Page 17 of No One Can Know

“No worries,” Nathan said immediately, bobbing his head.

“Is your grandmother okay?” Emma asked. “It’s not—”

“Nothing to worry about, just a routine procedure,” Gabriel said, looking at her at last. “Still cancer-free.”

Emma let out a breath, nodding in relief. Lorelei Mahoney had been at her sickest the weeks before Emma’s parents died, but even weak from chemo she’d been unfailingly kind to Emma.

“So you two are old friends?” Nathan asked, breaking the awkward silence and looking between them. Emma adjusted her purse strap, shifting her weight.

“Sure. Friends. You could say that,” Gabriel said, staring straight at her. Then he turned back to Nathan, slapping a ring of keys into his hand. “Here. Keys to the front, back, garage, gate. Only thing missing is the carriage house—I don’t have a key to that. Daphne or Juliette might. I’ve already let the landscape company know you’re in residence,so they’ll get in touch next time they’re scheduled to come out. Sorry about the graffiti. I was going to get around to cleaning it, but it’s not like there’s been a rush without anyone living there.”

“Does that happen a lot? Kids breaking in?” Emma asked. Gabriel seemed to resent every time he was forced to acknowledge her presence. His jaw worked before he answered.

“Early on, just about every week. Nowadays it’s pretty quiet. Old news. Though with you being back, who knows? Lock your doors at night.”

“I always do,” Emma said, a little sharper than she’d intended.

“Well. I’ll leave you to it,” he said. He started past Nathan. Emma turned, staring after him.

“Gabriel,” she said. He stopped, looked slowly over his shoulder.

“Yes, Emma?” he asked, wearily neutral.

“I just…” she stammered. “It’s good to see you again.”

He was silent for another beat. Then he offered a single nod. “Sure,” he said. He opened the car door and slid into the front seat. Emma and Nathan backed away to give him room to turn, rolling over the grass and dirt as he squeezed past their car. And then he was driving away, the car vanishing around the bend.

“A friend,” Nathan said, voice choked with skepticism.

“Yes. A friend. Isn’t that what I said?”

“You weren’t looking at him like he was just afriend,” Nathan said. “Didn’t seem like he was being very friendly, either. What are you leaving out? Is he the boyfriend? The one who you were seeing that your parents didn’t like? The one they thought—”

“You mean the evil older boyfriend who seduced me—or wait, maybe it was the other way around—and helped me murder my parents so we could run away together?” Emma asked, venom dripping from her voice.

“That’s not what I said,” Nathan objected.

“It’s what you were thinking,” Emma said.

He was silent a moment. “He’s older than you.”

“Five years older,” Emma acknowledged. She rubbed the back of her neck. How could she have been so foolish as to hope that things would be sunshine and roses between her and Gabriel? After everything that had happened?

“So he’s my age, then,” Nathan said. She raised an eyebrow at him. He raised one back. “Just saying. Maybe you have a thing for older guys.”

“Five years is not ‘older guys’ once you hit your midtwenties,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“No, no, I like where this is going. I could be your silver fox,” Nathan said. She knew he was trying to lighten the mood, but that old frustration and fear wouldn’t ease. No matter how many times she said it, they never believed her.

“We weren’t together,” she insisted, voice rising. Nathan’s smile fell. His face clouded over. She stalked past him. Grabbed hold of the gate to pull it all the way open so they could drive through.

First Ellis and then Hadley had tried and tried to make her admit it. Hadley with threats and bluster, Ellis with understanding and sympathy. They’d tried to get her to say she was sleeping with Gabriel. That her parents had found out. That they had plotted the murders to get rid of the obstacle to their relationship.

She didn’t know how they’d gotten the idea that she and Gabriel were involved. She had been, naively, convinced that the truth would be its own defense. Eventually, they would realize they were wrong, and look elsewhere.

She had been horribly mistaken.

And Gabriel had paid the price.

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