though I couldn’t hear her, she was yelling. Screaming, maybe.

Then she cried. A couple walked around her car to get to the sidewalk. They were arm in arm. Laughing. The woman saw Mina. Her face fell. I saw her mouth something to her companion. They seemed uncomfortable. Should they stop and see if Mina needed help? I didn’t think Mina knew they were staring at her. She smacked her steering wheel again. Her hair flew around her face as she yelled at no one.

She looked insane. Unhinged. For a moment, I was scared. Had she come close to actually hurting me? What if she’d had a knife or something? Maybe I never should have opened the door. I thought I was clever. Instead, maybe I was just lucky.

Mina’s face was beet red. In another moment, it looked like she’d actually start foaming at the mouth. The couple must have thought the same thing. The man tightened his grip around the woman’s waist and hurried her along away from Mina’s car.

I bolted the door and put my back against it. She knew where I lived. I suppose that wouldn’t have been that hard for her to find out. Had I misjudged her completely? Could she be dangerous? I knew I couldn’t take the chance. I was done being anyone’s victim.

Lock called to me from the bedroom. “Mina? Is that Mina?”

I pushed myself off the door and walked toward him. “Don’t worry, my love. I got rid of her. She won’t be coming back. I’ll make sure.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

CORRINE

His size struck me again. Six foot six, maybe? With that booming voice. He was so imposing, without ever having to draw his weapon. I wondered what it would be like to have someone like Roy Dennison for an older brother. Or a father. Or a husband. He was probably the kind who would drop everything the moment he thought any woman in his life was in danger.

It never did me any good to think of things like that. PJ was never that kind of brother. Maybe it wasn’t his fault, being the middle child. The appeaser. He was so used to waiting for Sylvie to tell him what to do. And Dad before that.

I waved Detective Dennison over. I’d taken a corner booth at a little coffee shop in Paw Paw. It shocked me how quickly he agreed to meet me here. Almost like he’d been expecting the call.

“Good morning,” he said, smiling. He drew attention wearing his suit with his badge dangling around his neck.

“Thank you so much for coming,” I said. I had the server put a carafe of coffee on the table. Roy wasted no time flipping his mug over and filling it.

“I told you,” he said. “If you need anything, just call. I’m glad you did.”

“Did you have breakfast? She left the menu.”

Swallowing, he shook his head and waved me off. “I’m not a breakfast person. Coffee’s all I need. You sounded pretty upset on the phone. I don’t mean to be blunt, but I don’t have a lot of time.”

“I suppose I should have just told you all of this over the phone. But there are things I need to show you. I just didn’t think it would be a good idea to do this on your turf.”

He frowned, but didn’t seem particularly upset by my preamble. “What can I do for you, Corrine?”

I laid my phone on the table. I’d get to it in a minute. I just hoped he’d be willing to look at it after I got the basic story out.

“I think something might be wrong with Mina Sobel,” I said.

His frown deepened. “What’s going on?”

“I thought everything was finished. You said there wasn’t any way to tie the man you arrested to my case. That was disappointing. But I expected it. Anyway, Mina did something strange. And I… gosh… this is really hard. I’m not even sure I know how to put it. I think maybe she’s having some mental health struggles.”