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“Both of us,” he said. “Virgil knew that Millie had gone back out to help search for the girls. We picked up a concrete block and a length of chain from his barn. We dragged the bodies to the middle of the water, then anchored them down. I barely made it back to the house in time. My hair was still wet when the sheriff knocked on the door. Virgil’s uniform was soaked through, but nobody noticed. ”

“Why leave them in the pond?” Jude asked.

“Virgil said he wanted to make sure the bodies were found. That we owed that to Madison’s parents. He knew them, you see. Paul and Hannah. They were good people.”

Emmy hadn’t felt her rage flare up until that moment. Virgil had not chosen Millie’s pond out of compassion. He’d put the girls there as a big fuck you to Emmy and Gerald.

Jude said, “Cheyenne was a patient of yours when she first moved to town.”

“I did an emergency filling, but she wasn’t one of my regulars.

” Walton shrugged again, as if he was helpless.

“She was Virgil’s choice, though. I was going to leave her alone, but he saw her at the outlet mall and something just clicked inside of him.

That’s how it is with these girls. They smile at you or flirt a little bit, and you feel this tug in your heart.

You can’t sleep. You can’t eat. All you do is think about them. It’ll drive you crazy if you let it.”

Jude asked, “Whose idea was it to take Paisley Walker?”

Walton’s demeanor changed. He’d been fairly open for the last hour, but now, he crossed his arms, sat back in his chair.

“That was all Virgil. I’d never even heard Paisley’s name until I read it in the Herald .

Then there were all those angry people outside the house.

I thought Virgil was trying to set up Adam again.

Then your father told me that he didn’t think Adam did it. ”

Emmy leaned forward. She studied Jude’s face in the monitor. Nothing had changed. She looked just as dispassionate as when Walton had described brutally murdering the two girls.

Jude asked, “Did Gerald explain why he thought Adam was innocent?”

“He said North Falls was too small and Adam was too big. Because of the podcast, everybody knew his face. There was no way Adam could get close enough to a teenage girl. The same mob that was outside the house would’ve chased him into the ground.”

Emmy doubted her father had used as many words, but that sounded exactly like the kind of insight that Gerald would’ve had. He’d clearly developed the theory on the long walk down the driveway. Only the bullet from Paul’s gun had stopped him from sharing it with Emmy.

Walton said, “Virgil obviously realized the same thing. He knew he couldn’t pin it on Adam again.”

“Why are you saying that it’s obvious?”

“Because I know how Virgil thinks. I told you I was his Get Out of Jail Free card all along.” Another shrug. “When Adam put that damn hammer on my kitchen table, it might as well have been a gauntlet. I knew Virgil was coming after me.”

“How would the hammer implicate you?”

“My DNA is all over it. Virgil always used gloves. He was never without a condom. He kept himself waxed. He knew exactly what they would find.” Walton gave a bitter laugh. “And if they didn’t find it, he knew how to make it look like the lab had anyway.”

Emmy had no doubt he was right. She’d completely trusted Virgil’s analysis.

Jude asked, “Why did Virgil keep all the evidence? All the paperwork, all the trophies, were hidden in plain sight.”

“That was how he played the game.” Walton almost sounded envious.

“Up until recently, Peggy was living at the house. All she had to do was walk downstairs and she’d find out everything.

But she never did. She trusted him. Everybody trusted him—Gerald, Emmy Lou, Father Trask, the whole damn town.

He got off on the deception. It gives you a rush knowing you’re smarter than everybody else. ”

Jude didn’t point out that he hadn’t been smart enough in the end. “What about twelve years ago? Was it Virgil’s idea to frame Adam for murdering Cheyenne and Madison?”

“No one set him up.” Walton seemed perplexed by the question, despite the fact that he had used his son’s driver’s license for that exact purpose. “That’s just how it happened.”

“What about Cheyenne’s necklace?” Jude asked. “It was found in your backyard.”

“I assume Adam’s explanation is the truth—Madison gave it to him to repair. He tinkered with things all the time. He really is quite good with his hands.”

“A broken necklace was found on the backroads where Cheyenne was hit by the car.”

“She must’ve been wearing a different necklace,” Walton said. “You have to understand, Adam is always in the wrong place at the wrong time. His entire life, all he ever did was screw up. I was constantly having to cover for him.”

“You didn’t cover for him twelve years ago,” Jude said. “He was given a death sentence. He could’ve been executed.”

