Page 98 of No One Can Know

“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 sixA.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.Notwhen 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…

“No one took Kenneth seriously,” Chris said. “And I don’t see what any of this has to do with your husband’s death.”

“Kenneth Mahoney found out what they were doing, and then he disappeared. No one questioned it because it wasn’t the first time he’d taken off, but he always came back.”

“Okay,” Chris said slowly, his tone cautious.

Emma plowed on. “When my mom came to you, she said she had evidence on a flash drive, right? Well, I found it fourteen years ago—but I lost it. I think Nathan found it. I think that’s why he’s dead. He called Ellis that night. Hetoldhim he’d found something. What if Ellis was involved? What if—”

Chris held up a hand. “Emma. Slow down. You don’t have this flash drive now, do you?”

“No.”

“And the last time you saw it was fourteen years ago.”

She hesitated, then nodded stiffly. No need to bring Daphne into this—not yet. He folded his hands on the desk, looking down at them.

“This is all wild conjecture,” Chris said. “I can talk to Mehta, and I can look into things on my end. Maybe there’s something to all of this. But there is no benefit to rushing here. Nothing is going to happen in time to stop you from being arrested. Given that, it is far better to do thingscarefullyand be sure of what we have.”

“You’re not the one who’s about to be arrested for her husband’s murder,” Emma snapped. She stood, pulse thudding in her temple and skin flushed. She started to leave.

“Tomorrow morning,” Chris said in a firm, warning tone.

“I’ll be waiting,” Emma pledged, venom in her voice.

“It’s going to be okay, Emma,” Chris said.

“You can’t promise that,” she told him, and left the room without saying goodbye. Outside, JJ sat in a chair in the hallway, chewing her thumbnail. She jerked as the door opened and surged to her feet, all pointless motion.

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