“Why?” Emily screamed, throwing a rock at a tree. She obviously hadn’t even noticed Sam was there yet.
“He doesn’t deserve to get out! He ruined our family! He ruined our lives!” She was bawling even more now, and she sank to her knees. She pitched one more rock before submitting to the tears. Somehow she ended up leaning against the trunk of the giant oak tree.
Sam moved forward and sat down beside her.
She stood and tried to wipe away the tears, but it was of no use. Finally, she sank back to the ground and let Sam wrap his arms around her shoulders.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked.
“Not really,” she answered through her tears.
Sam left it at that and just let her cry to her heart’s content. This was good. This was progress. She had never let him so close to her vulnerable heart before. After she had settled down, he tried again.
“How did he ruin your life?” he asked.
She took a shaky breath. “Do I have to?”
“No. But it will make you feel better.”
She nodded, resting her head against his shoulder again. “Where do I start?”
“The beginning.”
She smiled slightly and sat up, hugging her knees to her chest. “He worked with my mom and had just gotten a divorce. She fell for him and left my dad to marry him. He seemed like such a nice person until after they were married. He was abusive. Never to her, but to…my little sister, Lani. Mom got custody of her in the divorce and dad got custody of me. Lester threatened to hurt me, too, if I ever told anyone, but one day I had just had enough and I told dad.”
“Then what? Did Lester start abusing you, too?”
Emily shook her head. “He never touched me. But one day, after the police had come to investigate, he...he killed Lani. I was in the room. One minute he was asking Lani a question and the next thing I knew he had a baseball bat in his hands and he hit Lani in the side of the head with it. She died instantly. I saw by the look in his eyes that it was pre-meditated. His lawyer managed to get the jury to believe that it was involuntary manslaughter. They said he had a pre-existing condition that made him spontaneously fly into a blind rage, and afterward he couldn’t remember what he did. Someone botched up the forensic evidence, and the jury believed him.”
“He should have been on death row, and instead he got life in prison,” Sam guessed. This explained so much. Her heart for little girls, her degree in forensic science, even her determination to never let evidence be stolen again.
Emily swiped at her tears and nodded. “And now he’s escaped.”
Sam nodded in understanding and stood up. He held out his hand. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” she asked in confusion.
“Back inside. Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time of celebration, not mourning.”
Emily nodded and stood. She walked toward the door and disappeared inside.
Sam looked just inside the door and saw Mark standing to the left. He wondered why her father would let a complete stranger comfort his only living daughter.
“How long have you been there?” he asked.
“Long enough,” Mark replied with a nod. “She hasn’t ever told anyone about that day. Not even me. I had no idea.” The tears were lying just below the rim of his eyes.
Well, that explained a lot, Sam thought to himself.
“Now the healing can begin,” Sam said. He smiled and patted Mark’s arm. “She’ll be alright.”
“As long as she survives this stalker thing.”
“She will,” Sam assured him. “Just as long as you don’t let on that you know.” He passed Mark and returned to the living room.
Emily had dried her eyes and was sitting next to Rosie. She was smiling again, watching the brunette explain a lively story with her hands.
Sam smiled with her. He admitted again to himself that he loved her smile, and he wished he saw it more often.
Emily saw Sam re-enter the room and hoped that he hadn’t told her father what she had said. She had been meaning to tell him herself. For years now, she had bottled it up. Why, oh why, had she ever told Sam that horrible account from her childhood?
“Emily,” Rosie said from beside her. Her eyebrows raised in a questioning gesture.
“Yeah, sorry, you were saying?” she snapped back to attention, plastering a smile on her face.
Rosie looked toward the doorway and grinned. “You like him?”
Emily laughed at the younger woman. “You think I like him?”
Rosie shrugged and smiled. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
Emily took up the offer. It would be good to change the subject; she did not want to go where that topic was leading. “The lead was cold?”
Rosie nodded. “If it could even be trusted in the first place. I’m tired of empty phone calls.”
Emily nodded, understanding the feeling. “Are you still teaching?”
Rosie nodded. “Eighth grade algebra. It’s hard, but I can manage by looking at the answers.” She ducked her head and smiled. “The kids are great.”
Emily smiled back and cocked her head. There were so many other questions. Rosie was special. Emily had always thought she was special.
“How’s your mom?”
Rosie laughed briefly. “Not great. Still into the same old lifestyle. Still pretty as ever, which doesn’t help.” She ended in a whisper.
Emily felt at a loss to what else to say. Thankfully, Jewel sank onto the couch by her.
“Nate says he’s ready to cut the pie,” she said cheerily.
Emily laughed. “Nate is always ready for pie.” He hardly ever stopped eating.
“I told him you would say to wait.” She glanced at Rosie. “So, who’s your friend?”
Emily smiled. “This is Rosie. Rosie, this is Jewel.”
Rosie turned and smiled at her. “Nice to meet you. Emily talks about you a lot.”
“So I’ve been told,” Jewel answered. The two hit it off immediately, so Emily walked out of the room and leaned on one of the bedroom doors.
