full detail. “It was real, Sophie. I killed them both. I shot them in the back of the head. There was blood on them and blood on the bed and even in my underpants and jeans, and there was blood in my car. The reason my legs and chest hurt was because he was a big guy and he was heavy on my body. He forced my legs open and he”—her chin quivered—“raped me. That’s what I couldn’t remember all these years. I’m sure of it. It’s all so clear now.”
Sophie’s blood ran cold, and she shivered right along with Emma as she continued to hold her tightly. “Are you sure you killed them?”
Emma’s eyes popped wide-open, and her back stiffened. “I was raped, and I killed both of them in the dream. Dallas and Terrance were laughing about it, and I shot them in the back of the head. There was more blood on them than what was on me. I stumbled down the stairs to the lobby of the apartment building where Terrance lived. That’s why I hate big houses, isn’t it?”
“Did you dream that they both . . .” Sophie couldn’t bear to even think that Emma had been gang-raped, much less say the words.
“Not Dallas, but he was guilty of tricking me into going to Terrance’s apartment and then convincing me to drink the champagne. It had to have been drugged, but I only drank half of it.” She jumped up and began to pace the floor. “It all makes sense now why I blocked it. Dallas gave me to Terrance because he owed him money. Terrance wanted a virgin. I remember being wobbly and my hand shaking when I pulled the trigger, but I didn’t care. They both deserved to die after what they did to me. The gun was heavy in my hands, and . . .” She stopped and stared out the back doors. “Why would I figure out this much and all if it isn’t true? I couldn’t tell Mother, so . . .” The words trailed off to nothing.
Sophie didn’t believe for one minute that her friend had killed someone. Emma couldn’t swat a mosquito when they were kids without worrying if it had a family or children.
Emma’s eyes had glazed over, and she stared off into space. “I went to the hospital, and the nurse told me to take off my clothes and put on gray scrubs. Then she said she was going to call the police and my parents. The police wouldn’t do anything, not when Terrance was the big hotshot star of the football team. And Mother . . .” She stopped and put her hand over her eyes.
“Sweet Jesus!” Sophie gasped. “Victoria would be awful if she knew that you had been raped or had killed someone.”
“She would have locked me away forever, after she screamed at me that it was all my fault for being weak like my father, and that’s pretty much what Mother did after all, even though she didn’t know what happened.” Emma’s face was totally without color when she dropped her hand. “I thought if I left the hospital, that if I pretended it didn’t happen, then no one would know, and Mother wouldn’t be angry with me.”
“Are you sure you killed them?” Sophie asked.
Emma shook her head. “Right now, I don’t know for sure what’s real and what’s nightmare, but I know down deep in my heart that Terrance raped me. Can we look them up on the internet and see if they’re still alive?”
Sophie took her by the hand and led her to the living room. She opened her laptop and nodded for Emma to research those two horrible guys. Sophie sat down beside her. “There’s no way you killed anyone. There would have been dead bodies, and they would have found your DNA all over the bed. Look at me, Em. You did not shoot those two bastards, even though they deserved it.”
“If I did and it’s still an open case . . . ,” Emma whispered, “there is no statute of limitations on murder.”
But there is a statute of limitations for rape, and that’s long past, Sophie thought. That meant they couldn’t be brought up on charges. Not even if Emma was strong enough to face them in a courtroom, or if she had the evidence to back her accusations. A nightmare and years of treatment for depression sure wouldn’t look good for her defense.