Page 148 of We Are All Guilty Here

“That was it.” Walton shrugged. “Dale let us use Esther’s car, but he stayed home. I told you he likes them younger. The only reason he helped was because he knew Virgil could arrest him. We were both terrified of Virgil. I don’t have to keep reminding you that he was a cop, but it mattered. He could destroy us in an instant. He lorded it over us.”

Emmy tried not to focus on the pathetic, whining tone.

Jude didn’t seem to have any problem ignoring it. “You and Virgil got into the Audi. You left Dale’s house. Where did you go?”

“We were early, so Virgil drove around for half an hour. He’d arranged to meet Cheyenne at six thirty on the backroads.”

“Did she know you were going to be there, too?”

“No, but that was how Virgil did things. We always had to be together.” Walton scratched his neck until there was blood. “I’ll tell you why he wanted me there. I was his Get Out of Jail Free card. If things went sideways, he was going to kill me andmake it look like he’d saved the day. That’s how smart Virgil was. Always strategizing.”

Emmy had no problem believing that was Virgil’s intention. He’d always had the uncanny ability to think dozens of steps ahead.

Walton continued, “Virgil told me that he would make Cheyenne look like a hit-and-run. He was going to work the scene of the accident so that nothing traced back to either of us. He was good at altering evidence.”

Cole cleared his throat for Emmy’s attention. “That’s why they only found one pair of boot prints. The GBI eliminated the impressions from the sheriff’s department.”

Her teeth gritted. She couldn’t imagine all the other cases Virgil had tainted. They would be going back through them for years.

Walton said, “Cheyenne was on her bike when we reached the backroad. Virgil didn’t slow down. She panicked, started pedaling as fast as she could, weaving back and forth. Virgil tapped the back wheel of her bike with the bumper. We weren’t going fast, but the poor thing just flew through the air. He was going to finish the job, but then I realized that the memory card wasn’t in the phone.”

“The miniSD?” Jude asked.

“Yes,” Walton said. “Cheyenne wouldn’t tell us where it was. We took her back to my house. We put her in the shed.”

Emmy felt a burning inside her chest. Another detail explained. Another question answered. Virgil had put himself in charge of processing the shed for evidence. He’d told them there was no trace of either girl.

“Cheyenne was so tough.” Walton sounded impressed. “It took hours for her to give up Madison. Any man would’ve cracked, but she held on to the bitter end. Except for Virgil, she was the strongest person I’d ever known.”

Emmy hated his tone of reverence. Cheyenne Baker had been a fifteen-year-old girl. She didn’t need to be strong. She needed to be safe.

Jude asked, “You didn’t suspect Madison had the miniSD?”

“I totally did,” Walton said. “Virgil wouldn’t hear it.I reminded him how she cut up the SIM card but wouldn’t hand it over. Mad could do that sometimes, just turn obstinate for no reason. In the beginning, she would never disobey us. That’s how Virgil still thought of her, as an innocent little angel. He couldn’t accept that Cheyenne had corrupted her.”

Emmy could only think about the photos she had found in Cheyenne’s locker. One girl wearing a set of white, slinky underwear. The other in black. Good and bad. Madonna/whore.

Jude asked, “What made Virgil accept that Madison had the miniSD card?”

“Cheyenne eventually convinced him, but not without a fight. That girl was hardened steel.” Walton still had the tinge of admiration in his voice. “For hours, she took whatever Virgil doled out. One minute she said her father had the memory card. The next she said she’d hidden it in her mother’s purse. You didn’t know the girls, but Cheyenne protected Madison from a lot of things. She took the brunt of Virgil’s interests. She was out there selling her services for money, dealing drugs, doing everything she could to get away.”

“Why did she want to get away?”

“Her parents were assholes.” Walton sounded like a petulant teenager. “Ruth was cold and violent. Felix was never home. They were both religious freaks. The kind that showed up at the church every time the doors opened. Cheyenne was sick of their bullshit. She wasn’t really a child. She was a young woman with needs. They never let her have any fun.”

Emmy wasn’t a fan of the Bakers, but she wouldn’t call two grown men gang raping a child any kind of fun.

Jude asked, “What did Cheyenne tell you in the shed?”

“It took a while. I told you she always tried to protect Madison. But Virgil found a way to get it out of her. She told us Madison was at the park. Cheyenne was supposed to meet her at eight o’clock under a specific tree.”

Emmy took no joy in hearing her theory confirmed. She could still remember that lost moment under the oak. The irritated look on Madison’s face. The sudden swing of emotions when the girl had looked as if she might start crying. Then there was Madison’s anxiety at the top of the hill. Emmy’snot nowthatsent the damaged fifteen-year-old looking for Cheyenne on her own.

Seth said, “Cheyenne told you and Virgil where to find Madison and the miniSD card. Then what?”

“We couldn’t leave Cheyenne in the shed because I had no idea where Adam was. He could come home any minute.”

Jude asked, “Why didn’t you kill Cheyenne?”

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