So many things were going on inside her head and she didn’t know which to pay attention to first. She wished the noise constantly inside her brain would die away. She plugged her ears and tried to drown them out with silence. It didn’t work.
“So, how’d you meet Rosie?” Sam asked, coming up beside her.
Emily sighed. “She came into church one Sunday, ended up going to lunch with me. It was years ago. She told me her story and it connected with me. I offered her a place to stay and she’s become like family. She hasn’t been back to church since then, though.”
Sam nodded. His eyes held concern, but she wasn't about to spill anything else.
Emily smiled weakly. He didn’t know. Nobody knew how close the two had become. If anything happened to the other, they would just about die. Emily knew that Rosie worried about her, she just couldn’t tell her about the stalker. Not yet.
“Excuse me,” she muttered. She nearly raced back to the living room, wanting something to divert her attention. She had to figure out who this guy was. Soon. She didn’t think she could take it much longer.
“Are you ok, Em?” Nate asked. He stood next to her and gently rested a hand on her shoulder.
“Yeah. Just, I don’t know, tired maybe?” She shrugged. “It’s been a weird day. Not to mention I can’t believe Lester escaped from prison. It’s…it’s just weird. That’s the only thing I know that will describe it.”
Nate nodded. “I understand completely. You wouldn’t believe some of the demons I have in my past.”
Emily smiled and shook her head. He didn’t have that many demons. Nate Wesley was just about perfect.
“Like what?” she asked.
“Things from my childhood. My dad and I didn’t have the greatest relationship. It was my fault that Quinn ended up in prison. My fault Valerie had to run away from home.” He referred to his younger siblings and shrugged. �
�My fault that Valerie didn’t have her father at her wedding. I feel so responsible as the oldest child.”
Emily smiled. “That’s why I love you, Nate,” she said quietly.
“Aw, gee thanks. Love you too. Like a sister, mind you.”
She giggled. “Yeah. I know. But you have this uncanny knack of bearing your soul to people. No secrets, no regrets.”
He smiled bigger. “Do you feel better now?”
She shrugged. “I guess.”
“Great! So can we cut the pie?” He pleaded.
She shook her head. “Sure.” She led the way to the kitchen and both the sweet potato and the pumpkin pie. She grabbed a knife and uncovered the still-warm sweet potato pie. She carefully positioned the knife.
Nate hovered behind her. “No, just a little to the left.” He moved her hand over.
“Nate,” Emily asked sweetly, “would you like to cut the pie yourself?”
“No. Not really. But since you asked…” he let the sentence hang and shrugged his shoulders.
She rolled her eyes and handed him the knife. He cut a large slice and then a second smaller slice and placed them on a plate.
Emily finished cutting the pies and a cake and followed him into the living room. “Pie’s cut,” she announced. Half the room ran for the kitchen.
Emily laughed. Her friends were great. She couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed like this. She glanced across the room and watched as Nate sat down next to Jewel.
Jewel smiled at the second piece of pie and grabbed a fork. “You really need to stop feeding my sugar fetish,” She announced as she stuffed a bite into her mouth.
“Among other things,” Emily muttered.
Jewel motioned to the seat beside her. “Come talk.”
Emily raced to sit down before someone came back and took the seat on the couch. Thanksgiving hadn’t been so fun in years. Inviting her friends was her father’s best idea ever. Maybe, deep down, he knew that it would make her smile. She made a mental note to thank him and turned so that she faced Jewel.
Nate had thrown his arm around Jewel’s shoulders and she let it rest where it had landed.
“So,” Jewel began, “I saw Sam follow you out of the room like three times now. What are you two up to?” She stole part of Nate’s piece of pie and made a face when he protested.
Emily took that time to regain her composure. Jewel was far too observant sometimes.
“He was just making sure I was ok. As always.” She tried to roll her eyes but couldn’t quite make herself do it. She was glad he had made sure she was alright.
“No need to be defensive about it. Sorry that Clinton Mayer couldn’t make it.”
“It’s ok. I heard that he got a suspicious phone call.”
Jewel dropped her fork onto the plate and turned a little bit to face Emily. “Sam told you about that? Isn’t it weird?”
“Totally. Why would he be receiving suspicious phone calls? He’s a writer, for Pete’s sake, not a law enforcement agent.”
Jewel screeched. “Maybe that’s it!”
Emily raised her eyebrows. “Really, Jewel?”
“Well, it would explain a lot. I mean, why can’t he be undercover or something?”
“Jewel, he’s a multi-million-dollar novel-writing machine. There is no way that he’s undercover.”
“Who?” asked Sam as he sat down on the chair by Nate.
“Clinton Mayer,” Jewel answered. “What do you think of my theory? He could totally be an undercover agent, right?”
Sam shrugged and stole a bite of Nate’s pie.
Nate threw his hands in the air. “Ok, what is this? Steal Nate’s pie day?” He glanced at Jewel and then at Sam.
“It’s just because you’re an amazing person,” Sam said mischievously.
Nate glared at him. “No more pie for either of you!” he pointed his fork at Jewel and then Sam.
