Emily.
She nodded her acknowledgement.
“I gave him twenty-four hours to come clean with my mom and call off the wedding. I warned him what would happen if he didn’t.”
“Did anyone else hear you threaten him?” Emily crossed her arms on the table and leaned forward.
“Fiona, maybe.”
“Then what happened,” Colin pressed.
“I went into Lucas’s office. He was sitting behind his desk. We argued. I dragged Lucas out of his chair and we argued some more. The more we argued, the hotter we got until he threw the first punch. Of course, I hit him back.” Josh still wore the black eye and busted lip Lucas had given him, proving it wasn’t just a one-sided beating.
“Is there anything else you can remember, Josh?”
“I went to a bar to have a few beers, hoping to work up the courage to tell my mother the truth about Lucas.”
“I remember you telling me that the night he died,” Emily confirmed. “And you told the police about that?”
“Yeah, but it didn’t seem to make any difference.”
“Anything else?” she asked.
Josh stared back at her, and Emily could almost see the wheels turning in his mind. He opened his mouth as if he was going to speak, something was right there on the tip of his tongue, then he closed his lips and shook his head no.
“Josh?”
Alex put his hand on his client’s shoulder for a moment.
“What is it?” Emily was certain he had something more to say. She glanced at Colin. She could tell he wasn’t buying Josh’s story either.
“Nothing.”
“You seem irritated—we’re here trying to help you.” Emily crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.
“I just don’t get it. I already told the cops all of this, and Alex too. Why do I have to keep going over it and over it?”
“Hearing the course of events straight from your mouth might help us discover something the others missed. That’s all,” Colin assured him.
“There’s nothing more to tell.” Josh remained stone-faced.
There was something, though, something he wasn’t telling them. His face and his body language were betraying him.
“What are you not telling us?” Emily challenged him, casting a sideways glance at Colin. “If you want us to help you beat this thing, you’ve got to be completely honest with us. What are you hiding?”
“If you have something to say, just say it,” Alex insisted.
Josh sat silent.
Colin’s eyebrows furrowed into a frown as he shot out of his chair, which went flying backwards against the wall. He slammed both hands on the table and stared down hard at Josh. “You want to go to prison for the rest of your life?”
Josh hung his head and shook it.
“Because that’s exactly where you’re headed if you’re not straight with us.”
Alex flashed him a look and Colin stood up straight, then dragged his chair back to the table. “You think this is some sort of a game?”
“Don’t scare him, Colin, he’s just a kid,” Emily insisted.
“He’s not a kid, Emily,” Colin snapped. “He’s almost twenty-one, and he had better wise up and tell us everything he knows if he’s going to have any chance in hell of beating this murder rap.”
“I’ll give you one last chance to tell us or we’re out of here. What are you holding back?” Emily’s eyes narrowed as she focused her attention on Josh’s response.
Josh raised his head and set his clasped hands on the table. Tension hung in the air as he looked at Emily with sad eyes. He licked his lips and swallowed hard before he spoke.
“Don’t be afraid, Josh. Just tell us,” Emily pleaded.
“When I got to the office that night,” Josh began slowly, “Uncle Sully was already there talking to Lucas. They were arguing about money. I’ve never heard him so angry.” Josh shook his head as he looked down at his folded hands. “He even pulled a gun on Lucas.”
Emily gasped at the thought of Sully pulling a gun on anyone. “Did you believe Sully was going to shoot him?”
“I thought he might, ’cause he was real mad. I was in the dark outer office and I stepped closer to the open door, trying to hear better, but I bumped into something, a trash can I think. The noise must have startled Uncle Sully, because he came running out of the office and took off.”
“Did he see you?” Colin questioned.
“No, I hid behind a file cabinet as he raced by. That’s when I went in and had it out with Lucas myself. You know the rest.”
“Is there anything else you haven’t