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Marissa paused for a moment, looking down at her hands. "I... I really didn't do it, you know. You have to know that. I always wondered if this would come back to haunt me..."
"Marissa," Fiona said sternly. She had to be strong. And Jake wasn't here to be her rock, either. She wasn't sure why the chief hadn't called him but figured it was because he wanted to see how Fiona worked without him. This was her chance to prove she could handle anything. "Tell me what you know," Fiona said.
"I didn't kill anyone," Marissa said, her voice low.
"I believe you," Fiona said. "But you know something, don't you? About Julia and about my sister."
Marissa nodded. "Yes," she said. "I do. But I can't just--I can't just tell you."
"Why not?" Fiona asked.
"Because I'm afraid," Marissa said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Because I've never been able to let him go."
The air in the room stood still. Fiona's brows stitched together.Him?"Let who go?"
"I... I loved him, Fiona," Marissa said. Tears glossed over her eyes. "Have you ever been in love? You'll do anything, won't you?"
"No, I never have," Fiona said, and it was the truth. She'd just broken up with Mark, the guy she'd been seeing, who was far too overbearing. Before that, she had never dated anyone.
But there was Jake and the kiss they'd shared--but that wasn't important now.
"Who is he, Marissa?"
"He... he liked to cut me," Marissa said, her body shaking.
Fiona's heart sank. She glanced at the glass as though taking comfort in the chief's eyes on the other side, even if she couldn't see him.
This was taking a strange turn.
"Who?" Fiona pressed. "Who cut you, Marissa? Who hurt Julia and Joslyn?"
Marissa kept shaking, hiding her face. "I was only a teenager," she said, her voice trembling. "He... he seemed like he knew everything. But he was sadistic; I know that now. He was so much older than me, but he treated me so nicely, at first, until he started to cut me."
Fiona's stomach churned at the thought of what Marissa went through, but she couldn't let that distract her. "Who was he, Marissa? What was his name?"
Marissa took a deep breath, finally looking up at Fiona. "I was under his control, fully, at one point. I can't remember why I did what I did, but he asked me to bring him someone. Give him someone. To prove I loved him. So... I gave him Julia."
Fiona's heart pounded. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. That is a true confession. "Marissa, are you telling me that you 'gave' Julia to a man who killed her?"
Marissa bit her lip, tears streaming down her face. Then, she nodded.
Fiona looked at the glass again. This was huge, and she was certain the chief would be feeling the same way. But he didn't come in, still letting Fiona handle the conversation.
"And what about Joslyn?" Fiona asked, heart twisting. "Did the same thing happen with her?"
"There were a lot of other girls after that," Marissa said. "I never killed anyone, I swear, but I... I helped him find them. He preferred to take them alive, but if they fought back, he'd kill them."
Fiona's mind raced as she tried to make sense of everything Marissa was saying. This man was a monster, preying on vulnerable young girls and using Marissa as his pawn. But she wasn't innocent in this either. What she had done was horrible, but Fiona tried to understand that Marissa was being brainwashed too.
She just needed to know if Joslyn was one of the girls.
"What about Joslyn?" Fiona asked. "My sister. Did he kill her? She went missing four years after Julia’s death…”
"There are bodies that the police never discovered," Marissa said, still not answering. "They'd be all bones now."
"What about Joslyn?" Fiona asked again, frustration coursing through her.
Marissa swallowed, looking away. "If I remember the right girl, then the last I saw, she was alive."
