“Because she’s scared,” Amelia stressed. “Or at least that’s what I suspect. She’s scared of whoever kidnapped her, and maybe she has reason to be. Remember that fingerprint?”
“Yeah…” Slow realization dawned on his face.
“Obviously that was put there deliberately by our killer, and I’m forming a theory as to why. I think he kidnapped someone Emma once knew and planted evidence that would point to her to frame her. I think this is revenge against her for escaping. A warning to keep her mouth shut.”
“That makes a lot of sense…too much sense. It explains the connection and the evidence dump under Anna’s tongue. Amelia!” His eyes lit up as his smile bloomed. “You’re brilliant!”
“I agree,” Gabe said, with a lot less enthusiasm. “That is a solid connection which should be incredibly helpful in our search. But, as Amelia said, it is just a theory. We can’t clamp onto it for sure just yet. We have to stay open to all leads and options.”
Which is what Amelia had already said. Still, it irritated her when Gabe said it like that. She was so sure that she was onto something, that they were finally getting to the bottom of this, and she desperately wanted to be right, to wrap this case up.
Her heart ached for poor Emma. She had already been through so much, and if Amelia was right, it would terrify her even more. She probably thought that no one could protect her, that she couldn’t rely on anyone. That little girl was still in her heart, and she’d been betrayed far too many times. Amelia was determined to prove her wrong. To show her that she could trust again, and the law would keep her safe.
“Well, let’s investigate it,” Trent said as he went back to his desk to grab his things. “See if we can elaborate on this theory. I think it’s time for another visit to Emma.”
“I don’t know if we should press her again so quickly,” Amelia said, a little conflicted about what the next step should be. “It might make her more nervous if we go see her again.”
“Yet knowing that we’re onto something might also make her open up to us more,” Trent said. “It’ll at least show her that we’re getting somewhere. That the truth will come out eventually. Come on, I’ll get you lunch after our discussion since I owe you.”
“You owe me a lot more than lunch. But I guess it’s a good way to get started. Only if I lead the questioning, though. And if she stalls, I want you to ask to use the bathroom and give me a few minutes to talk to her. Alone.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Gabe asked.
“Look into some of those other leads you mentioned,” Amelia said, feeling the satisfaction in her words.
She and Trent discussed the possible theories as they drove out to Emma’s house, tried to work through all they had so far and how it could all fit together. Yet she still wasn’t sure what to expect when they arrived. She just hoped that Emma would talk to them. That she would finally realize that she could trust them.
Trent buzzed the buzzer at the gate, and they waited and exchanged uneasy glances. Emma had made it clear before that she didn’t want to be involved in their investigation. What if she didn’t let them in? What would it take to get their hands on the secrets locked inside that brain of hers?
They waited a bit longer, then he buzzed again. Finally, the gate opened and closed with a loud thud behind them. Emma stood in the doorway by the time they got out of their car. Her anger was even more noticeable as it clashed against this oasis she’d created for herself. They were unwelcome intruders, and Amelia hated that. She only wished Emma could see that she had always been on her side, ever since they were little. She would never betray her or bother her if she didn’t have to.
“What do you detectives want now?” she asked, the disdain for them clear as they walked up the pathway. She remained right in the middle of the door, not allowing them any room to get past her.
“We just want to talk to you about Anna,” Amelia said with what she hoped was a friendly smile.
“I’ve already told you everything I know, which is nothing,” she said. Amelia hated how she always acted like she barely knew her, like Amelia was just another annoyance in her life.
“I understand that, and I’m sorry for taking up your time yet again, but we’ve uncovered something new that we’d like to talk to you about.”
“Nothing you say will change the fact that I didn’t know her. How do you propose to get any more information out of me?”
“Emma.” Amelia looked her in the eyes, watched her carefully. She wanted to record her reaction in her brain and analyze it for hidden meaning, just in case Emma remained unbearably stubborn. “We know that you and Anna used to be best friends.”
Emma paled under her secret being flaunted out in the open like this. She’d been caught, just as she’d worried she would be. They knew about the friendship. She nodded. The best thing to do now was to tell the truth.
“Okay,” she said. She removed herself from the doorway. “Come in, but I’m busy. You can’t stay long.”
“Sure,” Amelia said.
She led the way, keeping Trent near the back to avoid alarming Emma further as they followed her into the house. It didn’t look like she was busy to Amelia. The house was spotless, with soothing music dancing through it. A blanket lay across the white couch, an open book settled near a pink flower, and a cup of tea was steaming on the silver coffee table.
It looked like Emma was relaxing, enjoying life. She always looked on top of everything, and if Amelia didn’t know any better, she would envy her. She suspected most people did. Most people didn’t notice the trauma lying beneath the surface. She could never look away from it.
Dove hopped up onto Emma’s lap as she sat down. She sipped her tea, petting her cat as if this was a social visit. She looked at Amelia like she was the enemy. Amelia couldn’t help but wonder how things had gotten so twisted in Emma’s mind. They’d made it through the worst together. Now they were in a silent battle when she wasn’t even sure why Emma was fighting.
