A dread settled into Emma’s heart. She had worried since the day Makayla told her she was engaged that she’d be chosen as a bridesmaid. And of course, she wanted to support her friend. She loved her, was over the moon happy for her. Under normal circumstances, she’d be honored. But after how her own marriage ended, Emma knew it’d be difficult, especially with everything else going on right now.
Still, she’d prepared for this. It wasn’t like she could say no. And being a bridesmaid wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe her happiness for her friend would drown everything else out.
“Since you’re my very best friend in the whole world…” Makayla took a deep breath as she looked at Emma with hope and anticipation. “I want you to be my maid of honor.”
“What?” Makayla’s face fell at Emma’s reaction and she felt bad, but she wasn’t expecting that.
Being a bridesmaid was one thing. Maid of honor would put her directly in the middle of everything, of all the wedding planning. Around the happy couple, remembering her own perfect wedding.
“I'm leaving you.”
The words still echoed through her mind. Perhaps they would always live there. It seemed like it would be the case, anyway. Five years into their marriage, her husband Nolan had untangled himself from her as they were watching a movie. She thought he was just grabbing a drink or something. But instead, he turned to her.
The look on his face was one she’d never seen before, but she hadn’t paid too much attention to it, still absorbed in the movie. She didn’t pay too much attention until he told her he was leaving and grabbed an overnight bag that had already been packed.
Shock stunned her. He had to be joking, right? This kind of thing just didn’t come out of nowhere. She didn’t even know there were problems in the marriage. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. She just watched him, unseeing.
By the time she realized what was happening, he was already on his way to the door.
She begged, pleaded, cried. She grabbed for him and he pushed her away. She fell to the floor, and when she stood again, he was in his car backing out of their driveway.
She hadn’t seen him since.
“You don’t have to say yes,” Makayla said, jerking her back to the conversation. “If you’re too busy or you just don’t want to or…”
“It’s not that,” Emma interrupted. “It’s just…weddings have been difficult for me since Nolan left.”
“Oh God.” Makayla took her hand. “Emma, I am so sorry. I didn’t even think about that. How selfish of me! I’ll get someone else, okay? It’s really no trouble.”
“It’s okay.” Emma looked into her eyes and wanted to be part of the happiness that was once there. Nolan had left over two years ago, that’s probably why Makayla didn’t think about it. And as much as Emma didn’t want to do this, she wanted to be a good friend. “It’s time for me to move on, it is. I can’t let him hold me back from this. Honestly, I’m honored that you want me to be your maid of honor. It caught me off guard, but I want to do it. I want to be part of your big day. I’m so excited for you, and maybe this new beginning will help scare the ghosts away.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, though her excitement was already making its return. “I really don’t want to add to the pain. I totally understand if you can’t.”
“I’m sure. It’ll be fun. Come on, show me what you have planned so far.”
Chapter Twenty
“Amelia?” Trent looked up in surprise as she walked into the station. He double-checked the time on his computer.
“Yeah, yeah,” she smirked. She slid him a coffee she’d picked up on her way to work, then headed to her desk with her own. “I’m on time yet again. I’m making it quite the habit. I told you, I want to prove to you that I can do better. I am doing better.”
“I’m proud of you,” he smiled. He sipped his coffee, just how he liked it. “And thank you. A peace offering?”
“It is,” she admitted. Things had been tense off and on between them, but after the hike, she was finally feeling like she was on a path to healing. She was ready to start over and do better. She didn’t want to regret losing her friends like she lost her mother. Even if she still wasn’t sure that she could trust them. “That and a thank you for introducing me to alarms. Are we good?”
“You know, you’ve pushed me away about a thousand times. Followed by apologies. You’ve snapped at me for no reason, gotten on my nerves, but,” he paused and looked at her in a very dramatic fashion, “we’re good.”
She laughed. “Any progress made on the case?”
“Nada. I’ve followed up on some leads. Unfortunately, nothing panned out. Maybe since you’ve transformed into a new Amelia who gets to work on time, you can find something.”
“I’ll probably do a better job than you. How about you, Gabe?” Though she still didn’t like him, she’d slowly begun to respect him over the last few days of working with him. Having the FBI’s help was at least a little useful, and the extra help left her more room to focus on the flash drive.
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “But I’m sure we’ll find something soon.”
“We better,” she said and sat down at her desk, ready to tackle this case. Though she still wasn’t exactly sure where to start.
She kept thinking about Brett and her mother. She tried to organize her thoughts, but as they wandered over to Brett again, she grasped an idea. Not about Brett, but about his daughter. They suspected the abduction was by the same person who abducted her the first time, as the crime scenes looked familiar. Brett knew enough about the first incident to recreate the basement.
But it was likely there was something else connecting the cases together. So far, they’d found superficial things, but if they could narrow down something that could bind the cases together more solidly, it’d offer them something to look into at the very least. She didn’t have any better leads to track down, so she started doing some research and became absorbed in learning about the most recent victim’s life and how it compared to Emma’s.
