“This was supposed to be settled,” Carol insisted, much more calmly. “No matter what you offer him, what’s to keep him from telling someone? You know you can’t trust a Fairgate.”
“Just tell me what you expect me to do, Carol!”
Fairgate? Emily couldn’t fathom a reason her parents would be discussing the name Fairgate. She didn’t really know the Fairgates, just the reputation, and it was all bad. Very bad.
“I have no idea,” her mother snapped. “You got us into this mess, you can figure the way out.”
She burst from the room. Emily jerked back from the door.
Her father stayed behind. The silence almost tugged her out into the open and across that hall to check on him. God, she hoped this didn’t have anything to do with something she had done. Or failed to do.
Fear joined the dread inside her. Austin had worked for Fairgate. Could this be about that? Surely not.
The remark Justine had made about Austin’s alibi nagged at Emily. It was a lie. Old man Fairgate had sat on the witness stand and said so under oath. For a man like him the oath part probably didn’t mean squat ... nor did it mean that Austin was telling the truth. He’d lied. No question.
Her father’s voice hauled her attention back to the study.
“This is Ed Wallace. Put Fairgate on the line.”
The silence seemed to go on forever. Emily’s pulse thumped in her ears. There had to be a mistake. She was surely missing some important piece of the conversation that would explain away the implausible portion she’d just overheard. Edward Wallace could not possibly have any dealings with a Fairgate.
“Just tell me what you want,” her father demanded.
The anger in his tone startled her.
“And if I don’t?”
Her heart skipped. Was that a threat he’d just issued? Her father? What the hell was going on here?
“Fine.”
He slammed the phone down.
His face was a deep crimson when, like her mother, he charged from the room.
Emily grabbed her phone charger, waited until she was sure it was clear, and slunk back into the hall. She was not supposed to have heard any of that. If she left now, they might never know.
She made it to the front door. The sound of the icemaker in the kitchen confirmed she was home free. She opened the door, stepped onto the porch—
“Emily?”
She froze, her hand still on the knob of the half-open door. Three more seconds and she might have escaped. Now her parents would know Emily had overheard their argument. She could just ask what was going on, but it didn’t work that way in her family. Ed and Carol’s privacy had always been sacrosanct.
“Em, is something wrong?”
Emily braced herself, produced the requisite smile, and turned to face her mother. “Hey. No, everything’s fine.”
“Are you just coming in?” The flash of cold suspicion in her mother’s eyes settled the issue of bringing up Fairgate.
Emily nodded. “Yes. I just ... yeah.” So many lies.
Her mother’s expression thawed. “Some of your friends came by this afternoon.”
“Who?” Did anyone even know she was in town?
“Cathy, Megan, and Violet,” Carol ticked off the names, then smiled warmly. “They were all so excited about the possibility of seeing you.”
Emily moistened her lips. “I’m ... sorry I missed them.” More lies. And to her mother at that. “I just realized I left my purse in the car. I should get it.” At least that was true. Emily prepared to escape once more, but Carol Wallace wasn’t letting her go.
