Ashley Flowers

Like not in detail, just kind of like mentioned that there was this other woman who worked at the prison who was like mixed up with Tommy.

And if Tommy had answers, maybe this woman did too.

And it was that comment that Peyton made that had me so sure we never knew the full story.

But I didn't have the tools to dig back then.

Well, welcome to 2026.

That woman is Darlene Williams.

Darlene is a co-worker and friend of both Tommy and Nikki.

They all worked at the prison together.

And I really should say she's a friend of Nikki's, but she's a little more than just that with Tommy.

It turns out the two had been having this long-standing affair, one that was still going on when Nikki went missing,

And it made for a complicated dynamic.

Because no matter which way you slice it, the one thing that's clear about Tommy and Nikki's relationship is that Tommy seemed to have a thing for Nikki.

And Nikki, at minimum, was keeping Tommy close.

I mean, we saw something in the report that maybe she was even using one of his credit cards, like according to one of her friends.

And she may have at least once been intimate with him based on an account that someone in her family gave police that is recounted in the case report.

So there may have at least been some truth to what Bobby told Kim like a few years ago.

But the question is, did Darlene know that?

And if she did know about all this, how did she feel about it?

In an early interview with police, she seems to think that she is the only other woman in Tommy's life.

Like obviously she knows he's married, but like she's the mistress.