Page 56

Jude paused. “You tell me, Sheriff.”

Again, Emmy had to stop to think it through. “She’s got a clean record. She’s probably never been inside of a police station, either.”

Jude was smiling. “Throw her in with Elijah and listen in on their conversation?”

“Yep.” Emmy pointed Virgil toward the interrogation room.

She waited for him to nod before she allowed herself the pleasure of sinking into the chair in front of the monitors.

A kind of groan came out of her mouth. She fought the urge to close her eyes, instead staring at Elijah Walker’s profile on the screen.

He looked as drained as she felt. He was holding a Styrofoam cup between his hands.

She thought about watching Dale Loudermilk on these same monitors twelve years ago with her father at her side.

Emmy looked up at her son. Cole’s shoulders were tensed. His eyes were still bloodshot. She should send him home to get some rest, but she didn’t want him to leave. “Cole, turn out the lights and close the door.”

The room darkened. Jude took the other chair. Emmy could see Cole’s wounded expression in the glow of the monitors as Jude sat in his grandfather’s spot. Emmy reached back and squeezed his hand. He held on tight before wiping under his eye with his fist.

“Belinda!” Elijah’s voice was jarringly loud from the speaker. Virgil had just tossed her into the room and shut the door.

Emmy watched Elijah hold out his hands in an exaggerated shrug.

He asked, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“What do you think I’m doing here?” Belinda shot back. “Your daughter is missing and you’re cheating on your wife. This is every Dateline ever made.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Elijah huffed. “No one thinks I kidnapped my own daughter.”

“Honey, look at where you are.” Belinda sounded incredulous. “They don’t keep you inside a police station for hours unless they think you’ve done something bad.”

Elijah stared at her, unblinking. Then his face changed as it slowly dawned on him that she was right.

He sank into the chair. Rested his palms on the table.

Emmy recognized the absolute exhaustion in his eyes.

They’d deprived him of sleep, peppered him with questions, taken away all sense of control.

He had been running on fumes, only reacting to the thing that was directly in front of him, but now reality was hitting him, and he knew that everything had changed.

There was no going back to his life of two days ago.

“They—” His voice was gravelly. “They kept asking for my WhatsApp password. Maybe they hacked into it.”

“That’s probably how they found me.” Belinda was clearly tracking details better than Elijah. “All our texts are gonna be out there for everybody to read.”

“They wouldn’t—they couldn’t—”

“Oh, honey, yes they will.” Belinda pitched up her voice as if she was talking to a senseless child. “Elijah, stop worrying about people finding out about shit that’s inconsequential. The only thing that matters right now is getting Paisley home.”

“You’re right. You’re right.” He started nodding his head. “This is insane. Stuff like this doesn’t happen in …”

Emmy could see that they were both silently finishing his statement. Stuff exactly like this had happened in North Falls twelve years ago.

“Do you—” Elijah’s throat made a gulping noise that traveled through the speaker. “Do you think they’ll find her?”

“I’ve been praying that they will.”

Elijah missed the equivocation. “They keep asking me the same questions. I don’t know what to say. I just want them to find her.”

“They’re asking you the same questions to make sure you give them the same answers.”

Elijah looked surprised. He was caught in the perpetual loop of compartmentalizing what had happened so that his body didn’t completely shut down.

Emmy could remember Ruth Baker going through the same emotional turmoil twelve years ago.

It was unfathomable for a parent to think about losing a child.

Belinda asked, “You’re being honest with them, right?”

“Obviously I am. I didn’t tell them about you because I didn’t think it mattered.”

Belinda pulled out the chair and sat across from him at the table. Her face filled the second monitor. “Elijah, listen to me. You need to tell them everything. Let the experts decide what matters.”

Emmy caught the furtive look that Belinda gave the camera in the corner. She knew that they were being watched.

Jude had caught it, too. “Smarter than she looks.”

Emmy turned her attention back to Elijah. Tears slid down his face. “That cop promised me that everybody’s looking for her. It’s taking too long, isn’t it? They should’ve found her by now, right?”

“I was gonna volunteer to help search, but I didn’t know how that would look, you know?” Belinda had dodged his question again. “I saw folks all over the woods near the backroads when the police brought me in. Everybody’s doing everything they can do.”

