Miranda shook her head. “She doesn’t look good.”
Emma hadn’t answered a single text or call from me all weekend. Joe broke the news to her but didn’t give me details about how she took it.
“She’s in her office?” I asked.
“I’m right here,” Emma said. Miranda jumped a bit, not having heard Emma come up the stairs. Miranda was right. Emma looked awful. She had dark, puffy circles under her eyes and pallid skin.
“I’ll let you two talk,” Miranda said. “Sure you won’t let me bring you something to eat, honey?”
Emma shook her head. She thanked Miranda and walked into my office, taking a space on one of the couches at the far end of the room. I came out from behind my desk to join her.
“I guess I don’t have to ask you how you’re taking all of this,” I said.
Emma closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m trying to wake up from a nightmare. This can’t be real. Can it?”
“You can’t let this derail you,” I said. “You’re in the homestretch with school. That should be your main focus.”
“How can it be? Aunt Cass, I’m still mad at Katy. Furious, really. She ruined everything. She’s still guilty of walking out on us and breaking my dad’s heart. My heart. But this? Murder? She didn’t do this. Shecan’thave done this.”
“It’s pretty shocking.”
“We have to help her,” Emma said.
“Emma …”
“No. We have to. Promise me. She needs you. I’m still angry with her. Maybe I’ll always be. But Katy’s my mom. She just … is.”
“I know,” I said. “But this is complicated.”
“No,” she said. “It’s not. She needs help. It’s so bizarre. There’s this part of me that feels like this whole thing is fate. My calling to be a lawyer, if that’s what it is. Like maybe it’s all been leading to this. So I can actually do something when somebody I care about is in trouble.”
“I want to help her too,” I said. “I just don’t think I ethically can.”
“You can,” Emma said. “I’ve spent the whole weekend diving into this. Researching the rules. There’s a way, Aunt Cass.”
“Is this a private party or can anyone join?” Jeanie stood in my doorway, her face still glowing with her Barbados suntan. She walked over to Emma, sat beside her, and pulled her into a hug. Emma collapsed against her. If Katy was the closest thing she’d ever had to a mother, Jeanie was the closest she’d ever had to a grandmother.
Miranda walked in next. She carried a Styrofoam box and a cup of coffee. She set both in front of Emma and opened the box. She’d gotten Emma’s favorite. Cherry Danishes from Sweet Delights.
“Eat,” Miranda said. “It’s non-negotiable.”
I thought Emma would protest. But her stomach growled and she reached for a Danish.
“What’s the plan, Cass?” Jeanie asked.
“The plan?”
“Oh, come on,” Miranda said, taking a seat on the other side of Emma. “We’ve all been mulling it over for days. You want to tell me you haven’t?”
“I could be called as a witness,” I said. “Joe will be called as a witness. Emma, I can’t promise that you won’t be called. Katy will be on trial for murdering her husband. Her history with Joe is at issue. If I were Sharon DePaul, that’d be the most obvious motive.”
“I’m not sure about that,” Jeanie said. “What are you a witness to, really? Joe and Katy’s marriage is public record. As far as their more recent, um, dalliances, Joe said he openly admitted everything to Detective DePaul. There’s no need to call you to establish that fact. So, I mean … technically …”
“She’ll sign a waiver,” Emma said. “I’m sure of it. Jeanie’s right. Your testimony about my dad’s relationship with Katy isn’t required. Neither is mine.”
“He’s not a person of interest anyway,” Jeanie said.
Emma put her half-eaten Danish down. “I pretty much crawled into and set up camp in the MRPC this weekend,” she said. She went to my small bookcase and pulled down my copy of the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct, which covered lawyer ethics. She tossed it to me.