“Emma, I know this is hard on you, but…”
“You know nothing,” she snapped.
“Okay.” Amelia opened her palms and tried to retain a calm posture. “Maybe I don’t know exactly what you’re going through, but I do want to help you. I think that someone’s possibly framing you, which is why your fingerprint was found at the scene. I suspect that’s also why they took Anna.”
“So, you’re saying her death is my fault?”
“No, not at all. Whoever killed Anna is responsible for her death. You have no blame in this. We’re all only responsible for our own actions. But if we can figure out who might want to frame you, then we get justice for you both. We can save another woman who might be unlucky enough to be his next victim.”
“I have no idea who would want to do this,” she said, maintaining her defensive posture. Amelia was still getting that sense that Emma was holding something back. Something big. “I don’t really talk to many people since…you know. I don’t know who would do this or why.”
“That’s okay. It can be a little frightening to face the people who have victimized us. But I want you to know it’s safe to talk here. We are looking out for your best interest, trying to find the man who hurt you and possibly Anna, too, so he can’t harm anyone else.”
Of course, she also worried that they were looking for the man who had abducted them when they were kids as well. That the killer and the captor might be the same person. She debated bringing it up to form that connection and decided it might only serve to terrify her further.
“If you were looking out for my best interest, you wouldn’t be here.”
“So, you want us to just let the guy go?” Trent snapped. “Shall we just continue letting him kill victim after victim because these questions make you feel uncomfortable?”
Amelia sent him a warning look. He sat back with an eye roll that shocked Amelia. Usually he was great at remaining calm and cool. Yet he looked tired in that moment, worn down. This case was gettin
g to them all.
“It’s not like you’re doing a great job catching him!” Emma retorted.
“Why don’t you tell us about your friendship with Anna?” Amelia asked. “Sometimes fear can make our minds block out certain things. But maybe together we can figure this out. Maybe together we can find who’s doing this. Are you willing to try to work together?”
She nodded, a bit reluctantly. Amelia could feel Trent’s tension beside her, so she kept Emma’s gaze, hoping to distract her from him. She waited patiently. Trent stood.
“Hey Emma, is there any way I can use your bathroom?”
She hesitated and looked suspicious. She wasn’t the type of person to let people wander around her house. Especially not strangers.
“Sure,” she said. “First door on the left.”
It wouldn’t be difficult to find. There weren’t many walls in the house. Emma could always see most rooms. She turned to Amelia as Trent disappeared behind the door.
“There’s not much I can tell you about Anna,” Emma finally said. “At least not much I can tell you about her life now. We were friends way back when. She was my very best friend. We did everything together. My earliest memories all include her. She was the person I trusted most, and honestly, I’ve never fully trusted anyone again since then.”
Her eyes got a faraway look as she paused, which gave Amelia hope. She was really putting thought into this, reaching to the back of her mind. Maybe they’d get somewhere this time. Figure out at least some bit of information they could use.
A single tear fell from her eyes. She wiped it away and shook her head.
“You see, Anna and I were very close, but one day she stopped talking to me.” She looked Amelia in the eyes. “I honestly don’t know why.” Amelia believed her about that. She saw the raw pain and believed that, in this moment at least, Emma wasn’t hiding anything. “She ignored me completely. Wouldn’t take my calls, wouldn’t come to the door when I knocked, she wouldn’t even look at me at school. I begged her for answers, for her to just tell me why she’d turned on me. What I did wrong. What I could do to make it right. She refused to listen to me, though. Never replied. In time, I just gave up. It hurt too much to keep trying. Shortly after this, my father encouraged me to apply to this art school that I’d been longing to go to ever since I heard about it. I’d wanted to stay with Anna, which was why I hadn’t applied before. I couldn’t imagine leaving her, not for the best school in the world. But since she wouldn’t talk to me, I applied. Got accepted. On my own merit, I like to think. I begged my dad not to pay them off, and I hope he didn’t.
“Regardless, it was difficult leaving things as they were. Leaving her. Leaving so many words unsaid. But I did. It hurt me deeply, the whole thing did. She never talked to me again, though I did try to reach out a few more times over the years. I never got answers, and I suppose now I never will.”
A moment of silence followed. Amelia could feel the pain in the air. She’d always been good at empathizing with victims, which was how she was able to get them to talk to her. She was often used to deescalate volatile situations when she worked for the FBI, but in this moment, she wasn’t sure what to say.
She knew Emma, and that made all this more difficult. She saw how much incredible pain she was going through, and she wanted to take a step back from being a detective, to help her like a friend would. To tell her it was okay and that she never had to talk about it again if she didn’t want to. That she didn’t owe it to anyone to keep reliving her trauma like this.
“Emma, I understand that…”
Just then, Trent walked out. Amelia became instantly furious at him, as the moment Emma looked at him, she knew the connection between them had been broken. Emma looked back at Amelia as she dried her tears. She stood.
