Now
They left downtown, slithering onto the sun-dappled lanes that separated the busy heart of Arden Hills from its outskirts. Emma had never felt at home here when she was young, but now, driving these roads, it felt like this was where she belonged. It was not a comforting realization.
“We’ll tell them it was me,” JJ said.
Emma made a noncommittal noise. She was still thinking about the gun—about how it had ended up in JJ’s hands. About what it was Daphne had seen, and what she hadn’t, and all the things that looked like facts but were just assumptions. Juliette had the gun. It didn’t mean she’d fired it.
Kenneth Mahoney went to Ellis, and then went missing.
Ellis was on the task force investigating the robberies, and no one ever got caught.
Red and blue light swept over the dashboard, followed by the short whoop of a police car.
“What the fuck?” JJ asked, looking into the rearview. Emma twisted to look behind them. Her heart sank at the sight of the Arden Hills PD SUV. JJ put on her blinker, started to slow down.
“Don’t stop,” Emma told her, suddenly frantic. She grabbed JJ’s shoulder. “Keep going.”
JJ gave her a surprised look. “What? I can’t just keep going,” she said. Quietly, she added, “Emma, come on. If I run away from a cop, what’s that going to look like?”
JJ was slowing. Was stopping at the side of the road.
“It’s okay,” JJ said, giving Emma what was probably supposed to be a reassuring look. Emma sat back hard against her seat, pressing her body into the leather as if she could sink entirely within it. Emma wrapped both hands around the seat belt strap, focusing on the sensation of it biting into her palms.
The SUV pulled in behind them. The door popped open. Rick Hadley stepped out, moving with the unhurried gait of someone who wants you to know they don’t mind keeping you waiting.
Emma’s stomach clenched. JJ rolled down the window as Hadley approached. He leaned over, looking in at them one by one. His sunglasses turned his eyes to voids.
“Juliette. Emma,” he said.
“Why did you pull us over?” JJ asked.
“There’s a warrant out for your sister’s arrest.” He spoke to JJ but was looking at Emma. She stared straight back at him, at her own reflection in his sunglasses.
“Her lawyer arranged her surrender. Tomorrow,” JJ said.
“I haven’t heard anything about that.”
“She’s not supposed to be arrested until tomorrow. Go ask. Call it in, or whatever. They’ll tell you,” JJ said.
“Step out of the car, Emma,” Hadley told her.
“You can’t arrest her. You don’t have the authority,” JJ insisted.
“I’m sure we can sort that out with a quick chat, but in the meantime, Emma is going to step out of the vehicle.” Hadley’s tone was almost cheerful.
“You can’t—” JJ started, but Emma put a hand on her arm. Her fear was still wrapped around her throat, but she knew there was nothing to do.
“Call Chris.” She handed JJ her phone. She unbuckled and opened the side door.
Hadley beckoned her to approach the back of the car. She kept her hands loose at her sides, focusing everything she had on taking one breath and then another, and walked to join him. He waited for her to catch up and then put a hand on her arm. “Let’s have a little chat,” he said. He kept her walking all the way back to his car, and she didn’t protest.
“What is this really about?” she asked him when he stopped. His hands on his hips, he looked at her inscrutably. “What do you want, Uncle Rick?”
“I want you to stop playing games,” he said. He didn’t sound cheerful anymore. His voice was low and dangerous.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve been playing dumb for fourteen years,” he said. Emma’s hands shook. She balled them into fists to keep them still. “Pretending you didn’t know what happened that night. Pretending you had nothing to do with it.”
“I didn’t,” Emma said. She gave him a hard look. “Did you know what Dad was doing? About the robberies?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” he asked.
“I think Ellis knew. And I think Nathan told him exactly what he found, and what was on that flash drive,” Emma said, aware that she wasn’t explaining herself properly. She watched Hadley carefully. Her father’s best friend. Ellis’s second-in-command. Was it possible he didn’t know? “He thought he was doing the right thing. He thought he could trust the police, and now he’s dead, just like Kenneth Mahoney.”
“Now, that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time,” Hadley said. He paused, as if considering long and hard. His thumbnail scraped along his jaw. “All right. Let’s say you’re right. Where is this flash drive?”
“I don’t know,” Emma said, frustrated, and then she noticed the intensity in his voice. The spark of paranoia in his eye. She backed away half a step. “I don’t know,” she repeated.
Hadley took a step toward her. She fell back on instinct, but he grabbed her arm, wrenching her toward him, and Emma realized she’d made a mistake. A terrible one.
“Tell me where the flash drive is, and we can clear this all up,” he said. JJ’s car door opened. She stepped out, but didn’t approach. “Tell me, or I will shoot you in the fucking head and tell them you reached for my gun. You already killed your parents and your husband. You think they won’t believe me?”
“I don’t have it,” Emma said. And neither did he.
“Emma—” he began.
Tires squealed, and JJ’s car reversed—barreling toward them.