Emma had suggested that maybe she had touched Anna at her studio, that that’s perhaps how her fingerprint was there, which, considering it was in blood, was obviously not the case. But it wasn’t a bad place to start.
As Amelia searched, she wrote down bullet points of all the things she found and tried to find some way the two lives could’ve intercepted. It did seem that they had lived in the same areas throughout their lives at least, so they might have known each other. Though Amelia didn’t see any evidence that Anna had ever attended one of Emma’s classes, it was possible the two knew each other.
Of course, it was also possible they didn’t. Killers often choose victims who live in the same region, as that’s where the killers themselves are familiar. It didn’t mean that the women had ever met. Amelia had never met Anna before encountering her corpse, and they lived relatively close to each other.
“Whatcha up to?” Trent asked as he sauntered over with a bag in hand. He tossed it to Amelia.
“Isn’t it a little early for…” She paused and looked at the time. Quarter past noon. She’d been so focused that it felt like she’d only been at her desk for about an hour or two. She opened the bag and took out a burger and fries. A chocolate milkshake already waited beside her. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” Trent smiled. “Seems you’re the only one here who’s focused on something, who actually has an idea of what to look into. So, what’s caught your brain? I’m dying to at least make some headway in this case.”
“I’m trying to find a link between Emma and Anna,” she explained as she rolled her chair back to show Trent the research she was doing. “I want concrete evidence that the same man abducted both women, and I hope this will also grant us insight as to why. If we can link these two, then perhaps we can link the others as well. Anna’s the most recent, and Emma lived to tell the tale. If we have a shot at connecting any of our victims, it's them.”
“That seems like a waste o
f time.”
She bristled at first over his bluntness, but that’s just how their friendship was. She would’ve been more annoyed if he tried to flatter her.
“Have you got anything better?”
“Clearly not,” he scoffed. “But don’t you think that if there was a link, Emma would’ve told us when we talked to her? She wants us to catch this guy as much as we do. Probably more so. And if they’re all linked, then she must’ve noticed the connection to at least one of the other victims.”
That made sense to Amelia, it was why they hadn’t done more research into it in the first place. However, she couldn’t shake the odd feeling she’d gotten when they went to talk to Emma. Something was off. It almost felt like she was hiding something. Something that could be essential in solving this case.
“What if she’s scared, though? We know she is hiding something; it was so obvious,” Amelia pressed, finally able to settle on a concrete reason of why she questioned it. A reason they could understand, as they couldn’t quite feel her intuition. “What if she knows that there’s a connection between them and she’s scared to tell us? They held Emma captive for quite some time. She very well might know the identity of the person who kidnapped her, or at least suspect it. Despite what she’s claimed, it just doesn’t make sense how she never saw him, not even once got a close enough look to identify him after all that time. She might’ve been threatened, and she was already subjected to the power this person has. Finding out that her print was found on another victim would’ve only served to silence her further.
“Think about this, every time we press for details of her abductor, she shuts down. Most victims describe smells, feelings, things around them. With Emma, it is nothing. She might be scared to tell us everything. To tell us the truth. So, I think it’s our job to at least look into that. At least try to find the things she might be too frightened to tell us about. Maybe in time, if we can show her we know what we’re doing, she’ll open up to us a bit.”
“Wonderfully worded,” Gabe said from his desk which was across the room from theirs. He turned to Trent. “She has a point, and it’s not like we have anything else to work with. I think you should continue the search, Amelia. You never know what kind of secrets you might find. Your instinct has shown itself to be spot on plenty of times before.”
That caught Amelia a bit off guard. She suspected the only reason Gabe was siding with her was to get on her good side. He knew she didn’t like him, and this didn’t win him any favors. Yet she also felt a little off about holding onto this grudge. She knew he’d only been doing his job. It’s not like he intentionally sabotaged her. She was the one who went off the rails and lost her job. She’d probably stomped on a few feet herself on her way up, way back when.
“Thanks.” The words were rough against her tongue as they left her mouth. The look of defeat on Trent’s face was worth it, though.
“Fine, fine,” Trent said. “If you find something, I owe you. If not, well, I told you so.”
Amelia rolled her eyes and talked to her annoying friend for a few more minutes as she wolfed down her lunch. Why was he so against looking into a connection? That was something that may need to be looked into as well.
After another hour of searching, dread started to settle over her. Not only had she hoped to find something to help with the case, but her little discussion with Trent made her desperate to uncover that link. She needed to prove him wrong, and she didn’t want to hear his little “I told you so.” So she kept digging, well after she might’ve otherwise given up.
She learned that both women had attended the same elementary school as children and the same middle school until Emma was transferred to a high-end, exclusive art school. As Amelia searched through old yearbooks, she found that the two girls were always standing next to each other, smiling and laughing. They seemed like inseparable friends, up to a certain age, anyway.
