Page 68 of Jep

“The only person I want to talk to is my sister, but they won’t let me see her, will they? It’s personal, so I won’t be assigned to the file. I know how this works.”

“Probably not, but you never know. Stranger things have happened.”

“What if she won’t speak to anyone? What if she says she’ll only speak to me?”

“Do you think she will?”

“I have no idea, but will they let me see her if she does?”

“Each case is different. We won’t know until it happens.” He paused. “You know they’ll question you too, right? You need to be prepared for that.”

“But I don’t know anything. What do they expect me to say?”

“Everything you just told me. You said her name is Jade?”

“I don’t think I can do this.”

“You can. I know you can. You’re stronger than you think. It feels overwhelming right now, but it’s all really fresh. It will ease off soon.”

“Can you be the one to question me? Will they let you?”

“They don’t usually let partners question each other.”

“Then I won’t be your partner anymore.”

“Is that what you want?”

“No.”

She shook her head and curled her arms against her chest.

“Let me take you home. You need time to recover.”

She didn’t resist as he helped her into the car.

Chapter 15

“You coming?”Jep said after they reached Em’s apartment building when she didn’t get out of the car.

She’d been so focused on her sister, she’d forgotten for a moment about the man she’d killed. The reality of what she’d done washed over her again.

When the shooting had started, all she had thought to do was drop to the ground and cover her head. But then that man had pulled his gun, and Jep was there. She couldn’t even remember taking the weapon out of the holster. But she remembered pulling the trigger.

She’d killed a man, and her sister was a terrorist, prepared to blow herself up in order to kill innocent people. Her life had spun into chaos in seconds.

“Em?”

She swallowed. “Yeah, sorry.” Her fingers fumbled with the door. When she finally climbed out onto the sidewalk, her legs wobbled, and she leaned against the car for support.

“Maybe this isn’t the best place for you right now,” Jep said, taking her arm to steady her as she attempted to stand again.“Are you going to be okay on your own? Is there somewhere else I can take you?”

She thought of her aunt, but Carla would fuss over her, and Em didn’t think she could handle that when she wasn’t allowed to share what had happened.

“I’ll be fine.” It wasn’t true, but what other option did she have? Maybe space was what she needed to make sense of the crazy turn life had taken. Or maybe it would be the thing to pull her into a deeper pit of confusion and despair.

“I’ll take you up,” he said, leading her inside.

She could feel him watching her as the elevator rose but couldn’t lift her eyes off the floor.

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