“Poor Maggie. Do you remember those first few days after Miranda died?” she asked, still looking at the buildings blurring by the window as they drove. “I sure remember the first days after Evan died.” She reached up and wiped a stray tear from her cheek.
“Hardest days of my life,” he said. “Maggie’s lucky to have her friends.”
“I need to return the favor, be there for Maggie, but seeing her like that brings it all back to me.”
“Maybe the best way you can help Maggie is finding out what really happened, hopefully clearing her son—if he didn’t do it.”
“Do you think he’s guilty?”
“He might be.” Colin shrugged and turned the car into her driveway, cutting the engine. “He certainly had motive and opportunity. There’s no denying he beat the crap out of the man right before he died. If it’s true what Josh said, that Lucas threw the first punch—no, even that is a stretch. Self-defense only goes so far. We need to follow the evidence, Emily, find the facts, you know?”
She nodded.
“Since I’m not as emotionally connected to Maggie and Josh as you are, I’ll try to be the voice of reason and help you work through this investigation.”
“Are you saying I’m an emotional female?” she snapped. He certainly knew how to push her buttons, whether he was trying to or not.
“No, but they’re close friends of yours,” he replied. “If the evidence points to Josh, or Sully, or one of your other friends, please don’t shoot the messenger.”
“No promises,” she responded.
“What?” he asked with a grin. “I tell you, woman, if you weren’t so, so—”
“So, what?” she asked with a smirk, leaning her body toward him, her face not far from his.
“So pig-headed, so irritating, so funny and adorable, yet so frustrating and stubborn, so sexy, so—”
“I get it,” she interrupted. “You just couldn’t stay away.”
“No, I couldn’t.”
“I love…um, having you here.” She caught herself just in time. Emily needed him to be the first to say those three little words—but, by God if he didn’t do it soon, she was going to explode. “I wish you didn’t have to leave again.”
“Me, too,” he agreed, “but it won’t be for long. Let’s not talk about it, though, let’s just enjoy the time we have.” He leaned in and kissed her softly.
She pushed back and giggled. “Yes, let’s, but we should go enjoy it inside, before the neighbors start gawking at us making out in the car like a couple of teenagers.
CHAPTER 17
While Colin marinated the steaks and fired up the grill, Emily slid up on a barstool and phoned Maggie to see how she was doing. Camille answered the phone and reported that Maggie was sleeping, that she’d given her some of her Xanax to help her relax. She said Isabel had stopped by in the afternoon and that she and Alex were bringing dinner back for them. Jonathan would be back later in the evening, too.
Then Camille asked Emily when she was coming back over—Maggie had asked for her.
“Colin and I have been working on the case, Cam, trying to figure out what happened to Lucas.”
She held back from telling Camille how she was afraid the deep despair she’d experienced when Evan was murdered would come flooding back to her if she was there, comforting Maggie.
“We were able to speak with Josh at the jail, too, and we’re trying to piece it all together,” she told Camille.
“I don’t understand, Em. Josh got in a fight with Lucas and accidentally killed him, didn’t he?”
“Oh, Cam, is that what Maggie thinks?”
“I believe so. No one has told her anything since the police came and arrested Josh. What else are we supposed to think?”
“Colin and I learned some things today and we’re trying to fit the pieces together. It’s a lot more complicated than we thought.”
“How so?”
“I’m not at liberty to say at this point,” Emily hedged, “but we’ll figure it out and let you all know as soon as we can.”
Feeling somewhat disloyal, it was hard for Emily not to blurt out all she knew to her friends. They had shared everything with each other for the last five years. But this was different from when she had lost Evan. When she was in Maggie’s shoes, her friends were constantly by her side, supporting her, comforting her, encouraging her—but they couldn’t help her figure out who killed her husband—or why—not even Isabel.
Out of their tight circle of friends, only Emily had the skills to give