Unfortunately, they grew up before social media, so it was difficult to check their profiles and find any photos dating back that far. As of recently, there were no photos of the two anywhere on the internet aside from those in the yearbooks. They never mentioned each other as far as Amelia could tell. The two weren’t even friends on any of their social media sites. They didn’t follow each other at all.
So Amelia reached out to old classmates and asked them if they knew anything about the relationship between Emma and Anna.
By the end of the night, she’d found the connection. Not only did Emma and Anna know each other, but they were the best of friends from preschool up through middle school. Then something happened. No one knew what exactly tore them apart, but the girls stopped talking. Emma transferred schools, and they moved on with their lives.
Amelia sat back as she finished up her last conversation with the fifth person who’d confirmed that Emma and Anna were once friends. Questions kept her there after most everyone else had gone home.
She’d found a connection, but did it really mean anything? It surely couldn’t be a coincidence that the two victims were friends growing up, but they hadn’t talked to each other in years by the looks of it. Why would anyone target them both now? Who else would know of the connection? Was there something Amelia was missing?
Why hadn’t Emma told the detectives when they visited that she knew Anna? That she was her best friend?
You don't forget your first best friend; that made no sense to Amelia. If the two were as close as everyone said, they wouldn’t have forgotten each other, no matter how much time went by. Just like you don’t forget your first love, you never forget your first best friend. She may not have been devastated, but at the very least she should’ve shown some emotion. But instead, she barely reacted to anything that was said.
Amelia was starting to think she was onto something. Perhaps Emma did know who had kidnapped her, did know the connection, and had just been too afraid to share it with her. Finding out that her old best friend had been targeted probably tore her up inside. Someone had clearly terrified her into silence.
But Amelia knew that she needed Emma to tell them everything for this case to gain ground, to catch the killer before anyone else could get hurt. As scared as Emma might be, she had to get her to open up. There had to be a way.
Amelia left, processing all she knew and trying to come up with the best way to approach Emma and figure out what she was hiding. She was determined to do so, no matter what it took. This bastard was never going to harm another innocent woman ever again.
Chapter Twenty-One
Amelia walked into work with one coffee the next morning, even though she was late. Trent glared when she stepped inside. The chill that greeted her lit a little fire in her heart. She wouldn’t spill her secrets yet. Not until he was really irritated and could feel bad for snapping at her.
She sipped her coffee, though she didn’t really need it, not after the great night’s sleep she had. As she set it down, she smiled, alert and refreshed. She was so much more productive on a bit of sleep.
“So, I see yesterday was just a fluke,” Trent snapped. His sarcasm sent everyone’s gazes away. They didn’t want to be part of this. Amelia just smiled. “It’s not a joke, Amelia. You can’t keep coming in late! I’ve told you a million times that I can’t keep putting myself on the line for you. You need to be here. Be present and…”
“First off, I was on time for almost a week, so it wasn’t just a one-day thing,” she interrupted, already bored with his badgering. “Secondly, I’m only late because I stopped on my way in for a witness statement for the connection I found. It’s more than what you’ve managed lately.”
“No…” His face twisted into a mix of curiosity, disbelief, and surprise as Gabe turned back to listen.
“Yes,” she smiled. “I found a connection!”
“No way! A connection beyond just the fact that they live in relatively the same area?”
“Duh. Who do you take me for? I’m not about to brag about something so small and menial. I found
a true, relevant connection, and I have a theory surrounding it. Though it is just a theory. Not anything you should put too much stock into.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Trent scoffed. “I know what a theory is. Just tell us what you found.”
Amelia grinned. This was the part about her job that invigorated her, where that crazy passion was born. She loved the chase. There was nothing quite as wonderful as putting all the pieces together to form a puzzle that looked like justice.
She hated all the terrible things that happened around the world. Watching chaos made her feel helpless, and she wanted to be a hero, just like the lady who had saved her when she was younger. Yet even though these parts weren’t glamorous or as exciting as busting down doors, she knew just how important they were. She could barely contain the pride beaming from her.
“They were friends,” she said as she powered up her computer to show them the truth of what she found. “Best friends until about middle school. They knew each other since they were little and spent a lot of time together. Anyone who knew Emma back then would know about their friendship. As would anyone who took the proper time to dig into her history now. But a stranger would have no clue. The women hadn’t talked in almost two decades. An outsider would never make the connection.”
“So, it must be someone close to her,” Trent said as he stood next to Amelia and gazed at the computer screen. “Someone who knew her back then or someone who has spent enough time around her to find out about the connection. I think it’s more likely someone from way back, as why would anyone go through all that effort when they could’ve just kidnapped a friend she has now?”
“I agree,” Amelia said. “I think the killer probably is someone close to Emma, which could also be why he let her live. At the very least, it’s got to be someone she’s known since she was a child.”
“But why didn’t she tell us? That’s what I don’t get. Maybe she didn’t remember, but I can’t see how she wouldn’t have. We went to talk to her. Why didn’t she tell us then that she was once friends with our victim?”
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