Page 124 of Hot Knot Summer
Zak leans forward slightly. “Megan, remember what’s at stake for you here. Being charged and sued by the cabin owner for fire destruction, plus anything else that might come to light, we aren’t aware of yet.”
“I had nothing to do with planning this!” she bursts out, eyes wide with fear. “Chad only just told me about it recently. I didn’t even know what I was really doing!”
“Okay,” Zak says calmly. “Go on.”
She takes a shaky breath. “He said he had a signed contract he needed urgently from the bag. That Emma had taken it by accident, and he needed it back.”
“What sort of contract?” I ask.
Her face turns even paler. “A management agreement. He said Emma had signed it, giving him full control over all her book royalties going forward.” Her voice drops to almost a whisper. “He said once it was notarized, he’d be legally entitled to everything she earned from her writing. Forever.”
The rage that floods through me is so intense, I have to grip the edge of the table to keep from lunging across it. “That’s bullshit. Emma would never sign something like that.”
“He said she did,” Megan insists, but there’s uncertainty in her voice now.
“How exactly did this alleged signing happen?” Zak asks.
Megan squirms in her seat. “At a bar. He said she’d had a few drinks and was really relaxed. That she didn’t read it too carefully.”
The euphemism makes my skin crawl, and I feel my hands clench into fists under the table. “He drugged her.”
“I don’t know!” Megan cries, genuine distress inher voice. “Maybe? I don’t know what he did. He just said she was... cooperative when she signed it and had a witness sign to agree she wasn’t under duress.”
I want to put my fist through Chad’s face. The thought of him slipping something into Emma’s drink, taking advantage of her, makes me see red.
“You knew Emma was staying at the cabin,” Zak states. It’s not a question.
Megan nods reluctantly. “Chad told me she might be there. He said to be really quiet, not to wake her up.”
“Walk us through exactly what happened,” Zak continues.
Megan takes a shuddering breath. “I got there around midnight. Used the code Chad gave me. The house was dark and quiet.”
“Go on,” Chad encourages her.
“It was so dark, I could barely see anything. I found some candles in the living room and matches, so I lit one and carried it around to help me look for the bag.”
Zak and I exchange glances.
“You lit the candle?”
“Just to see,” she says defensively. “I was trying not to wake up Emma while searching for the duffle bag. But then I heard footsteps upstairs, like Emma was getting up. I panicked.”
“What did you do?” Zak asks.
“I blew out the candle and ran,” she admits. “Got in my car and drove away as fast as I could.”
“Without the bag,” I observe.
“I never found it,” she says miserably.
Zak pulls out his phone and shows her the crime scene photo of the melted candle with the fabric underneath. “Your scarf?”
Her hand flies to her throat instinctively. “I... I lost it that night.”
“This is yours, right?” Zak zooms in on the gold moth pattern.
Her face turns white as milk. “Yes, but I don’t understand…”
