“Wow.” Emery bit her lip. “Tobias didn’t get in trouble for what he’d done?”
“He did. They tried him as an adult, and he spent many years in prison. As a matter of fact, he’s only been out for eighteen months.”
“And you’ve forgiven him?” Emery asked, as shocked as she was impressed.
“There were a lot of mitigating factors to what happened—factors I couldn’t take into account at the time. The way he was raised. The lack of intention. The severity of his punishment. The remorse he felt. It’s taken me years, but I’ve finally come to terms with it all, and with him.”
“What about Atticus?”
“He was able to forgive before I could.”
“Wow.” Emery puffed out her cheeks before letting the air go. “I had no idea. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of anything like that before.”
“No doubt about it—it’s a tragedy. Although I’m sure we’re not, I hope we’re the only ones something like that ever happens to,” she said as she returned to filling the display windows.
Emery moved one of the empty trays out of her way. “No wonder he takes such good care of you.”
“It’s hard to believe, but I love him now,” Susan said simply.
Someone walked in, so Emery took their order and rang them up, after which she said to Susan, “Are you really okay if I go to Boston?”
“I’ll be fine,” Susan reassured her.
Relieved that her employer, who’d become her friend, wasn’t disappointed, Emery hugged her. “Thank you for hiring me. I know I haven’t been here long, but this job has been really good for me. And I’m not only referring to the money. It forced me to get out and interact with people when all I wanted to do was hide, and that was such an important first step to facing the world after...after what Ethan did.”
“What he did was so unfair. But you’ll put it behind you eventually, just like we’ve put our tragedy behind us. You’re a strong woman. You’ll rise to the top again. And I hope he rots in hell,” she added.
Emery was laughing at that comment when the bell sounded over the door. Because Susan was intent on finishing the baking, she walked into the back so that Emery could wait on what would be their second customer of the day. But it wasn’t a customer; it was Officer Valentino.
“Good morning.” The officer rested her hands on her gun belt. “I saw the Open sign and thought I’d stop in to let you know that we’ve done everything we can to locate the man who assaulted you Friday night. We’ve talked to everyone who was at the Blue Suede Shoe, but we haven’t had any success. Several people saw him, but no one can tell us his name, where he’s from, anything that would enable us to track him down. He must’ve come from out of town.”
“No one saw what he was driving?” Emery had slid to the ground after he choked her, hadn’t even considered following him. She’d been too weak and shaky to even stand as she gulped in the air she’d been denied.
Now she wished she’d managed to do more.
“Nothing that will help,” Officer Valentino said. “One couple claims he left in a white SUV, but you know how many of those are on the road. Without a license plate or something else...”
“There’s nothing more you can do.”
“I’m afraid not.”
Damn it. Ethan was going to get away with this, too. “Thank you for trying,” she said with a sigh.
“We’ll continue to keep our eyes open. It’s possible he’ll turn up.”
Not if he was smart. Emery guessed he lived in LA and would have no reason to come back to Silver Springs—not if she was in Boston and no longer around to bully and threaten.
As soon as Officer Valentino left, she texted her attorney:
Any word from Tommy?
It was a Sunday—not what she would expect to be working hours for an attorney—so she was surprised when she received a response: Nothing.
Are we going to be able to win this case?
All we can do is try.
That didn’t give her a lot of confidence.
She texted Tommy again even though he’d never responded to her the last time.
If you know something, please speak up. Ethan had someone threaten me with bodily harm on Friday night if I didn’t drop the suit. I still have the bruises around my neck from where he choked me.
She stared at her phone, silently willing Tommy to have some compassion. But when he didn’t reply, she gave up and shoved it in her pocket. The store was getting busy. She couldn’t continue to deal with her personal problems at work.
It was three hours later, when she took lunch and pulled out her phone to text her mother with her flight information, that she found Tommy had actually sent a message in reply: I’d drop the suit.
Her mouth fell open.
And let him get away with what he’s done?
It’s better than getting hurt.
No way. I won’t do that.
But he wouldn’t engage again.
Because her car would be safer in Silver Springs, and Aiyana had texted Dallas to say that it was okay for her to leave it at the school, Dallas drove Emery to LA after she got off work. Her flight wasn’t until midafternoon the following day, but traffic could be uncertain, especially coming from almost two hours away, so she wanted to be closer to the airport. She also wanted to repack her bags with warmer clothing and check on her apartment before flying off to Boston.
They didn’t arrive until after seven, so he insisted on taking her out for a nice dinner before they went to her place. He hadn’t mentioned staying over, so when he carried her luggage up to her apartment, she assumed she’d take an Uber to LAX tomorrow.
Her apartment wasn’t in the best possible shape. Seeing it through Dallas’s eyes made it even worse. Dirty