“Don’t kid a kidder, sugar. You knew Adam from way back.

” Walton crossed his arms over his chest again.

“We both know that he was always going to end up in prison. His life was a disaster. He was selling drugs to children. He couldn’t hold down a job.

He was drunk most of the time. I had a choice to make—his life or mine.

I know you don’t think my charity work is meaningful, but I’m proud of all the good I did.

I took care of the people no one else would take care of.

And I knew Adam would abandon Alma. I had to keep myself out of prison so I could be there for her. ”

Cole stirred beside Emmy. He was seething. “Asshole doesn’t care about anybody but himself.”

Emmy kept her attention on the monitors. Jude had looked at her watch. She was pacing herself. There were a lot more murders that had to be covered.

She told Walton, “Why don’t we take a bathroom break?”

“Yes, but—” Walton had a tentative look on his face. “Can you tell me how Alma’s doing?”

Jude turned to Seth. He looked startled. It was the first time in hours that she’d acknowledged he was in the room. “Agent Alexander, do you have an update?”

Seth put down the pad and pen. “The doctors say the dose of lidocaine Walton gave her was toxic, but she’ll live.”

Jude turned back to Walton. “Good news, right?”

Walton didn’t look relieved. He had spent twelve years keeping his wife away from the police. Alma had to know more about his crimes than she realized. “Right. Thank you.”

Emmy heard Cole mumble under his breath again. She waited until Walton was being escorted from the interrogation room before turning on the lights. She looked at her son. “You okay baby?”

Cole’s jaw was clenched. The bone stuck out like an anvil. She was expecting him to rail some more against Walton Huntsinger, but instead he told her, “You sent me that text about Virgil, then you didn’t answer when I called. You always answer my calls.”

Emmy felt remorseful, but she wasn’t going to let it crush her this time. “You’re right. I apologize. I was in a bad way.”

Cole laughed. “Understatement.”

“Your grandmother hates when you imply subjects and verbs in conversation.”

Cole’s smile faltered. “Virgil was right there in front of us the whole time.”

“Longer for me than for you.” Emmy reminded him. “Virgil was a psychopath. He fooled all of us, everybody in town. His own wife and kids had no idea what he was doing. Even Papa didn’t see it. If you’re looking for people to blame, we are all guilty here.”

Cole didn’t seem entirely convinced. “Jude said that pedophiles groom the people around them, too. So that when a kid says something bad is happening, you believe the pedophile and not the kid.”

“She’s right,” Emmy said, but that was cold comfort. “Baby remember what Papa said about mistakes.”

“They can give you an opportunity to forgive.” Cole stared at the empty interrogation room on the monitors. She could tell his perseverance was barely holding. “It’s starting to feel real that Papa’s gone. We’re gonna be at his funeral in a few days.”

“Look at me.” Emmy turned his chair to face her.

She couldn’t stop herself from fixing his collar.

He’d left the button undone again. “I know I should tell you to feel what you want to feel, but you need to get all of that out before the funeral. It’s not gonna be a private event.

There will be a lot of people watching us.

The governor will be here, senators, politicians, law enforcement from all over the region, news cameras, photographers.

It’s gonna be hard to keep it together, but I’ll be right beside you, and so will Tommy and Celia and the rest of the family.

You need to remember you’re a Clifton. Keep your head down and—”

“Do your job.” The nod he gave her was terse, but she knew he would do it. “What about Jude? Will she be there?”

Emmy hadn’t thought it through, but she knew her answer. “That’s up to her. I won’t stand in her way.”

“Me, either.” There was no relief in his expression. “I need to tell you something else, but it’s gonna be hard.”

She silently braced herself for more bad news. “Go ahead.”

“What you did to find Paisley. The choice you had to make with Virgil. I just want to say—” His jawbone craned out a few times as he tried to keep his emotions in check. “I hope I’m the same kind of cop as you one day. I hope I learn to be that good.”

Emmy fought against her own emotions. They were quite a pair, she and her son. Both of them sitting together alone in a quiet room, both fighting the urge to sob uncontrollably. She would have to remedy this eventually, to make herself the safe space for Cole that Gerald had been for her.

But not today.

“Baby I hope you never have to make that choice, but I know you’re gonna be a good cop. You’re already on the right path. I’ve never been more proud of you. You’re very nearly perfect.”