Page 23 of No One Can Know

“Pleasure to meet you,” Nathan said. Some of the hard edge in his voice had dissolved.

“Why don’t you walk us through what happened, exactly,” Ellissaid, reasonably enough, while Hadley stood with his hands on his hips, looking deeply unhappy to be here.

“We were upstairs in bed,” Nathan said. Her eyes flicked to him; for a moment she wondered just how much he’d tell Ellis, if the appearance of an authority figure would have him specifying what they’d been doing, for how long, and in what position. “We were, uh, talking. And we heard a thump downstairs.”

“A thump?” Ellis echoed.

Nathan nodded. “Then Emma smelled smoke. We got downstairs and the carpet was on fire. Luckily, Emma smothered it before it spread.”

“So how much damage are we talking about?” Ellis asked.

“Well. The rug’s a goner,” Emma said dryly. Nathan shot her an irritated look.

“And what makes you think the fire was intentional?” Ellis asked.

“Because it was a bag of flaming shit someone threw in the window,” Nathan half shouted, gesturing behind him. “Someone broke into our house and—”

“Broke in?” Ellis said, interrupting him.

“They didn’t break in. The window was open,” Emma said. She could feel Hadley’s eyes on her. She just wanted them gone.

“They were trespassing,” Nathan said stubbornly.

Ellis gave a slow, considering nod. “Okay. Well, it seems like there wasn’t too much damage done. You got cameras?” Emma shook her head. “Might look at getting some. We get called out here a lot. Kids.”

“Cameras. Okay,” Emma said.Just leave.

“They probably didn’t know anyone was even here,” Ellis said. “You’ve been gone a long time.”

She raised an eyebrow, tilting her head toward the car and the moving trailer, parked nearby. “If there hadn’t been anyone here, the house really could have burned down,” she pointed out.

“What if we were asleep?” Nathan asked earnestly. “I don’t even know if the smoke detectors work in this place. We could have beenkilled. I mean, someone tried to light my house on fire with my pregnant wife inside it.” Ellis’s eyes snapped to Emma.

“You’re pregnant?” Hadley said with a hint of a sneer. Her hand went to her stomach protectively.

“Well. Congratulations,” Ellis said, a peculiar tone in his voice. He looked intently at the two of them, like he was trying to work something out.

“So you can see why we’re so concerned,” Nathan said.

“Sure, I see,” Ellis said with a nod.

Hadley’s eyes hadn’t left Emma. “Of course, there’s not much to do,” he said dryly. “Sometimes people just get away with things.”

“You could do your job. Investigate,” Emma said.

“They are doing their job, Emma. They’re out here, right?” Nathan interjected, giving Ellis a look that said,you and I, we’re the reasonable ones here.

Emma snorted softly. “They just decide what they think happened and stick to it,” she said.

“We followed the evidence, Emma,” Ellis said. If she didn’t know better, she might think there was a note of apology in his voice.

She made a half-feral noise in the back of her throat. “You had us in those rooms for hours without a guardian or a lawyer—”

“Emma. Come on. This isn’t the time to bring that up, is it?” Nathan said, putting a hand on her arm. She jerked away. Ellis just raised an eyebrow.

“Your legal guardians were dead, Emma,” Hadley said, ignoring Nathan. “We were just trying to find out what you knew. Since the three of you were our only witnesses.”

She groped for words—for the thing to say to make him flinch. To make him feel even a fraction of what she felt. But she only stood frozen, glaring at him. “We don’t need your help. I want you to leave,” she said.

---