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Emma hangs up, leaps to her feet, and meets Tom halfway. “You heard?” she says above the wind.
“Yeah, that was Dan. This is unbelievable.”
“I just talked to Eric. Do you know anything more?”
He takes her arm and ushers her back to the bench and away from the other passengers. “Very little,” Tom says as they sit. “Just that she was apparently arrested at her house a short time ago.”
“Could... could this be connected to the embezzlement after all?” Emma asks.
“You mean were they in it together and had a falling-out? I just don’t see how Taylor could have been an asset to Justine in that regard.”
“Or...” Emma says, her mind racing. “What if Taylor figured out what Justine was doing?”
“I suppose that’s possible, but as I mentioned before, Taylor had nothing to do with T&E or any of the financial accounts, so how could she have stumbled on it?” Tom leans forward, his hands clenched. “I should call Hollis and see what she knows. And also start doing damage control.”
This will definitely be horrible for the agency, Emma thinks. The chief of staff murdered by Tom’s number two.
“While you do that, I’ll check the ferry schedule. We’ll want to grab one back as soon as we can.”
Tom shakes his head. “I don’t think we have to, Em. I can do as much on the phone as I could in person.”
“I really don’t mind turning around.”
“Let’s stay for the weekend, okay?”
She nods and slides over on the bench to give him extra space. As he begins his calls, Emma tries to process what she knows so far. Coming on each other’s heels, it seems the murdermustbe connected to the embezzlement. She agrees with Tom, it’s hard to picture Justine bringing Taylor into thefold, and besides, since Taylor seemed obsessed with Tom, why would she want to damage him and his company in an embezzlement scheme? What seems most probable is that she did find out about it somehow, confronted Justine, and was killed so that she didn’t report it back to Tom or the police. As the idea takes shape in Emma’s mind, a vague suspicion niggles around the fringes, but she’s unable to grab hold of it.
The ferry horn jars her from her thoughts, and she sees that they’re almost in port, the seven-mile-long island stretching in front of them. Tom ends a call and looks at her.
“Anything new?” she asks anxiously.
“I managed to reach Hollis. She heard through back channels that the police have physical evidence linking Justine to the crime scene, so there seems to be little doubt.”
She shudders. “Tom, are you sure we shouldn’t head home?”
“Let’s see what tomorrow brings. I need this weekend alone with you, Emma, away from the nightmare. I really do.”
“I need it, too,” she concedes.
They hurry to their car, and soon Tom is driving them off the ferry ramp onto the island. The wind has chased the clouds from the sky, the temperature is hovering in the high seventies, and the late afternoon couldn’t be more beautiful.
Yes, we do need this, Emma thinks, yet she finds herself fighting off an encroaching sense of dread. Her first instinct in any kind of professional crisis is to place herself in the thick of things and navigate in person, and she can’t understand how Tom can feel comfortable being away, especially considering how unreliable the cell service can be at the house. At the same time, she understands that he’s desperateto unwind, and to bridge the distance that’s grown between them.
“Oh, before we leave town, I should pick up some bottled water,” Tom says. “I forgot to put it on the list for Pierce.”
“Why don’t you double-park, and I’ll stay with the car,” she tells him.
As he heads into the small market, Emma’s phone rings. She digs it out of her purse and can’t believe what she sees on the screen.
Brittany.
“We’ve been so worried about you,” Emma says as soon as she’s answered. “Are you okay?”
“Not really.” She recognizes Brittany’s typical sullenness, but there’s also a hint of anguish in her tone.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Emma tells her. “Losing Taylor so tragically has been a blow. But you really scared us by taking off.”
“I’m sorry, but there’s something else I need to apologize for even more. It’s—it’s about what I did to you.”
