“And you didn’t tell anyone about this at the time.”
Katie’s eyes flashed.
“I already told them why.”
“‘You thought he was bluffing,’” Eleanor quoted. “Their words. Do you agree that’s accurate?”
Katie hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Okay.” Eleanor clicked her pen once. “So you’re in a relationship with a man you now describe as ‘exactly the kind of man who thinks he can get away with anything.’ You fight. He says something vile. You assume he’s trying to scare you. You stay.”
Katie’s swallowed.
“For a while,” she said. “I left, eventually.”
“He left you,” Eleanor said. “Your words in the report.”
Katie swallowed hard.
“I wasn’t going to split hairs with the deputies.”
“I’m not a deputy,” Eleanor said. “And we’re not going to skip the details. You cared about him.”
Katie’s fingers curled against her own elbows, knuckles whitening.
“I thought I did,” she said. “I was wrong.”
Eleanor nodded slowly.
“How long between that argument and the breakup?”
“A couple of months.”
“And how long between the breakup and your call to the sheriff’s office?” Eleanor asked.
Katie looked away.
“A year.”
“So”—Eleanor ticked off lightly on her fingers—“an eight-month relationship, a threat you thought was a bluff, two months together after that threat, and then a year of silence.”
“It wasn’t silence,” Katie snapped. “It was me trying to get over him. And then your little true-crime show popped up and reminded everyone what he is.”
“Mytrue-crime show?” Eleanor asked mildly.
“You know what I mean.” Katie’s eyes flashed. “Fading Away. Vanished in the Valley. They’re the only reason this town even cares about Caroline Simms again.”
Eleanor felt Scout’s gaze on her but kept her focus on Katie.
“So you’re saying it was the podcasts that made you call,” Eleanor said. “Not a sudden crisis of conscience about a woman who disappeared years ago. Not fear for your own safety. Public attention.”
Katie’s lips thinned. “I’m saying I realized he might have been telling the truth,” she said. “And I wasn’t going to let him get away with it.”
Eleanor flipped one page farther in the file.
“Interesting,” she said lightly. “Because, according to this, you realized that three days after you sat down withLila Grant for an interview.”