“What if—” His voice went up. He was trying to swallow down the fear. “What if they don’t find her?”

Belinda didn’t offer platitudes. She glanced at the camera, then looked back at Elijah. “All we can do is pray that the Lord is watching over her.”

“I’ve been trying to pray, but this voice keeps coming into my head telling me it’s my fault.”

Emmy moved to the edge of her seat.

So did Belinda. “How is it your fault?”

“I’m her father. I should’ve protected her.

That’s my only job.” He took a pained breath.

“She was so mad at me when I left for work yesterday. Just seething. I thought about calling her from the car, but then I saw there were eight messages, and I just got distracted and now I’ll never be able to tell her that I’m sorry. ”

Emmy saw Jude put her elbows on the arm of the chair, rest her chin in her hand. She was staring not at the monitor, but at the speaker. Elijah’s tone had changed. He was finally telling the truth.

Belinda asked, “Why was Paisley seething?”

“Last week, she asked me for help with her science project, but I told her if she was going to take on big assignments, she needed to learn how to do them by herself.”

“Well,” Belinda drew out the word, “you were just trying to teach her to be independent. That’s a good thing.”

“No, it was a selfish thing. I didn’t want to work on the project. I wanted to watch TV and go to bed, so I yelled at her until she stormed off to her room.”

Elijah started shaking his head. Emmy thought he looked like a man who’d spent his time alone in the interrogation room going back through all of the opportunities he’d missed with Paisley.

He said, “Yesterday morning, I was heading out the door and I tried to kiss her on the cheek. She pulled away like I had the plague. And then when I told her that I love her, she just rolled her eyes. She’s always rolling her eyes at me.

I told you she’s been so disrespectful. These past few months, it’s like a demon possession.

One minute, she’s being sweet, and the next, she’s trying to call all the shots like I’m not her father anymore. ”

Emmy mumbled, “That sounds familiar.”

Jude looked at her. “Who?”

“Madison was always pushing Paul and Hannah’s buttons. Felix and Ruth Baker said the same thing about Cheyenne. They blamed Madison for her wild streak.”

Jude asked, “Who did you blame?”

“Puberty.” She shrugged. “Honestly, the two of them together fed off each other. I think they were their own worst enemies.”

“That’s not unusual,” Jude said.

Emmy didn’t bother to agree. She watched Belinda take a pack of tissues from her Fendi bag.

The Verona cops had let her change before dragging her into the station.

She was wearing a cropped black T-shirt that showed off her flat stomach, and a short black skirt that revealed the shape of her legs.

Her make-up was smeared, probably because she hadn’t bothered to take it off before going to bed.

Emmy couldn’t help but contrast her with Carol, who had been dressed like a dour Victorian.

She told Jude, “The photos in the kitchen. Carol looked a lot different in the early stages of their marriage. She was dressed more like Belinda.”

Jude said, “He’s drawn to her because he wants to break her spirit.”

Emmy knew she was right. Jonah had been the same way. He had loved her for being opinionated and driven when they were dating, but he’d ended up hating her for those same qualities when they were married.

The speaker echoed with the sound of Elijah blowing his nose.

Belinda asked, “How’s Carol taking it?”

“They only let us talk for a minute.” He balled the tissue in his hand. “She’s devastated. She blames herself for letting Paisley go out on her bike. She should’ve driven her.”

“It’s nobody’s fault,” Belinda said. “Not yours and not Carol’s. Paisley always takes her bike to school.”

“Not that early.” Elijah reached for the pack of tissues. He wiped under his eyes. “I could’ve driven her. I could’ve … I could’ve done a lot of things.”

“Well, I’m just gonna say what we’re both thinking, and that’s how this little fun we’ve been having is over, right? You need to be there for Carol, and I guess I’m gonna go visit my aunt Jenny up in Copper Hill so I’m not getting nasty looks every time I leave my apartment.”

“You’re right,” he said. “I’m so sorry. I’m just so fucking sorry.”

Jude turned away from the monitors to look at Emmy. “She’s not a sex worker. She’s an affair, right?”

“Right, but I guarantee Elijah was also cheating on Belinda with a sex worker. His story about meeting somebody online last year and going to the motel and how he was supposed to leave the money was too elaborate to be based on anything but the truth.”