“We put out a report for the baby. I know, it’s a long shot but we’re trying. We’re going to try and find her, Miss Keller.”
“That’s what you said about Blair.”
***
Emily stared back at the black purse on the kitchen table. This was all she had left of Blair.
A purse.
Emily picked it up and held it to her nose, inhaling the sweet smell of coconut. It still smelled just like her, as if she’d just dropped it on the table. Emily’s lips trembled as she turned the purse upside down, emptying all of the contents on the table. Emily combed through the items: a tube of lipstick, a makeup bag, and an abundance of pens and receipts. She was a receipt hoarder just like her mom. Emily smiled as she reached forward, grabbing the small black wallet. She pulled the wallet open, staring down at Blair’s driver's license staring back at her, her smiling face beaming back at the camera. Emily closed her eyes. Warm tears ran down her cheeks.
“I’m so sorry, baby.” Emily sniffled. “I’m so sorry,” Emily cried as she ran her finger along the slick surface of the license inside. She looked in the money slot of the wallet: several hundred-dollar bills inside. “My God,” Emily said as she pulled the large wad of hundreds out, sifting through them.
Nine-hundred dollars.
Where the hell did she get this kind of money? Why was it in her purse and not in her account? Emily set the bills on the table in front of her and looked back in the money slot. She found a single receipt and pulled it out. She smoothed out the small, crinkled receipt on the wooden surface of the table.
It was a deposit receipt.
From the Elwood Regional Bank.
Emily’s eyes drifted down the receipt to see the deposit amount at the very bottom:
$10,000
“What in the hell?” Emily asked, her eyebrows rising as she shook her head to herself. She reached forward and grabbed her cellphone from the table, then dialed the phone number at the top of the receipt.
“Hello, thank you for calling Elwood Regional Bank! This is Cheryl! How can I assist you today?” a chipper woman said on the line.
“Yes, this is Blair Bradley,” Emily lied as she stared at the receipt in front of her. “I just needed to check a couple of weird transactions on my account.”
“All right, for security purposes, can you please tell me the last four digits of your social?”
“Yes, it’s—” She had to retrieve Blair’s social security card from behind her driver’s license. “Eight, three, eight, eight.”
“All right, thank you so much for that, Miss Bradley. Now, how may I assist you today?”
“Yes, I noticed in my account that I have a ten-thousand-dollar deposit. Can you tell me my current balance?”
“Yes, ma’am, your current balance is fifteen-thousand thirty-one dollars and forty-seven cents.”
Emily’s eyed widened as she nearly dropped the phone. How the hell did Blair get her hands on this kind of money? What exactly was she up to?
“All right, thank you,” Emily said. “Now, if I’m not mistaken, I recently made a deposit for ten thousand. I have numerous clients, so I just wanted to double-check and see whose check that was. I apologize, I’m just double-checking my records and need to be sure,” Emily lied.
“Of course, ma’am. We actually keep a photocopy of all checks. I’ve got it up right here.”
“That’s amazing.” Emily nodded. “Can you tell me who wrote it?”
game over
“I still can’t believe it was that professor,” Kate McCallister said as she shook her head to herself, staring back at Emily from across her kitchen table.
“I know, it’s just so crazy. I mean, I guess I can sleep soundly now knowing that the person who did it is dead.” Emily nodded.
“I just want you to know that we are here for you. No matter what has happened between us, you know that I’m always around. You know our door is always open.” Kate smiled as she reached across the table and grabbed Emily’s hand.
“Is that what you told Blair?” Emily asked, her eyes burning into Kate. Kate slowly pulled her hand away from Emily’s as she sat up in her chair.
“What?”
“Why did you deposit ten-thousand dollars into my daughter’s account, Kate?” Emily asked as she shook her head.
“I guess you found out.” Kate nodded. “This isn’t how I wanted this to go.”
“Not how you wanted what to go, exactly?” Emily asked.
“Blair reached out to me and asked me for help. She said that Mitch was running behind on her tuition payment and that she was at risk of being kicked out. I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you’d just be pissed.”
“I guess that’s a reasonable response,” Emily said as she leaned back into her chair. “Or—”
“Or what?” Kate asked as her leg bounced nervously beneath her kitchen table.
“Or it was hush money,” Emily said.
“Hush money for what exactly?”
“You knew what happened between her and Greg, didn’t you?” Emily asked.
“Are we really going to do this again, Emily?” Kate growled.
“You knew and you had to shut her up, didn’t you? So, you paid for her silence.”
“Emily, don’t do this. Don’t start throwing these accusations around again,” Kate said, pointing her finger at Emily.
“They’re not accusations, they’re facts,” Emily said as she stood up. “Did you know about the baby?”
“I can’t do this right now. I want you to leave,” Kate growled as she stood up and spun around, making her way toward the kitchen island across from the table as she rubbed her large baby bump with her hand.
“Why? Because you know the truth; you’ve known the
