Did she know my face? Did she know I was the person she had texted? Two orderlies escorted her to our table, one male and one female. The female’s nametag read “Mary.” Perhaps this was Mary Moon, whose phone Wendy had stolen.
“Are you Mary Moon?” I asked.
“Yeah.” She nodded.
“Keep better track of your phone,” I said.
She arched her eyebrows at me and patted her pocket. “It’s right here.”
I said nothing more as Wendy sat down, an orderly on each side of her.
“Detective Lee,” Wendy said, staring straight into my eyes. “How nice to see you.”
Okay. Question answered. Wendy Madigan had eyes in all places. Time to figure out who was seeing for her and why.
“Nice to see you too, Ms. Madigan,” I said with as much nonchalance as I could muster.
Melanie looked understandably confused. “Do you two know each other?”
“Oh, we go way back,” Wendy said.
“Hardly,” I said. “But you obviously know I’ve been seeing Ryan Steel. I’d suggest you quit stealing your orderlies’ cell phones. That can get you put in solitary lockup.” I didn’t know if there was such a thing as solitary in psych, but I didn’t much care at the moment.
“And aren’t you a lovely thing,” Wendy said to Melanie. “You’re Joe’s new wife. What a lucky woman you are. Jonah looks so much like his father, so dark and dominant.” Wendy closed her eyes. “How I miss him.”
I could tell Melanie was agitated. Truthfully, so was I. We’d both have to do a better job of covering it up.
“How do you know who I am?” Melanie asked.
“I keep tabs on all my boys,” Wendy said.
All her boys? This wasn’t sounding good.
“We’re here for some answers, Ms. Madigan,” I said. “Just exactly what do you mean when you say ‘all my boys?’”
“Brad and his sons, of course.”
“You told Jonah and Talon that you were Ryan’s mother,” Melanie said. “Is that true?”
She squirmed. “Oh, that? I was just teasing them. Of course I’m not Ryan’s mother.”
A sigh of relief escaped me. Thank God! Ryan would never have to know about the DNA test now. He’d never have to know how I’d betrayed him by giving his hair to Melanie and keeping this secret from him. That feeling I’d had earlier? In the marrow of my bones? It was just my fears getting the best of me.
That was what I wanted to be true. But Wendy Madigan was a known liar. I swallowed a lump in my throat.
Melanie wasn’t convinced either. “Why would you lie to them about that? This is killing them.”
“I never wanted to hurt Brad or any of his children, but some things can’t be avoided.”
“Meaning?” Melanie said.
“It’s so sad about the middle one. What those men did to him.”
“Look, Ms. Madigan,” I said.
“Call me Wendy, dear.”
“Fine. Wendy, dear.” I fake-smiled. “One of those sick men is my father, and we need to find him. Larry Wade is in prison, and Tom Simpson is dead.”