The One I Trust (26 page)

“But won’t the police need to talk to me?” she asked. “Shouldn’t I wait for them?”

“It’ll be okay, Emily,” I said. “You go wait with Anneka. The police can talk to you there.”

She nodded, and Hale and I both walked her out to the van.

“Drop Molly off at school and then wait for us at the house, okay?” Hale instructed Anneka. “We’ll be there soon.”

Anneka got out of the passenger seat and helped Emily get seated and buckled in before walking around to the driver’s side. Hale gave Anneka a kiss and she closed the door and drove away.

Hale turned and looked at me.

“The police are coming?”

I shook my head.

“Should they be?”

I shook my head again.

“Well, let’s get in there and do whatever we need to do,” Hale said, jabbing his thumb toward the house. “I don’t really think Anneka needs to be alone with her if—”

“That’s not really why I wanted you to come over,” I said.

He looked at me questioningly.

“She needs help, Hale,” I said. “She needs to see someone who can really help her . . .”

“Okay.” He nodded. “Let’s call the hospital and—”

“No.”

He pressed his lips together.

“I told you,” I said. “I want her to go somewhere
good
.”

He looked at me for a long moment, and then he said, “I can’t help you.”

“Please, Hale.”

He gave his head an almost imperceptible shake.

“You’re the one who told me I was supposed to love her because she was my wife,” I reminded him. “You’re the one who told me I was supposed to pray.”

I saw how he stared at me stubbornly and—realizing he wasn’t going to budge—I did what I had to do.

“You know what I found after you dropped me off last week?”

He didn’t respond but I answered anyway.

“A Bible,” I said. “There was a
Bible
lying there on the back step.”

He looked away and shook his head again.

“This is what God wants me to do,” I said, looking at him earnestly. “And this is what God wants
you
to do.”

Whole minutes seemed to tick away before he could bring himself to look at me and then another before he finally reached for his phone.

And then—for the first time in fifteen years—Hale called his father.

HIS DAD LISTENED as Hale explained the situation and then promised that he’d let us know as soon as he got the details worked out. Twenty minutes later when he called back, we were almost to Hale and Anneka’s house. I was driving Emily’s car, so Hale answered his phone, writing a few things down as his dad talked before finally hanging up.

“I’ve got the address,” he said. “We can take her over there any time today.”

“Thank you,” I said.

He didn’t answer.

“I really appreciate this,” I said, and when he still didn’t respond I added, “You know, this could be a good thing. Maybe this is exactly what the two of you need to—”

“Reid?” he interrupted.

I took my eyes off the road to glance at him.

“Please stop talking.”

I nodded, and we drove the rest of the way in silence.

When we arrived at the house, we found Anneka and Emily sitting on the couch. Emily was crying and Anneka had her arm wrapped around Emily’s shoulder. They both looked up at us when we walked in.

Hale looked directly at Anneka.

“You get Molly to school okay?”

Anneka nodded and Hale looked visibly relieved.

“Did you talk to the police already?” Emily asked, her eyes red.

“Uh, no,” I said.

“Why not?”

“I don’t think we want to call the police right now.”

“But how are they going to catch whoever’s doing all this stuff?” Emily cried. “We need to call the police so we can let them know what’s going on and they can find whoever it is!”

I gave Anneka a pointed look and she got up so I could sit down next to Emily on the couch. Anneka sat in a chair and Hale sat in front of her on a footstool. All of us looked at Emily.

“Emily,” I said carefully. “Hale called his dad this morning.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Anneka’s eyes widen at Hale in surprise.

Emily looked at me, obviously confused.

“He’s a psychiatrist at Duke,” I reminded her. “He’s got a lot of connections and he knows a lot of people.”

“Does he know who’s been doing this?” she asked, even more confused. “Do you think it’s one of his patients?”

It took me a second to follow what she was asking, but then I shook my head.

“No,” I said, putting a reassuring hand on her leg.

Emily was perplexed.

“He made arrangements for you to talk to someone,” I said carefully. “Hale and Anneka and I will all go over there with you, and you can talk to someone about everything that’s been going on.”

She looked at Hale and Anneka and then at me. She stared at me as the uncomfortable silence stretched on.

“You said you believed me,” she finally said in a small voice.

“Emily,” I said kindly. “I don’t think you meant to hurt anybody. I just think . . . I think you’ve been really stressed lately, and—”

“I’m not stressed!” Emily cried. “Someone has been spying on us and they’ve been breaking into our house and they’ve been hacking into my email and they killed Gracie and—”

“Emily,” I interrupted. “How did someone get into our house this morning?”

She gave me a startled look.

“You changed all the locks,” I reminded her. “All the doors and windows were locked. That wooden bar was in the sliding glass door.”

“I . . . I don’t know,” she admitted.

“No one could possibly have gotten into or out of the house this morning without us knowing about it.”

“But they did,” she said quietly. “I don’t know how, but they did.”

“Emily,” Hale said. “Why don’t you just go see this guy? My dad says he’s really nice and he knows what he’s doing and—”

Emily looked at him.