“I'm finished anyway,” Jewel pointed out. She turned back to Emily. “Sam’s on my side with this.”
Emily shook her head. “I still don’t think it’s feasible.”
Nate licked the last of the pie off of his fork. “Well, we could just say it’s feasible but unlikely. If I was in New York, I could check him out for you. Wait a second, that’s why we have the Internet.” He smiled and stood to take his plate to the kitchen.
Emily laughed. Nate certainly brightened up everyone’s day, and his antics were the best thing that had ever happened to FBI Special Agent Sam Kent. If she didn’t know better, she would think he did it on purpose.
Her phone chose that moment to ring. She didn’t recognize the number, but the area code looked familiar.
“Hello?” she said hesitantly.
“Emily, it’s your mother. Please don’t hang up.” She sounded like she was crying.
“What is it, mom?” She asked stiffly.
“Look, I know I ran out this morning, but I need someone to talk to and your father wouldn’t understand.”
It was all she could do to concentrate on what her mother was saying. Ran out this morning? What about sixteen years ago when she had run out on her family? Where was the apology for that? She forced herself to remain cordial and calm.
“What wouldn’t he understand, mom?” She was intrigued as well as frustrated.
“The police think that I helped Lester escape. But I swear, Emily, I didn’t!”
Emily could imagine the tears rolling down her mother’s still-beautiful face. She had always thought her mother was beautiful.
“Why do they think you helped him?”
“I don’t know! Something about a letter and my frequent visits. I wrote a letter, Emily, but only because I couldn’t come see him for a while. I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t…” she stopped mid-sentence.
“Couldn’t what?” Emily said, nearly under her breath.
“Couldn’t keep pretending I loved him,” her mother finished in a whisper.
Great. Her mother was so fickle. First she “fell out of love” with Mark Baker and now she was doing the same thing to Lester Herman. At the first trial of love, her mother just ran out. She hadn’t changed in the past sixteen years. Not one bit.
“I’ll help you,” Emily heard herself saying.
She had no idea where that had come from. Every fiber of her being was telling her to leave her mother out to dry, but yet she had just said she’d help her. This was way too weird.
“What?” asked her mother. She sounded completely surprised.
Emily couldn’t blame her. Even she was surprised.
“I’ll help you,” she repeated. Darn it anyway, why had she said that a second time?
“Really, Emily? You would help me? After everything I’ve done to you and your father. Why?”
Emily rolled her eyes. “To be honest with you, I don’t know.”
“Fair enough. Thank you so much, Emily.”
“I’ll get on it first thing tomorrow.” She hung up the phone and noticed Sam, Jewel and Nate all staring at her. “What?” She asked a little too harshly.
“Who are you helping?” Sam asked.
“My mother,” Emily spat back. She pocketed her phone and shrugged.
“You mean that woman you were practically frigid to earlier?”
She nodded. “Yep. That would be her.”
Why did he have to pester her about it? She already felt bad enough. She didn’t want to help her mother, but now she had to. She didn’t even like her mother that much. The woman had ruined her life. Why, then, did she have to help her so desperately? It was a mystery to her and she just wanted to change the subject.
“So,” Jewel started timidly.
“Yep,” Nate said. He glanced momentarily at the floor.
“How was the pie?” Emily asked, perking up and smiling.
“It was excellent,” Sam said, obviously trying to help her start a normal conversation.
“Look, they aren’t going to let go of the subject of your mother, so w
hy don’t you just tell them why you don’t like her?” Jewel blurted, obviously without thinking.
Emily sighed. She didn’t want all of this to be coming out. Not here, not now. She swallowed a few tears and looked to the floor.
“She testified for him,” she confessed. It hurt just as much to say it now as it did to see it sixteen years ago.
Jewel and Nate exchanged a glance.
“For whom?” Nate asked.
Emily stood. “Sam can tell you.” She looked at him with pleading eyes.
Sam nodded gently.
She smiled wanly and marched to the kitchen. Standing by the sink, she let the tears falling down her face mingle with the running water.
“I heard what you told Sam,” Her father said from behind her.
She nodded.
He turned off the water and handed her a towel. When she had dried her hands, he pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“I don’t know. You knew she died, but you didn’t know I was there. I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Sweetheart, I wouldn’t blame you. I would have understood.”
“But you didn’t know how horrible it was. You didn’t know.” She broke down again.
She was so tired of crying. It was supposed to be a holiday, for Pete’s sake. She was supposed to be having a wonderful time, smiling and laughing. Instead, she was bearing her feelings to everyone and bawling her head off. This wasn’t working for her.
She pushed away and wiped her tears. “Where’d Rosie go?”
“She’s out there somewhere,” he answered, managing a smile. “Hey, if you ever need to talk, I’m here.”
She nodded and headed for the living room again. Rosie sat on the couch with Jewel, so Emily braced herself and walked over with a smile.
Sam finished the story moments before Emily re-entered the room. Rosie had joined them and simply nodded at everything he had to say. Something made him wonder if she had heard all this before. If she and Emily were as close as they let on, then she probably had. He smiled at her and turned his attention back to Emily.
Eminent Danger Page 5