Chapter 22: The Statement

Melinda's POV

I wrote my statement at a metal table with a blue pen that kept running out.

The deputy sat across from me and said nothing for the first hour.

He let me write it in my own words, front and back.

He did not once ask me to make it shorter.

When I signed the last page, my hand did not shake.

"Thank you, Ms. Tressler," he said. "I should tell you I sat in that lot a week ago and didn't walk the trail."

"You didn't know."

"I should have."

"You know now," I said. "Wyatt told me you wrote the plate down."

He nodded slowly. "Two people are on their way in. I called them an hour ago, and they said they'd bring a lawyer."

"Here?"

"The lobby. It's the only room with chairs."

I came out of the back with the folder under my arm.

Wyatt was standing by the door with his hat in his hand, and he reached for my free hand without a word.

The lobby was nearly full.

A woman with a toddler sat on the bench.

Two men in work boots waited by the vending machine.

A teenage girl was filling out a form on a clipboard.

The glass door opened, and Jared came in.

He had on yesterday's shirt.

His beard had gone patchy, and he looked like he had slept in his car.

Behind him came a lawyer with a leather case, and behind the lawyer came Shea.

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