LIVING ON THE EDGE

CHAPTER: 22

There was too much certainty in Melanie's voice, and her hands were gripping the sides of the chair. Her small fingers applied enough pressure to lose color. How could she be so sure that Adriana was not having an affair? Sharon wondered, and thus decided to change the subject.

"Can you walk me through what happened that day you and Adriana were supposed to meet for coffee?" Sharon asked.

"Sure. Adriana called me the night before and asked if we could meet for coffee. She said she had something to talk to me about. And, well, she did not give me any hints and being too late, so I just agreed to meet. We decided to meet at 3 p.m. the next day, at 'Coffee & More' in Maury County," Melanie said.

"What was her tone? Did she sound nervous? Or agitated?" Sharon asked.

Melanie paused for a minute. "I would say she sounded cautious."  

"Any idea as to why did she need to be cautious?" Sharon asked her.

"No. Adriana was a very private person. And, so am I."

"What had happened the day you two were scheduled to meet?" Sharon asked.

"I went around to the cafe at about two-fifty and sent Adriana a text saying I had reached the place and was going to grab a table."

"Did she by any chance, respond to your text?" Sharon questioned.

"Not directly. I sat there until three-forty before I ordered a coffee and a pastry. I ate slowly and enjoyed the weather on the patio. At ten minutes past four, I received a text message from Adriana saying that, 'Running late, but am still joining you...' I, therefore, continued to wait until five-thirty. At that point, I was a little annoyed and decided to leave. After I sat in the car, I thought, 'God forbid! What if something has happened?' I then sent Chase a text asking if he had heard from Adriana. I did not hear from him for several hours. He is a surgeon, so I expected as much, but during that time I called Adriana twice, and also sent a few text messages. It was at that point that Chase responded telling me that he could not get in touch with her. I called him up and explained how she had missed our appointment. We were both at a loss."

"Were you able to leave voice messages when you called Adriana?"

"Yeah, but I did not. I was confused and angry. I was not sure what to say, but at the same time I did not want to sound rude in a message, so I just called and hung up when she did not answer," Melanie replied.

"Did you speak to Chase again that night?" Sharon asked.

"Yes. He called at around two that morning."

Two o'clock in the morning was within the kill zone. Could the two have colluded and murdered Adriana? Sharon wondered. 

"What did Chase have to say at two in the morning?" Sharon asked her.

"It sounds strange that he would call me at that hour, right? But who else could he call? Adriana's family is estranged. They would not have been of any comfort. I told him that he should file a police report as soon as he would be off duty, which he did. He called me from the police station to tell me that the officers were arguing about filing a missing person report before the obligatory twenty-four-hour waiting period. I told him that was not true. He just had to force the issue and the report would surely be filed."

Smart lady, Sharon thought. There was actually no such law saying that twenty-four hours must pass before a missing person report can be filed. Somehow, that designated period had slipped into the colloquial of police forces around the country, but it was largely a story seemingly created in the 1970s when people were prone to travel and take off without letting the loved ones know where they were going.

"When did you hear about Adriana's murder?" Sharon asked.

"That afternoon. Her body was found that morning, not too long after the police finally let Chase file the report. He then called me around three that afternoon. Identification was easy, and the cops were at Chase's doorstep soon after the body was discovered."

"What happened next?" Sharon asked Melanie.

"I rushed over to Nashville to be with Chase and the kids. It was absolutely chaotic. His parents were there; so were Adriana's parents. I know all of them, so it was good to be there to lend a hand. I helped with the kids, made a tuna lasagna, and tried to comfort his parents and in-laws. Later that day, Adriana's brother, Nicholas Davies, and his family came to the house. The rest is hazy."

Adriana had been killed between midnight and 3 or 4:00 a.m. Where had she been between 4:20 p.m. and the time of her death? Adriana never canceled her coffee date with Melanie, which was interesting. She was either planning on making it and got sidetracked by the killer, or she had plans that overlapped. The last text that Adriana had sent said that she was running late but still coming, which supported the theory that she had run into her killer that afternoon. If the killer was a lover, perhaps they could have argued, made up, argued again, and then the argument must have ended in a murder. Chase had told Sharon that Melanie had called him up at 5:45 p.m. asking if he had heard from Adriana. They were initially scheduled to meet at 3:00 p.m. It was surely a long time for someone to show up.

"Why did you wait for so long at the coffee shop?" Sharon asked her.

"Adriana was always late. Whenever we were meeting, I always remembered to bring something with me to keep myself busy while I waited for her to arrive. That day, I had taken my books from the studio. I was reviewing payments for my online subscriptions and payouts to my assistant teachers. Thus the time flew by."     

"Any idea why Adriana wanted to meet at 'Coffee & More'?" Sharon questioned her.

"We meet there often...It serves one of the best coffee's and there were friendly faces around, and it is just a nice, picturesque area. We have been meeting there since she lived with her parents at Maury County, and then at Huntsville, and later when she was living in Nashville after marriage. Back then after coffee, we would walk around and discuss, and solve all the problems that we were facing under the sun."

"So this particular coffee shop holds a special place in your hearts; would that be fair to say?" Sharon asked her.

Melanie thought for a moment. "You could say that, but we were just meeting for coffee. It is not essentially a special place. It is nice that they know us there. Kind of makes meeting for coffee even more inviting."    

A/N: To be continued...