Chapter 45

Mel

December

Mel stares at Laura, completely stunned at what she's just said. That her best friend would betray her this way.

"I can't keep doing this," Laura says again. She's looking down, picking at a loose thread on her sling.

Blood rushes fast and loud in Mel's ears, the twinkling Christmas lights a pulse in her peripheral vision.

"Shhh!" Mel grabs her friend's arm and drags her over to the dessert table, where she begins straightening the cakes and cookies. "You can't do that."

Laura lifts her chin, almost defiantly. "Pete says—"

"Wait," Mel cuts her off, heart accelerating. She puts a hand on her chest, takes a long, calming breath. It's a habit she's had since she got the pacemaker fitted. "You told Pete?"

"I had to, Mel! You don't understand what this has been doing to me." Tears glitter in Laura's eyes. "I'm not like you; I can't deal with it. I can't sleep. I can't eat. My stomach hurts and I cry at the drop of a hat. I dream about it, and then I wake up and it's true and I think about it some more. He's my husband. Pete knew something was wrong!"

"You shouldn't have told him." Anger foams inside of Mel, a bitter taste gushing into her mouth. Her mind churns over how to fix this problem. "All you need to do is act normal, Laura. It isn't that fucking hard."

"It is that fucking hard!" Tears fill Laura's eyes, and Mel has the irrational urge to slap her. Laura turns away from the others, who are now dancing in front of the Christmas tree on the other side of the room.

"This isn't just a run-of-the-mill homicide anymore," Mel hisses. "We concealed it. Do you get that? We covered up a murder."

Mel has been nothing but good to Laura. Strong and steady and loyal. All the things she values in a person. She's been a good friend. Better than a good friend. Mel put the body in the suitcase she found in Laura's trunk and hid the evidence with it. She came up with the plan to hide Theo's body in the new property Jack had recently purchased.

Mel's done everything for Laura. She got rid of a fucking body for her! It's not like she's the one who shot Theo. And she can't believe that now Laura wants to repay her by getting her sent to prison.

Mel is aware of all she has to lose. Her business, which she's built from nothing. Finn would grow up never knowing his mother. Jack would walk away. Would he find somebody else? She'd have nothing.

Mel feels fury fizz in her veins. She's felt this fury ever since she found out Jack was cheating on her with his receptionist like some bad, cliché pornographic movie. Maybe it's been since before that, since she almost died when she was pregnant, the whole obscene, arbitrary unfairness of it building into a fury that now feels as dense and dark as stone.

"I'll say it was me. I shot him. I hid his body. I did everything. I won't say anything about you," Laura says, "but I have to turn myself in. Tomorrow. I can't keep going like this."

Mel stares at Laura, incredulous. "Have you lost your fucking mind? They'll know someone else was involved. How will you explain hiding his body the way we did? You couldn't do that on your own with a dislocated shoulder. They will find out! "

"I'll never admit it. If I don't say anything, they'll never know."

"What will this do to Alice and Ella?" Mel changes tack. "They'll know their mother's a murderer."

Laura's eyes shimmer. "I know. And I hate that. But at least they'll know I did the right thing. That's a more important lesson for them to learn."

Mel remembers being a girl, long before her father left, and seeing a hitchhiker by the side of the road. She told her father they should help him, take him where he needed to go.

Why would I unnecessarily put myself—and you—in danger like that? he'd asked. Rule number one, Melanie, self-preservation always comes first.

As the years went by, Melanie would think about rule number one a lot. If she was out drinking with friends, she wouldn't get into their car. If she was driving, she wouldn't text. Although she dabbled in dealing drugs, she certainly never took them. If something, or someone, threatened her, she'd strike first.

Mel glances across the room at Finn as Alice finally snaps the much-coveted picture with Santa. He's only four. He needs his mother, even if his father doesn't anymore.

She has to convince Laura to change her mind. She can't let somebody else's shitty mistakes take her down. Not after everything she's been through.

"Don't do this, Laura," Mel pleads, but Laura's gaze has already drifted away. She's no longer listening. She's made up her mind.

"Pete and I are going to leave in a little bit. The girls can stay. We won't tell them yet. I just want one last night at home."

Mel walks unsteadily to the liquor table and pours rum in a glass, then tops it with eggnog. Will is there, Shelby's husband. He's a detective, and she's careful to keep her face calm and composed, to act as if nothing is wrong.

She drinks and drinks and drinks until the room is spinning, the walls closing in. She thinks she's going to vomit. She stumbles out the back door in her bare feet. Snow has started to fall. It isn't sticking yet, but the cold is shocking.

The door flies open behind her, yellow light tumbling onto her shoulders. "Hey, Mel! There you are!" Jack roars in his drunk voice. The loud, obnoxious one she's grown to hate. Mel sees the cute little elf he's been flirting with all night hovering behind him.

Mel shoves past him. "I hear Finn crying," she lies.

Maybe he's going to the garage to fuck the cute little elf. She doesn't care. She runs inside, up the stairs, to her bedroom. She thrusts her hand under her mattress and pulls out the gun she's hidden there. Theo's gun.

Laura was such a mess after everything that happened, she didn't notice that Mel had gone back and found Theo's gun before they left. That she'd kept it. It was practically prescient of her, knowing that an untraceable gun would come in handy.

She knew that a guy like Theo would never have a registered gun on him. He just wasn't that type of a person. Laura had always given Theo more credit than he deserved. He was a lowlife degenerate even back in college, easy to manipulate. Easy to use.

Laura had never guessed that it was Mel's drugs Theo had peddled to Cody. That Mel was the one in charge of the entire operation. Like she'd told Laura, she didn't do it because she needed money. She did it because she liked it. She liked being in charge of something so successful, and she liked running the operation right under the noses of those who thought they were in charge. People often underestimated Mel, but she didn't mind. Being underestimated is a gift. It allows you to take risks others wouldn't expect of you.

But Theo was greedy. And stupid. He'd tried to grow too fast, had trusted the wrong guy to help him. Cody was an addict. You can never trust an addict to sell drugs.

One thing Laura never learned: trusting the wrong people can have deadly consequences.