by Nic Joseph
He stared at me silently, the same tension on his face that had been there the night before. When I finished, he finally spoke.
“Did you tell them about the money?”
I nodded quickly. “Of course,” I said. “I told them why I did it but that it was no excuse. And they said that they’ll be monitoring our accounts for a while.”
Keith opened his mouth to say something else, so I kept talking so as not to give him an opportunity to edge himself in.
“It was crazy, sitting there one room over from a murderer. You should’ve seen the way the detective was looking at me. It was horrible—”
“Paula,” he said, cutting me off. “Did you tell them about the money? I mean, did you tell them everything?”
“I—”
“Did you tell them that it wasn’t Hooks who broke in and stole the money?” he pressed. “Did you tell them what I did?”
I sighed and took a deep breath. I thought back to his words the previous night: Stop talking, my turn. I thought about the way he’d broken down and told me the truth.
I thought about my confession, and his.
And then I shook my head.
“No,” I said. “I didn’t tell them.”
I was a good person.
Keith had told me that he was the one responsible for the break-in. He’d seen me storing the money the night I’d gotten it from Hooks and had arranged to steal it. The temptation for someone who’d struggled with gambling addiction had been too strong; he’d hired a kid from the swim team to do it, one who hadn’t traveled with them to Indianapolis.
“You told me you were going to be at the diner until seven that morning,” he’d said, his voice cracking. “I’d been thinking about the money ever since I saw it, and I couldn’t think of another way to take it. I’d talked to Jimmy about it, just in passing, but didn’t really decide to act on it until you told me you had to work late that day. I texted him from the bus and told him to take some treats for Shelby, to tear the place up a bit before taking the money out of the bathroom. He didn’t want to hurt you. He didn’t even know you were there! He was just coming to the bedroom to try to calm Shelby down. I never would’ve put you in that situation. I’m so, so sorry.”
Then, he opened up with one more confession.
“I’ve already gambled half of it away.”
He’d stared at me, sadness, embarrassment, and disappointment in his eyes. I could tell he was holding his breath as he waited for my reaction. I knew I should scream, cry, or storm out of the room, the memory of the fear I’d felt that night washing over me in a wave of sickness.
But I reminded myself, it was just that.
A memory.
It was time we started to move forward.
“Half of it?” I’d asked levelly. “What about the rest? Do you still have it?”
Keith had stared at me for a moment, understanding settling on his face, and he’d nodded.
We’d have to be careful about how we used it, since Detective Puhl would be watching.
With or without the money, we would get past this.
We were good people.
But I’d be damned if the money wouldn’t help.
Reading Group Guide
1. What factors led to Paula’s decision to blackmail Ryan Hooks? If you were in Paula’s financial situation, what would you do with Hooks’s phone?
2. Why do you think Paula jumped to conclusions about the relationship between Ryan and Emma? What clues did she miss? How did the memories of her mother’s illness and her parents’ relationship affect Paula’s decision-making? How did it affect Paula and Keith’s relationship?
3. Why do you think Keith was against having the surgery? Why was Paula pushing for it? What do you think caused this disconnect in their relationship?
4 Why do you think Emma fascinated Paula? How are the two women different? Similar?
5. After everything Paula did, Claire seems to trust her more than she trusts Emma Bentley, following the interrogations. Why do you think that is?
6. Describe Paula’s relationship with the truth. How was she able to convince herself that it was okay to lie to her family and friends?
7. Do you think it’s ever okay to lie to someone you love? Explain.
8. Is Paula a good person?
A Conversation with the Author
Where did you get the inspiration for The Night in Question?
I take a lot of rideshares. One day, I was chatting with a driver about all the things he’d seen during his brief stint as a driver. He laughed and said I wouldn’t believe some of the stories. He looked up at me in the rearview mirror as he said this, and that’s a scene that made it into The Night in Question. I took out my phone during that ride and made a note to explore a story about a rideshare driver who saw something she shouldn’t have seen. It spiraled from there.
I love writing and reading stories about good people who convince themselves that it’s okay to do bad things. I think those kinds of stories are easy to relate to because we’ve all been in tough spots where we had to make a choice about what kind of person we were going to be in that moment. Paula makes a bad choice and must deal with the consequences of that decision.
Do you think Paula is a likable character?
I do! I think readers may vary in their reactions to her choices, but I think they’ll see that she, at the very least, thinks she’s doing her best. She’s convinced herself that she and her husband need the money much more than Ryan Hooks does and that what she’s doing isn’t all that bad. Not great, certainly, but not unforgivable. That’s important to her.
Why are so many of your books based in Chicago and/or the Midwest?
Chicago is a vibrant and diverse city with so much to do and learn every single day. It’s also my home—I’ve lived here for all but three years of my life. I grew up in the south suburbs, went to graduate school in the north suburbs, and currently live in the city. While a little part of it is “writing what you know,” it’s no secret that Chicago has always been an amazing backdrop for crime, mystery, and suspense, and I’m happy to have the opportunity to add my voice to that.
Have you ever stopped writing a novel halfway through?
No, I haven’t. That’s because I rarely get halfway through a story without knowing where the rest of it is going to go. I am a heavy outliner, so I have a good sense of how a story is going to turn out by the time I’ve written the first chapter. I often put stories away for a while and come back to them, just to give them some time to breathe. But my unfinished manuscripts tend to be pages long, not chapters.
So how many (brief) unpublished books do you have in a drawer somewhere?
It’s hard to say! Probably ten to fifteen, in various stages. I haven’t given up on them yet!
When you develop characters, do you already know who they are before you begin writing, or do you let them develop as you go?
I know the basics about them when I start writing—their primary motivations, their backgrounds, their hobbies. But I definitely like to let them grow and develop along the way. A scene near the end of the book might give me a clue about how a character would react to something earlier in the novel, and I’ll go back and add in a detail. It’s fun to be able to watch characters come to life during the writing (and even editing) process.
What are some of the common themes in your work?
My suspense novels are very family-driven, with the major conflict often centering around relationships between parents and children, siblings, and spouses. I think that’s because it’s our deepest relationships that test us the most. Those are the ones we’ll risk everything for and for which we’ll put everything on the line.
What writing habits are you trying to break?
Writing stories in my head while I’m in the middle of a conversation…humor that bor
ders on snark…oh, and overusing ellipses…!
Acknowledgments
As always, I would like to thank my family and friends for their seemingly endless supply of love, support, excitement, and encouragement. Thanks, too, to my book family—Shana, MJ, Barbara, and the rest of the Sourcebooks and IGLA teams. And a special shout-out to The Book Cellar in Lincoln Square for supporting new authors and creating a space for people who love books to meet, mingle, and discuss.
To the many readers who have taken the time to reach out via email, social media, or at conferences and panels over the past two years—thank you for your kind words, your ideas, and, above all, your incredible imaginations.
About the Author
© Damian Chaplin
Nic Joseph is fascinated by the very good reasons that make people do very bad things. She writes thrillers and suspense novels from her home in Chicago. As a trained journalist, Nic has written about everything from health care and business to aerospace and IT, but she feels most at home when there’s a murder to be solved on the next page. Nic holds a bachelor of science in journalism and a master of arts in communications, both from Northwestern University. Visit nicjoseph.com or follow her on Twitter @nickeljoseph.
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