Page 137 of Key West Homecoming

She could only decide what she did with the truth now.

Emma closed the notebook and rested her hand on the cover.

The voices continued behind the wall.

She couldn’t make out the words, but Rachel sounded calm. Arthur didn’t. At first his answers were long enough that Emma imagined him trying to explain his way around whatever Rachel had put in front of him. Before ten, his voice had changed. His answers became shorter.

Emma went to the table and opened the legal pad Yolanda had left for her.

She wrote three things she wanted to do.

Sand cedar until smooth.

Read three more entries.

Call Priya on the drive back.

None of them had anything to do with Arthur.

Emma stared at the list. Her uncle was being questioned across the hall about what he had done to Gloria’s estate, yet she was thinking about Jake, her grandmother’s notebook and a friend in Chicago.

It felt like proof that Arthur was no longer taking up all the room in her life or her thoughts.

At ten-fifteen, Rachel opened the conference room door.

“Break.”

“How’s it going?”

“Better than I’d hoped. Ted didn’t prepare him for the property records, and those records are a problem for him. Arthur is trying to say he was confused about which will controlled the estate.”

“Can he do that?”

“He can say it. The documents make it difficult to support.”

Rachel came farther into the room.

“The recorded copy we filed from Monroe County is particularly hard for him to explain. I’m not going to predict Wednesday before we get there, but nothing I’ve heard this morning has hurt us.”

Emma nodded. That was enough.

“How much longer?”

“Another hour before lunch, then probably two after. We should finish by four.”

“Has he asked about me?”

“Once. Ted told him not to. He hasn’t asked again.”

Emma looked toward the hallway.

“I need to use the restroom.”

“Second door on the right. If you see Arthur or Ted, don’t speak to them. If either one approaches you, keep walking and come get me.”

“I understand.”

Rachel returned to the other room.