“There, happy?” she said, hands on her hips. “You have everything. I knew Anna back then, not now. I can’t help you with this case, and if someone is trying to frame me, you need to do the police work and find out who’s doing this. I can’t help you. In fact, maybe they’re doing so because they see you at my house so often. Maybe they think I’m working with the police and they want to shut me up. Maybe you’re just making all this worse on me. Either way, I want you out of my house. And I don’t want you to return unless you’ve come to tell me that you have locked up the man who kidnapped me or he is dead!”
“Emma, you’re being unreasonable,” Trent said. Amelia shot him a glare as Emma’s temper heightened.
“Unreasonable! You’re the one questioning me like I’m the criminal! Harassing a victim. Get out of my house! And don’t you dare come back!”
“I’m sorry,” Amelia said, trying to find that connection again. It was lost now. “We’ll give you your space. Just reach out to us if you think of anything that might be helpful.”
Then Amelia grabbed Trent by the arm and dragged him out. She waited until he had driven beyond the gate before letting him have it.
“What were you thinking?” she asked, her voice rising. “You’ve always been so calm about these situations. What’s gotten into you? How dare you call her unreasonable? You messed everything up! I was getting somewhere with her, and if you hadn’t been there, maybe I would’ve made real headway! I didn’t realize you were so untrustworthy!”
“Oh really?” he asked, his voice dripping acid. “You seem to forget she is a suspect and her fingerprint is on the victim. What did she tell you while I was gone?”
“She told me that she and Anna had been best friends before and…” Amelia paused as she realized that she hadn’t learned anything new at all.
She felt a connection, but perhaps Emma had manipulated her into thinking there was one. She’d only been able to confirm what they already knew. She dove a little deeper on the topic, but Emma left them with nothing. Yet again.
“And then Anna stopped talking to her. It hurt her deeply.”
“See!” Trent said. “Nothing, and it’s not my fault. It’s hers. She does not want to budge. She doesn’t want to help us, and she’s never attempted to even try.”
“She’s probably scared.”
“Maybe. But you protecting her is not working anymore. She’s certainly protecting someone, and that’s not my fault. Sure, I got frustrated. I got out of line, and I am sorry for that. But it’s a frustrating situation. It’s frustrating knowing that she knows something and won’t tell us. I worry every single day that another woman will be found dead when we have the answers in Emma, yet she refuses to tell us anything.”
He sighed as he shook his head. Amelia couldn’t argue with him. It was exactly how she felt this whole time. She just hadn’t realized how much of a toll it had taken on Trent, too.
“We’re trying with her,” he said, once he got his anger under control again. “But I don’t think we’re going to get answers from her, no matter how safe we try to make her feel. We just need to regroup and try to tackle this ourselves. Talking to Emma has only pushed her further away. It’s useless trying to get anything out of her now.”
Amelia nodded. It was the difficult truth. It seemed nothing she said would get Emma to open up. It would be easier, of course, if she did. But she wouldn’t. At least they had something to go off now. They would have to explore that lead on their own.
“I am sorry,” Trent said. “I shouldn’t have lost my cool back there like I did, no matter how I felt about the situation.”
“It’s okay, I understand. All too well.” They laughed, a laugh that diffused some of the tension.
“Now let’s get lunch,” Trent said. “My treat. We’ll think better with some food in our stomachs.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Emma took several deep breaths after Trent and Amelia left. Then took several more. She kept breathing in and out just like she’d been taught, yet she couldn’t seem to shake off this horrible anxiety, these awful flashbacks, and she needed to. She had plans today that she needed to be happy for
. Or at least appear to be. Appearances are everything—her parents had taught her that.
Bringing up Anna had triggered her, though. Their memories played out all over her house. Bordering on that edge between reality and something…else. Emma relived the childhood memories, experimenting with makeup for the first time together, riding horses, gardening, sharing secrets they thought were so scandalous, admitting to each other how difficult it was to live with their parents, how heavy the pressure to be perfect weighed upon them. They vowed life would be different when they were older. They’d buy a house together, work on their passions, and they’d never be in the public eye again.
Anna told her about her mother and how cold she was, how the drugs were the only thing she loved. That white powder the only thing that brought life to her eyes.
Emma told Anna about her father and some of the terrible things he did. She was the only one she’d told at the time and ever since. Her first heartbreak. Her first betrayal.
Why had Anna stopped talking to her like that? Out of nowhere. Like their friendship never existed in the first place. It was something she still didn’t have the answers for, though she desperately needed them. She wished with all her heart that Anna had talked to her before she was killed. That somehow the two could’ve patched up their friendship. Emma was sure nothing bad would’ve ever happened to Anna if only they had remained friends.
But today was Makayla’s day, and she had been a much better friend to Emma than Anna ever was. Sure, she couldn’t tell her quite as much. They were never quite as close, but that made it better. Makayla could never hurt her like Anna did. She was safer. Emma loved her for that.
She tidied herself up and put on a bit of extra makeup to distract from the worry in her eyes. She faked a smile in the mirror; it looked real enough. Then she said goodbye to Dove and got in her car. Though the wedding was months away, Makayla wanted to try on wedding dresses, and Emma was going to be as peppy as she could be throughout that entire process.
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