Page 151 of We Are All Guilty Here

“A broken necklace was found on the backroads where Cheyenne was hit by the car.”

“She must’ve been wearing a different necklace,” Walton said. “You have to understand, Adam is always in the wrong place at the wrong time. His entire life, all he ever did was screw up. I was constantly having to cover for him.”

“You didn’t cover for him twelve years ago,” Jude said. “He was given a death sentence. He could’ve been executed.”

“Don’t kid a kidder, sugar. You knew Adam from way back.” Walton crossed his arms over his chest again. “We both know that he was always going to end up in prison. His life was adisaster. He was selling drugs to children. He couldn’t hold down a job. He was drunk most of the time. I had a choice to make—his life or mine. I know you don’t think my charity work is meaningful, but I’m proud of all the good I did. I took care of the people no one else would take care of. And I knew Adam would abandon Alma. I had to keep myself out of prison so I could be there for her.”

Cole stirred beside Emmy. He was seething. “Asshole doesn’t care about anybody but himself.”

Emmy kept her attention on the monitors. Jude had looked at her watch. She was pacing herself. There were a lot more murders that had to be covered.

She told Walton, “Why don’t we take a bathroom break?”

“Yes, but—” Walton had a tentative look on his face. “Can you tell me how Alma’s doing?”

Jude turned to Seth. He looked startled. It was the first time in hours that she’d acknowledged he was in the room. “Agent Alexander, do you have an update?”

Seth put down the pad and pen. “The doctors say the dose of lidocaine Walton gave her was toxic, but she’ll live.”

Jude turned back to Walton. “Good news, right?”

Walton didn’t look relieved. He had spent twelve years keeping his wife away from the police. Alma had to know more about his crimes than she realized. “Right. Thank you.”

Emmy heard Cole mumble under his breath again. She waited until Walton was being escorted from the interrogation room before turning on the lights. She looked at her son. “You okay baby?”

Cole’s jaw was clenched. The bone stuck out like an anvil. She was expecting him to rail some more against Walton Huntsinger, but instead he told her, “You sent me that text about Virgil, then you didn’t answer when I called. You always answer my calls.”

Emmy felt remorseful, but she wasn’t going to let it crush her this time. “You’re right. I apologize. I was in a bad way.”

Cole laughed. “Understatement.”

“Your grandmother hates when you imply subjects and verbs in conversation.”

Cole’s smile faltered. “Virgil was right there in front of us the whole time.”

“Longer for me than for you.” Emmy reminded him. “Virgil was a psychopath. He fooled all of us, everybody in town. His own wife and kids had no idea what he was doing. Even Papa didn’t see it. If you’re looking for people to blame, we are all guilty here.”

Cole didn’t seem entirely convinced. “Jude said that pedophiles groom the people around them, too. So that when a kid says something bad is happening, you believe the pedophile and not the kid.”

“She’s right,” Emmy said, but that was cold comfort. “Baby remember what Papa said about mistakes.”

“They can give you an opportunity to forgive.” Cole stared at the empty interrogation room on the monitors. She could tell his perseverance was barely holding. “It’s starting to feel real that Papa’s gone. We’re gonna be at his funeral in a few days.”

“Look at me.” Emmy turned his chair to face her. She couldn’t stop herself from fixing his collar. He’d left the button undone again. “I know I should tell you to feel what you want to feel, but you need to get all of that out before the funeral. It’s not gonna be a private event. There will be a lot of people watching us. The governor will be here, senators, politicians, law enforcement from all over the region, news cameras, photographers. It’s gonna be hard to keep it together, but I’ll be right beside you, and so will Tommy and Celia and the rest of the family. You need to remember you’re a Clifton. Keep your head down and—”

“Do your job.” The nod he gave her was terse, but she knew he would do it. “What about Jude? Will she be there?”

Emmy hadn’t thought it through, but she knew her answer. “That’s up to her. I won’t stand in her way.”

“Me, either.” There was no relief in his expression. “I need to tell you something else, but it’s gonna be hard.”

She silently braced herself for more bad news. “Go ahead.”

“What you did to find Paisley. The choice you had to make with Virgil. I just want to say—” His jawbone craned out a few times as he tried to keep his emotions in check. “I hope I’m the same kind of cop as you one day. I hope I learn to be that good.”

Emmy fought against her own emotions. They were quite a pair, she and her son. Both of them sitting together alone in a quiet room, both fighting the urge to sob uncontrollably. She would have to remedy this eventually, to make herself the safe space for Cole that Gerald had been for her.

But not today.

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