Before Melissa would tell her story to the detective, whose name was Marshall – which struck her as funny, a policeman named Marshall – she wanted assurances that the police would go easy on her father.
‘There are reasons that might explain why he did what he did?’
Marshall, seated across the table from her in the interview room, said, ‘It’s hard for us to make promises where your dad is concerned when we don’t know exactly what it is that he’s done.’
‘I don’t want to get him in trouble,’ Melissa said. ‘Even though I know that’s probably what’s going to happen.’
‘But he knows something about what really happened to your mother,’ he said. ‘That is why you’re here.’
‘In a way,’ Melissa said. ‘You know what? I know I only just sat down, but I really have to pee.’
‘Sure, OK,’ Marshall said. ‘Let me show you where to go.’
Melissa went to the bathroom and a couple of minutes later the two of them were back sitting across from each other. Melissa had one hand on the table and the other on her belly.
‘I really love my dad,’ she said. ‘I really do.’
‘Of course. And I bet you love your mom, too.’
Melissa looked down.
‘Melissa,’ Detective Marshall said gently. ‘Can you tell me … is your mother still alive?’ She mumbled something so softly that he couldn’t hear what she’d said. ‘What was that?’
‘No.’
‘No, she’s not alive?’
‘That’s right. But if I tell you everything, you have to promise to be nice to Dad. Because he’s a good man, really.’
‘As I said, Melissa, without knowing the facts—’
‘I don’t want to get him into trouble. He’s already going to be really mad at me.’
‘We can make sure he doesn’t hurt you.’
‘He wouldn’t hurt me, but he’s going to be pissed off.’
‘I can certainly understand that,’ the detective said. ‘But I’m guessing you’re thinking that, sometimes, you have to do what’s right.’
‘Yeah, I’ve kind of been thinking that too.’
‘And you want to do right by your mother.’
‘Yeah, I’ve been thinking that, too.’
‘Why don’t we start with you telling me where your mother is.’
‘She’s in the car.’
The detective nodded. ‘This would be your mother’s car. The Nissan.’
‘That’s right.’
‘And where’s the car, Melissa?’
‘It’s at the bottom of the lake.’
The detective nodded again. ‘OK. What lake would that be?’
‘I don’t know the name of it, but I think I could show you how to get there. It’s about an hour’s drive, I think. Although, even if I take you there, I don’t know where exactly it is in the lake. And the ice has probably already frozen over. It’s been cold. I just know she’s in the lake. In the car.’
‘OK, that’s OK, we have divers for that kind of thing.’
Melissa looked surprised. ‘They can go in the water even when it’s super cold?’
‘Oh yeah, they’ve got these special wetsuits that help keep them warm.’
‘I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t swim in freezing-cold water. I can’t even go in a pool unless it’s heated to eighty-five or ninety degrees.’
Marshall gave her a warm smile. ‘That’s like my wife. It’s got to be almost as hot as a sauna before she’ll get in. So, Melissa, your father, he put the car in the water?’
‘Yep. He drove the car out on to the lake, where the ice was thin. Then he waited for the car to go through.’ She started to weep. ‘And then it did.’
‘How do you know this, Melissa? Did your father tell you what he did?’
‘I saw it. I saw the car go through the ice.’
‘Where were you?’
‘I was on the shore, watching.’ A solitary tear ran down her cheek. She bit her lip, trying to hold herself together. ‘I feel really bad, but I also feel a bit better, you know? Coming here and telling you what happened has helped.’
‘Of course it has.’
‘It’s not the kind of secret I could keep.’
‘Melissa, you must realise we’re going to have to go out to his house and talk to your father. First, I need to ask you, does he keep any guns in the house?’
‘No, I don’t think so. He’s never been interested in guns.’
‘We just don’t want to have to hurt him, you know? When we go out there, we want to be able to bring him in peacefully. Do you think he’s dangerous?’
She was puzzled by the question and shook her head. ‘He’s not dangerous. I mean, it’s not like he’s ever killed anybody or anything.’
‘You mean, before your mother.’
‘Oh, he didn’t kill my mother. Is that what you were thinking? I guess I should start at the beginning.’
Eleven
Keisha