Don't Make a Sound (Sawyer Brooks #1)(48)

“The truth is,” Sawyer told his wife, “I wanted to talk to Jonathan because I heard he was the person closest to Isabella.”

The woman cocked her head, intensely curious.

“If what I heard is true,” Sawyer continued, “that would mean Jonathan took advantage of Isabella. As her teacher, he had daily, unmonitored access to Isabella, a sixteen-year-old girl who was at an age where she was only just discovering her independence, her emotions, and more specifically, her body.”

“Get off my property,” Jonathan said, pointing a shaky finger toward her car.

Sawyer refused to back down. “You preyed on a young and innocent girl who was just learning to drive. A carefree girl who liked to make people smile and who spent hours listening to Taylor Swift. Her life was only just beginning, and you—”

“Get in the house,” he ordered his wife.

She didn’t budge.

Nothing was going to stop Sawyer from telling Mrs. Lane what she’d heard. This was one secret that would be told right here, right now. “Your husband is a pedophile. I suggest you both go to the police station and talk to Chief Schneider about your husband’s relationship with Isabella before I do.”

Jonathan’s face was a shade of purple, his body shaking before he lunged for Sawyer. He’d caught her off guard, and they fell. Her head thumped against the ground where the lawn met with the sidewalk. He was on top of her, his hands wrapped around her throat. Sawyer struggled to get free, the side of her face scraped against cement. She couldn’t get air into her lungs. She kicked her legs, hit him with her fists, but he wouldn’t let go.

Adrenaline was on his side. He had more to lose.

Mrs. Lane pulled at his arm and shouted for Jonathan to stop.

He squeezed harder. “I’ll get you for this, you little bitch.”

As Sawyer’s vision blurred, she saw Melanie swing an umbrella at Jonathan’s head. He released his hold on Sawyer. She sucked in a breath, coughed, and sputtered as Melanie pulled her to her feet and ushered her to the car.

“Get out of here! You too, you freak,” he shouted at Melanie.

Sawyer tried to free herself from Melanie’s grasp so she could ram her head straight into his gut, knee him in the groin, and make him whimper. But Melanie held tight, her arms wrapped around Sawyer’s waist as she forced Sawyer into the passenger seat.

More than one neighbor across the street had come out of their houses. They looked like cardboard cutouts, no one moving, merely watching the show as Melanie buckled her up. “He’s not worth it,” Melanie warned.

Melanie tossed the umbrella in the back, grabbed the box of tissues on the back seat, and handed it to Sawyer before walking around to the other side of the car.

Melanie was perfectly calm as she scooted in behind the wheel. The key was still in the ignition. Melanie started the engine, buckled up, and drove off, careful not to call more attention their way.

“He tried to kill me,” Sawyer said, her voice hoarse.

“I’ve known that man my entire life,” Melanie said. “Up until a few months ago, when he and Isabella were in the bookstore and I saw his hand slide down her backside, I thought he was a good guy. And even then, I didn’t think the weasel was capable of being violent.”

Sawyer struggled to swallow. She turned the rearview mirror so she could see the damage. The right side of her face was scraped, which made the scratches from Raccoon look like nothing. A couple of the areas were deep. Her throat was bruised. Her left eye was swollen halfway shut.

“Should I take you to the hospital?”

“No.”

“The side of your face looks bad.”

“Isabella was strangled to death,” Sawyer said, hoping to change the subject since there was no way she was going to the hospital. “Do you think Jonathan Lane killed her?”

“I don’t know,” Melanie said. “The first person I thought of when I heard about Isabella was your uncle Theo.”

Sawyer didn’t know what to say. She hated Uncle Theo with a passion. He was a scum-of-the-earth rapist. Was he a killer too?

“Isn’t he the reason your sisters left River Rock?” Melanie asked.

“Yes,” Sawyer said. “He’s also the reason I don’t sleep well at night.”

“Back when we spent long days at the bookstore, I knew something wasn’t right with you. I figured your quirks and mannerisms had to do with your parents.”

“Strange that you should say that,” Sawyer said. “When I ran into Old Lady McGrady at the coffee shop, she told me she thought Gramma was afraid of my mom. I knew the two of them never got along, but afraid?”

“Hmm. I don’t know about that. I only meant that your parents were gone a lot, and it was obvious you weren’t happy, so I thought maybe you were lonely.”

Sawyer noticed they were heading toward her parents’ house. “Why don’t you drive us to your car, and I can drive home from there?”

“You could be concussed and not realize it,” Melanie said. “I’ll take you home and walk from there. I like walking.”

Sawyer looked Melanie’s way and saw the anger on Jonathan Lane’s face when he called Melanie a freak. “Have people in River Rock spoken to you like that before? The name-calling?”

“Oh, yeah,” Melanie said. “That was nothing.”