His chest tightened, and he spoke sharply, "Then, exin this to me. If you really had nothing to do with it, why did Roretha, who lives upstairs, say she saw you running out of the building looking all flustered right before Nak''s ident?"


    Melody''s eyes went wide in shock, and she staggered backward, copsing onto the bed.


    "Mom! Don''t tell me you really went to Nak and told her about Frederick''s death. Is that why she fell down the stairs and lost the baby?"


    Zacharias took a step closer, staring at Melody with disbelief and usation in his eyes.


    She shook her head, clutching the nket tight.


    "Of course not! Zacharias, I''m your mother! I gave birth to you and raised you. How can you trust someone else over me? And now you''re using me of murder?


    "After all I''ve done for you, is this what I get? What could you possibly gain from your mother being used of such a crime?"


    She straightened her body and argued, sounding aggressive instead of guilty.


    Zacharias frowned. Since there was no one else around, there was no reason for Melody to lie. He said, "Jonathan told me. Roretha ims she saw you that day, and she''s willing to testify.


    "Mom, this is serious. You''d better be straight with me."


    Her grip on the bedsheet got tighter, but her tone was impatient. "Zacharias, how could you trust him and not me? If what Jonathan said were true, he would have called the police and had me arrested already!


    "As for Roretha, you know she never liked us. If she really saw me, why didn''t she report it back then?


    "And besides, Nak was the only person who actually helped us back then. I was close to her, remember? I even promised I''d help her with her baby after she gave birth. Why would I ever hurt her?"


    Zacharias thought about it-Melody was right. Roretha had always been at odds with their family.


    Back then, his father, Richard, was always violent, creating chaos at all hours of the day.


    Roretha lived right above them.


    Once, he beat them so badly that Melody and the kids ran up to Roretha''s for help. Roretha let them in, but Richard followed and wrecked a bunch of her things.


    After that, she kept her distance, hoping Melody and her kids would just move away. She was always cold and sarcastic whenever she saw them.


    Zacharias figured Melody made sense. If Roretha really had seen anything, she wouldn''t have kept quiet all these years. Sure enough, it''s Jonathan stirring things up. What a snake, trying to pin Nak''s death on my mom!


    "Zacharias, Jonathan must have bribed Roretha. What do we do? He''s definitely going to try and frame me for this!"


    Melody clung to Zacharias'' arm, clearly panicked.


    Zacharias patted her hand. "Mom, if you didn''t do it, it''s not so easy for Jonathan to make it stick. He can use anyone, but proving murder is a lot harder, especially since the cops can''t just fabricate evidence Besides, this happened more than ten years ago. Don''t worry."


    If Jonathan were really nning to frame Melody, he wouldn''t have told Zacharias any of this tonight.


    It showed Jonathan just wanted to stir up suspicion with Nishay and Anneliese, so they''d turn some of their anger onto Melody.


    That would take the heat off Jonathan.


    He really is cunning!


    What Zacharias didn''t see was that after he left Melody''s room, she started shaking vigorously. She only stopped when she sfid from the bed to the floor.


    She hugged herself, terrified, and her mind shed back to those years.


    Nak had been a teacher-gentle and kind. She was Melody''s best friend back then, and she always showed sympathy for her and her children.


    Whenever Richard lost control, Nak was the first to help.


    She''d called the police for Melody more than once, gone to the neighborhoodmittee with her, and even taken the kids in at the ude Residence.


    Because of Nak, Frederick even stood up to Richard several times, sometimes fighting so hard that the neighbors would all gossip.