"Melanie is dead." He gazed at me with a raw, fresh pain.
I remembered how much he hated that word, how he'd never wanted to use it. But whatever last bit of impossible hope he'd had was gone. "I'm sorry, Drake." The words seemed meaningless. They couldn't begin to cut through his pain, but I didn't know what else to say.
"How could he keep the secret all these years? How could he watch my parents suffer? How could he look me in the eye and lie?" He gave me a bewildered look. "What kind of person does that?"
"He must have had something to hide or someone to protect."
"Like his son," Drake said caustically.
"I don't think Ben would have killed his father."
"Why are you defending him?"
"I'm not defending him. I'm looking at the facts. Someone hit Tom on the back of the head. Whoever Tom was protecting had to be the person who killed him, the person who killed Melanie. Don't you think?"
Drake frowned as he processed that thought. "Maybe. But why now? After so many years? Why would Tom be killed now? What's different?"
"Kelsey is missing now. That's what's different. Maybe Tom couldn't live with another girl disappearing. Instead of a protector, he became a threat. I just wish he'd told us who hurt Melanie." I paused. "I know you're bursting with rage, Drake. Maybe you should take a walk. Take a minute."
"No. I want to talk to Ben."
"And I want to talk to you," Ben said as he joined us on the porch.
Looking at the grim expression on Ben's face and knowing how close he had been to his father made it difficult for me to believe he could be the bad guy.
Was I being naïve? Was I letting Ben's easygoing, boy-next-door charm color my thinking?
"Tell me again what happened," Ben ordered. "And start with why you came here, Willow."
"I wanted to talk to your dad about the night Melanie disappeared," I replied. "I thought your father might be more open with me than with Drake, so I asked Drake to wait in his car. When I saw your dad on the floor. I yelled for Drake and then called 911. Drake came into the house and applied pressure to your father's wound, but we were too late. I'm really sorry we didn't get here in time." It was ironic that I was apologizing in the same way that the sheriff had just apologized to Drake. I could see by the stony expression on Drake's face that the irony was not lost on him, but he was letting me do the talking.
"What did you want to ask my father?"
I hesitated. If Ben was involved, was I about to give him too much information?
"Might as well tell him," Drake said. "Every last secret will come out one way or the other."
"He's right," Ben said. "Tell me everything, Willow."
"I remembered something about the night Melanie disappeared. I was walking down Delaney Road to Pope Beach, and a car was coming toward me. I think it was a police vehicle. I could see the lights spinning. Everything else is a blur. Someone picked me up and took me home. While I was in the car, I saw Melanie's diary on the floor." I took a breath. "I think your father picked me up. He said something to me the other day about trying to protect me. But I didn't have a chance to ask him about it."
Confusion filled his gaze. "Why would my father hide the fact that he picked you up?"
"I don't know."
"Tell me again exactly what he said." As Drake opened his mouth, Ben shook his head. "I want Willow to tell me."
"It won't be any different," Drake snapped.
"It won't be," I said, holding Ben's gaze. "But here's what happened. Your father looked at Drake. He said, 'I should have told you the truth. It was too late when I got there. You gotta believe me. I couldn't have saved her. I'm sorry.'" I blew out a breath. The words would probably be imprinted on my brain forever.
"He didn't mention Melanie by name. He couldn't have been talking about Kelsey?"
"No, he didn't say her name, but he was talking directly to Drake, and he apologized to Drake. It was clear that he was talking about Melanie."
"He was talking about my sister, Ben," Drake said impatiently. "Clearly, he knew who had killed her, and he was protecting them."
"Well, he wasn't protecting me. I can't believe you would think for one second that I'd be involved," Ben said hotly. "Melanie was my friend. You were my friend, Drake. We grew up together."
"But you lied about where you were that night."
"I told you why I lied. It had nothing to do with Melanie."
"I asked you to reopen the case weeks ago, and you haven't done that, not since you found out I knew about your lie."
"I haven't had time. But I will help you get to the truth, Drake."
"I don't believe that, especially not now, not when we know your father was involved. You'll try to cover for him the way he covered for someone else."
"No, I won't. I don't know how he could have done that. It doesn't make sense to me."
"He was corrupt," Drake said. "There's no doubt about what he said to us. Unless you're going to claim you don't believe us?"
"I'm going to investigate," Ben said. "I just need…a minute."
I knew he was going to need more than a minute. "I know you're in shock, Ben," I said. "Whatever your father did, you loved him."
"I did love him. But if he covered up a murder, the murder of a good friend of mine…" Ben shook his head. "Then I didn't know him at all."
"Can you think of anyone he would need to protect?" I asked.
"Or someone who had something on him?" Drake put in. "Maybe he was blackmailed into silence."
"I have no idea. He certainly never said anything to me." Ben blew out a breath. "I can't believe he's dead. I just talked to him an hour ago."
"What did you talk about?" I asked.
"He called to say he'd be in to help me later. He had something to do. I didn't ask him what. I should have asked him what. But frankly, I've been tripping all over him for the last couple of days. He wanted to be involved in every part of the search for Kelsey."
"Because he wanted to know what was going on?" I asked. "Or because he wanted to know if you were getting close to finding Kelsey? The same person who took Melanie could have taken Kelsey." I stopped abruptly, realizing what I'd just said. If that person had killed Melanie, and he had Kelsey… I put a hand to my mouth.
"Don't go there, Willow," Drake said, reading my expression.
"I can't stop myself. God! I feel sick."
"Drake is right," Ben said. "We don't have enough facts. We don't even know if the person who killed my father is the same person who killed Melanie. He didn't say that, did he?"
"No," I murmured.
"That attack on your dad looked personal," Drake said.
"Yes," Ben agreed. "There was no sign of forced entry. It didn’t appear anything was taken. My father knew the person who came into his house."