Chapter 16

After a fitful night's sleep, Jep was grumpy and disheveled. Lawson had sent him on a pointless errand after he'd returned to the office, and the word was that Jade wasn't in a cooperating mood. Hopefully, with a little time locked up, that would change.

When he entered the office, he saw Emery at her desk, running her finger back and forth across the side of her temple. He went over to see her.

"Hey," he said.

She jumped. "Sorry, I was lost in thought."

"I didn't mean to scare you. You do okay last night?"

"Yeah. I slept pretty well, actually. Surprisingly."

"You didn't want to take time off? You can, you know. In fact, I'm surprised Lawson let you back into the office." He dragged a chair from a nearby desk and sat.

"All I got from him was a frown. Then he sent Pearce over."

"To do what?"

"Be the nice guy. Tell me I look tired, and I should go home for the rest of the week."

"It's not bad advice."

"Oh yeah? Go home and do what? Wander around my house? Stare at the wall as I endlessly pace? If the tables were turned, I'm sure you would jump at the opportunity."

"Good point. Work is better."

Em fidgeted with her pen. "Did you hear they're bringing my aunt in for questioning?"

"I did, yeah. Have you spoken to her? Do you know how she's taking it?"

"No idea. They didn't want me to have any contact with her."

"I'm not surprised."

"She's tough. She'll be okay, although I'd be surprised if she has anything helpful to add. Neither one of us knows much about Jade at all."

"You'd be surprised what one small piece of information can do. It could give us leverage to get Jade to open up."

"I hope they'll let Carla know what's going on so we can talk about it later."

"They'll give her as little as they can, but if she's smart, she'll piece it together."

"It wouldn't be the first time Jade's gotten herself stuck in a bad situation. But she's always weaseled her way out again."

"That won't happen this time."

"I know." She rubbed at her head again. "I hope she's smart and cooperates. I don't know why she wouldn't, but if she's really bought into these ideals, anything's possible."

He pointed toward her head. "Is that a headache? Or did you get hurt?"

She pulled her hand away and looked at her fingers. "I don't know I'm doing it half the time. It's 'cause I'm worried about Jade." She pushed her hair out of the way. "Old injury."

He had to lean in to see it. "Oh yeah. There it is. Little baby scar."

She shook her head in mock indignation. "It hurt when it happened."

"I hope the story is better than the damage."

"I was eight. Jade and I were playing at a creek down the road from where we lived. I slipped on the rocks and fell in. Bumped my head when I hit the water. It was the one time in my life my sister looked out for me."

"I doubt that's true. You probably just don't remember the others."

"The only person my sister has ever been interested in is herself. The only way I could even get her to come to the creek with me is if I promised to give her my dessert at dinner."

"Ouch. Your parents never noticed?"

"Are you kidding? Jade learned it from our mom. You never got anything for nothing with her either. I did all the laundry so she'd come to my room and say goodnight to me when I went to bed—I don't know why I'm telling you all of this."

"Sounds like you had it rough growing up."

"I shouldn't complain. I know others had it worse than I did. You saw a guy die when you were a kid."

"That doesn't lessen your pain. Was your dad around at all?"

"He was a very successful salesman for a pharmaceutical company, so he was away a lot."

"At least it put food on the table."

"This might sound weird, but it would have been better if he couldn't."

"That does sound weird."

"If my mom had had to work, maybe things would have been different. I don't know if she drank because she was bored or not, but I can't remember a time she wasn't off her face. If she had a job to go to, maybe it would have kept her sober."

"Where does your aunt fit into all of this?"

"After my dad left us, my mom…she didn't cope. Eventually it got so bad the neighbors called child services, and that's when Jade and I went to live with Carla. The saddest part was that I can't remember feeling sad. I was just relieved. For the first time in my life, I knew what it meant to have someone look after you."

"Then I'm glad you had your aunt. That's tough."

She shrugged. "It had a happy ending…until now."

"It could have been worse."

"I guess so. It's a hard argument to take hold of, though. It's like telling a kid to eat their vegetables because there are starving kids in Africa. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What's your story? Did you know your parents?"

"You really want to go there?"

"It will help take my mind off everything."

"There's not much to tell."

"Yesterday you said you saw a man knifed in the street. That's a lot, and that's only one story."

"My life is pretty stock standard for a kid on the wrong side of the tracks."

"Yeah?" She leaned forward in interest, so Jep relented with a sigh.

"I never knew my dad," he said.

"Any siblings?"

"Probably should have, but no."

"Should have?"

"My mom was a prostitute. Loved me as best as she could, but…I spent most of the time looking after myself like you. If she ever got pregnant again, she took care of it before I knew anything about it."

"Oh."

"Don't feel sorry for me. I don't. It's like you said, we all have a hard story to tell. I've made peace with my past."

"Is that why you wanted to help that girl from the other day? Did she remind you of your mom?"

Jep shrugged. "I didn't even think about it that way, but maybe. That could explain my lapse in judgement."

"That wasn't a lapse in judgement. It was unforeseen."

