No One Can Know(93)

What if they thought they’d been covering for one another, but it had been someone else all along?

Or maybe it was only a fantasy. Now that she had her sisters back with her, she wished she could wash the blood from under their fingernails, like she had so long ago. Brush their hair and tug their clothes into place and be blameless, be innocent. Go back to before she knew.

They didn’t speak again until they reached their destination.

Chris was working out of a borrowed office. He still had enough friends to call in a favor, and Emma and JJ walked to the back of Quincy Real Estate to find him ensconced in a small room decorated with photos of a blond woman flanked by two massive Great Danes. The nameplate on the desk read KATIE GREER.

“You don’t look much like a Katie,” Emma said as she entered, her voice too loud to her own ears. Chris looked up from his laptop. His expression was grim.

“Emma. Juliette,” he said, eyes tracking to JJ. “It would be best if you waited outside. Emma and I need to talk alone.”

“I’d like her here,” Emma said.

“I have to insist. This is a conversation that you want protected by privilege,” Chris said, and Emma wavered. She looked over at JJ.

“I’ll be right outside,” JJ said. Emma nodded, grateful, and JJ stepped into the hall, closing the door behind her.

“So what’s going on?” Emma asked.

“You should sit down,” Chris said.

“I’m fine standing,” Emma replied stiffly, both hands wrapped around her purse strap.

Chris adjusted his glasses, eyes on the tabletop. “Emma, I’m afraid you’re going to be arrested,” he said.

She’d expected it, and still she felt as if she’d been struck. Her balance faltered. She gripped the back of a chair for stability. She stepped around the side of the chair and sank into it. “Why? What—what do they have?”

“I don’t know the extent of the evidence they’ve collected,” Chris said. “I will, of course, find out as much as I can as quickly as I can so that we can resolve this, but I need you to stay calm. This isn’t the end of the world, and it isn’t a conviction. There’s still a long way to go, and while this isn’t going to be pleasant, you’re safe, you’re alive, and we’re going to get through this.”

“There must be something. Some reason they think…” Was it the affair? The emails to Addison?

“Emma. The forensics revealed that the gun that killed your husband was the same weapon used to kill your parents,” Chris said.

And so they thought that because Emma had killed her parents, she must have killed Nathan, too. The truth burned like a coal in her chest, but she stayed silent. It wouldn’t help, sacrificing JJ to save herself.

“Emma, remember, don’t panic. We have time, we have resources, and we have the truth on our side. None of them are a guarantee, but right now the important thing is to stay positive and stay calm,” Chris said. He’d given her that exact speech fourteen years ago, she reflected. Had it worked back then? Right now all she could feel was the terror coursing through her.

“Are they coming here?” she asked.

“No. I arranged to have you surrender voluntarily tomorrow morning,” Chris said. “You’re expected at six A.M.; I’ll collect you and drive you. Hopefully, we can get you in front of a judge and get bail set so you don’t have to spend the night in jail.”

“How the hell am I going to get the money for bail? Will they even let me out on bail at all?” Emma asked, words coming fast and frantic.

“I don’t want you to worry about that,” Chris said. “It’s my job to convince the judge, not yours. And don’t sweat the money. If the judge sets bail, I’ll make sure it gets paid.”

“That’s very generous,” Emma said, a bit stiffly. Chris gave her a curious look. She wetted her lips. “Why have you always been so helpful?”

Chris’s brow creased. “Emma, you know I’ve always been fond of your family. Of you. Do you have to ask, after all these years?”

“Yes. I do,” Emma said hoarsely. “You sent threatening letters to Kenneth Mahoney.”

He sat back in his chair. “Kenneth Mahoney? That was years ago.”

“Did you know what my father was doing?” Emma demanded. He was silent. She looked away, blinking sudden tears from her eyes. “You knew. And you didn’t say anything.”

“I knew that your father was up to something. Not when I wrote the letters to Kenneth Mahoney,” Chris said. “That was doing a favor for a friend who said that an angry employee was slandering him. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have agreed to do it. I didn’t know there was anything else going on until later.”

“There were robberies. A series of truck robberies, and someone died,” Emma said. She wasn’t sure she was making sense. She wasn’t sure anything would make sense ever again. “It was Dad. I don’t know if he was part of the actual thefts, but he moved the goods.”

“I remember those robberies,” Chris said. He sat back in his chair, rubbing his chin. “Ellis was part of the task force. There was speculation at the time that there might have been someone feeding the thieves information from the investigation.”

“Kenneth went to Ellis about it. Ellis blew him off.” Emma’s mind churned through the possibilities. If Ellis was the source, if Ellis was involved …