Page 103 of We Are All Guilty Here

Belinda asked, “You’re being honest with them, right?”

“Obviously I am. I didn’t tell them about you because I didn’t think it mattered.”

Belinda pulled out the chair and sat across from him at the table. Her face filled the second monitor. “Elijah, listen to me. You need to tell them everything. Let the experts decide what matters.”

Emmy caught the furtive look that Belinda gave the camera in the corner. She knew that they were being watched.

Jude had caught it, too. “Smarter than she looks.”

Emmy turned her attention back to Elijah. Tears slid down his face. “That cop promised me that everybody’s looking for her. It’s taking too long, isn’t it? They should’ve found her by now, right?”

“I was gonna volunteer to help search, but I didn’t know how that would look, you know?” Belinda had dodged his question again. “I saw folks all over the woods near the backroads when the police brought me in. Everybody’s doing everything they can do.”

“What if—” His voice went up. He was trying to swallow down the fear. “What if they don’t find her?”

Belinda didn’t offer platitudes. She glanced at the camera, then looked back at Elijah. “All we can do is pray that the Lord is watching over her.”

“I’ve been trying to pray, but this voice keeps coming into my head telling me it’s my fault.”

Emmy moved to the edge of her seat.

So did Belinda. “How is it your fault?”

“I’m her father. I should’ve protected her. That’s my only job.” He took a pained breath. “She was so mad at me when I left for work yesterday. Just seething. I thought about calling her from the car, but then I saw there were eight messages, and I just got distracted and now I’ll never be able to tell her that I’m sorry.”

Emmy saw Jude put her elbows on the arm of the chair, rest her chin in her hand. She was staring not at the monitor, but at the speaker. Elijah’s tone had changed. He was finally telling the truth.

Belinda asked, “Why was Paisley seething?”

“Last week, she asked me for help with her science project, but I told her if she was going to take on big assignments, she needed to learn how to do them by herself.”

“Well,” Belinda drew out the word, “you were just trying to teach her to be independent. That’s a good thing.”

“No, it was a selfish thing. I didn’t want to work on the project. I wanted to watch TV and go to bed, so I yelled at her until she stormed off to her room.”

Elijah started shaking his head. Emmy thought he looked like a man who’d spent his time alone in the interrogation room going back through all of the opportunities he’d missed with Paisley.

He said, “Yesterday morning, I was heading out the door and I tried to kiss her on the cheek. She pulled away like I had the plague. And then when I told her that I love her, she just rolled her eyes. She’s always rolling her eyes at me. I told you she’s been so disrespectful. These past few months, it’s like a demon possession. One minute, she’s being sweet, and the next, she’s trying to call all the shots like I’m not her father anymore.”

Emmy mumbled, “That sounds familiar.”

Jude looked at her. “Who?”

“Madison was always pushing Paul and Hannah’s buttons. Felix and Ruth Baker said the same thing about Cheyenne. They blamed Madison for her wild streak.”

Jude asked, “Who did you blame?”

“Puberty.” She shrugged. “Honestly, the two of them together fed off each other. I think they were their own worst enemies.”

“That’s not unusual,” Jude said.

Emmy didn’t bother to agree. She watched Belinda take a pack of tissues from her Fendi bag. The Verona cops had let her change before dragging her into the station. She was wearing a cropped black T-shirt that showed off her flat stomach, and a short black skirt that revealed the shape of her legs. Her make-upwas smeared, probably because she hadn’t bothered to take it off before going to bed. Emmy couldn’t help but contrast her with Carol, who had been dressed like a dour Victorian.

She told Jude, “The photos in the kitchen. Carol looked a lot different in the early stages of their marriage. She was dressed more like Belinda.”

Jude said, “He’s drawn to her because he wants to break her spirit.”

Emmy knew she was right. Jonah had been the same way. He had loved her for being opinionated and driven when they were dating, but he’d ended up hating her for those same qualities when they were married.

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