"We'll agree to disagree."

"Just think about how much worse it could have been." Em's eyes shifted over his shoulder, and he turned to see a woman in her fifties approaching with a big smile on her face. She slid up to Jep with both her hands reaching for his.

He stood to greet her. "Good morning. You must be Carla."

"Hi there," she said, squeezing his fingers. "I am, indeed. And who might you be?"

"Don't mind her," Em said to Jep. "She's informal with everyone."

"Not a bad way to be," Jep said. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Jep Booth."

Carla pressed her lips together and sent a quick look to Emery. "Is Jep short for something?"

"Jephthah."

"Hang on," Em said. "I didn't know that."

"You probably never asked," Carla said. "That's an unusual name, Jep."

"That's why I go with the shortened version. It's easier on everyone."

"What's the origin?"

"Hebrew, I think."

"Interesting. Was your mom religious?"

"No. Not at all. I have no idea what gave her the idea. Now, if you ladies will excuse me, Carla, I'll let the assistant director know you're here."

Carla twisted as she sat in the chair Jep had been using so she could watch him walk away. " That's Jep?"

"Don't."

"I didn't. I mean—I did. Oh my goodness. He is—" She fanned her face with her hand.

"Stop it."

"You're saying you're not attracted to him in the least?"

"I never said I wasn't attracted to him."

"Sure you did. After you first met him."

"I said a person's attractiveness changes as you get to know them better."

"Because you didn't think you would like him, but then you said?—"

"I know what I said."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't tease. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt."

"I won't. There's nothing going on."

"Nothing at all?"

"No."

"So you're going to ignore it until it goes away?"

"There's nothing to ignore. Why are we even talking about this? Aren't you concerned about why you're here?"

"I thought if it was something terrible, you would have told me already."

"They wouldn't let me speak to you."

Carla's smile faded. "Is it bad?"

"Miss Chapman?" Lawson had come out of his office, and both women looked up. "Sorry," he said as he walked to the desk. "Miss Carla Chapman." He shook her hand. "I'm Assistant Director Richard Lawson. Thank you for coming in so quickly."

"Didn't know I had a choice, but I'm happy to help if I can." She looked at Em and stood slowly before turning back to Lawson. "My niece isn't in any trouble, is she?"

"Who, Emery? No, she's not in any trouble."

"Then what's this about?"

"If you'd like to come with me, I'll get you settled in one of our conference rooms. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Em?" Carla said. A furrow had appeared on her brow. Em couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her aunt worried.

"It's okay," Em said. "Go ahead. He'll explain what he can. I'll get her a coffee, sir."

Carla clutched her purse to her stomach as Lawson led her away.

Em closed her eyes for a second to steady herself, then went to the kitchen, where Pearce found her.

"I was hoping to have a word with you," he said. "Wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I wish everyone would stop worrying about me so much." She focused on the cup as she added two sachets of sugar.

"We'd worry if it were any one of us. This is a big deal. Nothing has been normal for you since Jep turned up. Even Gardener's concerned, and she's not one for showing any kind of emotion."

"I think she's worried she's going to lose her mole. She likes having someone from her department out in the field." Em forced a smile. "We get to see firsthand what we usually only hear about when you guys finally come back to the office and write your reports."

"Em." He put a hand on her arm to get her to face him, but all she could do was grip the cup and stare into it. "After what happened yesterday, you must be ready for things to return to the way they were. You have enough disruption in your life right now. You don't need to add fuel to that fire."

"Nothing will make this any easier."

"You're upset. I don't blame you. Jep promised he'd keep you away from danger, and he sent you right into it. Again. And this time, you had the trauma not only of being forced to kill a man, but to see your sister like that—that's a lot for anyone."

Now she turned to him. "It was my idea to go up onto the rise, and I was the one who disobeyed an order and went to my sister. Besides which, if I hadn't been there, there's no telling who else could have died. I'm glad I was there."

"But it was Jep's responsibility to keep you safe."

"Can we change the subject?"

"He's a good agent, but I can't help but feel he has his own agenda."

Em refused to bite. "How're things going with Jade?"

"Okay, we don't have to talk about Jep."

"Good."

"I wish I had better news for you. Your sister's not talking."

"At all? Does she know that answering our questions will help her situation? Does she know how much trouble she's in?"

"Yes. We know how to interrogate a suspect—sorry, I don't mean to— It's frustrating to be so close and yet continue to come up emptyhanded."

"What if I spoke to her?"

"I don't think Lawson would go for it. And I can't see how it would make any difference. You'd just be wasting your time."

"Then I'll waste my time. Or I'll get her to cooperate. We won't know unless we try."

"What about Lawson?"

"He's busy. "

"Emery Chapman circumventing protocol. So you do have it in you after all."

"Must be all this field work I'm doing. Getting a taste for it. Come on. A couple of minutes. If she didn't set off that bomb because of me, then maybe I have some influence with her."

Pearce looked out the kitchen door, then looked at his watch. "Okay, but you won't have long."