Dammit, she hadn’t meant to say that. She clamped her mouth shut at the expression that claimed her mother’s face. This was new, not one of the usual four zones.
“Emily, listen to yourself. Your father had no idea you needed to speak with him.” Carol slipped off her shoes and stood. “Now, what’s the trouble, dear?”
Emily had seriously overreacted. But this was important. Fairgate was not the kind of man to fool around with. A new fist of fear punched her. What if her father had gone to see Fairgate?
“What’s going on with Dad and Sidney Fairgate?”
The mixture of horror and disbelief in her mother’s expression dissolved, turned guarded. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Em. Are you sure you’re all right?”
Her mother had just lied to her.
Emily stilled inside.
“Where in the world would you have heard such a thing?” She glanced around the room as if looking for somewhere to rest her attention.
There was the crack ... the slightest breach in her mother’s always flawless poise. Uncertainty peeked beyond it.
Emily fought to control the tightening in her throat. “I heard it from you and Dad.”
“Well.” Her mother jerked the slightest bit, squared her shoulders. “You’ll need to discuss this with your father. I can’t help you.” She picked up her shoes and walked away.
Emily smoothed her hands over her skirt, drew in an uneven breath. The silence felt so much worse than if her mother had yelled at her for eavesdropping.
With nothing else to do, Emily gathered her purse and phone and walked out of her parents’ home. She had to think. Had to get out of here.
That was the one thing she was really good at ... running away.
4:30 p.m.
She’d done dumb things in her life.
But what she was about to do probably made the least sense.
Emily had sought refuge in the library and spent the better part of the day making a list of all the things she didn’t understand about Heather’s murder and the events leading up to it. She’d labeled it appropriately: “Secrets and Lies.”
The panic hadn’t come after the confrontation with her mother as Emily had expected. Staying busy with the list had helped. She’d read every single newspaper article she could find in the library on that night once again.
None of what she thought she knew made sense any longer. The past was all scrambled so that the pieces didn’t fit together the way they always had before. Fairgate and her father. Fairgate and Austin. Her friends’ protecting her from what they really believed.
The one thing that remained exactly the same, despite the passage of time and changing events, was Clint Austin’s insistence that he was innocent. That he had an alibi.
But that couldn’t be right. Emily had played that night over and over in her head. She’d recently reread the trial proceedings. God knew she hadn’t been all there at the time of that first trial. The most vivid moment had been Austin’s testimony. At the time, she’d been appalledby his lies. Every fiber of her being had been focused on the moment when she’d found him in her bedroom. She’d blocked out all else. Had that been a mistake?
The seemingly insignificant and unconnected comments and rumors and snippets of conversation that had brought her to this place felt illogical when considered separately. But when combined, they overwhelmed her with feelings of doubt.
Was everyone else wrong?
Or was she?
Dr. Brown had suggested that she recalled that night the way she wanted to see it. But she’d never believed him. He hadn’t been there; she had.
Was he wrong? Or was she?
Austin had insinuated that maybe Emily wasn’t the intended victim that night, but Heather didn’t have any enemies. Did she? There was only one aspect of Heather’s life where there had ever been any friction. The theory was ridiculous, but Emily had to know for sure. She needed answers.
The sound of casual banter drew her attention back to the parking lot of Higgins Auto Repair Shop. After leaving the library, she had come here to wait. She sat in her car and watched as the employees chatted briefly before climbing into their vehicles and preparing to leave.
Emily waited until Marvin Cook reached for the door of his truck before she got out. “Marv!” He looked up and she waved.