“You think I’m crazy, too.” It was a statement, not a question.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t think you’re crazy at all. I just think you need to talk to someone. Let’s see if we can’t figure out what’s going on.”

She looked at him for another moment and then turned her gaze to Anneka.

“It’s not going to hurt anything for you to go talk to someone,” Anneka said gently.

Emily stared at Anneka with a hurt expression, and then her shoulders sagged and she dropped her head. She was quiet for a long moment and then, very calmly, looked up at me and said, “Okay.”

A flood of relief washed over me.

“It’s going to be all right, Emily,” I said. “All of us love you and we’re going to help you through this.”

She nodded. “When are we going?” she asked.

“We can go right now,” I said.

She thought about it for a second and then nodded.

“Okay,” she said, “but can I use the bathroom first?”

“Sure,” I said. “No problem.”

She stood up and headed into the kitchen toward the half bath that was down a short hallway leading to the garage.

I looked at Hale and Anneka.

“That was easier than I thought it was going to be,” I said quietly.

“Maybe she knows she needs help,” Hale replied.

“Do you think I should go stand outside the door?” Anneka asked in a hushed voice. “I mean, do you think she’s going to try to hurt herself?”

“Is there anything in there she could hurt herself with?” I asked.

Both Hale and Anneka looked at each other and then finally shook their heads, turning back to me.

“Not really,” Hale said.

“I can’t think of anything,” Anneka agreed.

“It’ll be okay,” I said. “Let’s just give her a few minutes alone and then we’ll take her.”

They both nodded.

“Do you think we’ll be back in time for me to get Molly?” Anneka asked. “Or should I make arrangements for her to go home with someone after school?”

“Things like this can take a long time,” Hale said. “Maybe we could drive separately and then you can come home if you need to.”

“I don’t want to leave her until she’s settled in,” Anneka said. “I’ll call Chloe’s mom.”

She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and was soon making arrangements to leave a booster seat out on the front porch for Chloe’s mom to pick up. After that, she called the school and made sure that Molly’s teacher got the message that Molly would be riding home with Chloe that afternoon.

After she hung up from that call, Anneka nodded toward the bathroom and asked, “Do you think I should check on her? She’s been in there for a while.”

“I’ll do it,” I said, getting up and heading down the hall.

The bathroom door was closed. I put my ear against it and listened. I could hear water running in the sink.

I waited for a minute for her to finish washing her hands, but when I continued to hear only the sound of running water and nothing else, I knocked on the door.

“Emily?”

No answer.

“Emily?” I called, knocking a little louder this time.

Still no answer.

I pounded on the door. “Emily! Let me in!”

By now, Hale and Anneka were beside me with worried looks.

“You got a key?” I asked Hale.

He reached up above the door frame and pulled down a little brass key before inserting it into the hole of the handle. After he fumbled with it for a few seconds we heard it unlock. As soon as he swung the door open, all three of us looked inside the small bathroom.

It was empty.

“WHERE DID SHE go?” Anneka cried.

The door next to the bathroom—at the end of the hall—was the one that led to the garage. I opened it and raced into the garage, seeing immediately that the door to the side yard was standing wide open. I crossed the garage and went through that door as well and headed to the front of the house, Hale and Anneka at my heels. We all stopped when we got to the driveway and stood side by side, staring at the empty spot where I had parked Emily’s car not fifteen minutes earlier.

“Call her,” Hale said.

I pulled out my phone and called, knowing full well she wasn’t going to answer.

“Does she even have her phone with her?” Anneka asked as Emily’s voicemail picked up. “Her purse is on the couch.”

We raced back inside and dumped Emily’s purse upside down. Her keys were there, but the pink leather wallet that held her phone wasn’t.

“How did she take the car without her keys?” Anneka asked, and as soon as she said it I pictured—clear as a bell—the day that I’d had an extra key made for Emily and hidden it underneath the back bumper of her car.

I knew Emily probably wouldn’t return to our house, but Hale drove me there anyway while Anneka stayed behind in case Emily showed back up there. We pulled into my driveway and sat for a few moments with the car idling, trying to figure out where she would go next.

“Do you think she’d go to the police?” Hale wondered. “I mean . . . if she really thinks that someone’s been bugging your house and everything . . .”

This was actually a possibility. When I’d been on the force, more than one paranoid schizophrenic had come in to the station to complain about alien abductions or government conspiracies.

“Maybe,” I said. I called Dale with the Raleigh Police Department and I called Sheriff Stuart. I didn’t call the Holly Springs Police Department because I didn’t know anyone there and I didn’t want to take any formal steps—I just wanted Dale and Stu to keep their eyes and ears open.

“Does she have any other friends?” Hale asked.

“Not really,” I admitted, and as I said that, a wave of guilt and sadness washed over me.

“That night she left last week,” Hale said. “Where do you think she went?”

“I have no idea,” I admitted.

“Why don’t we drive by her school?” he suggested. “Just see if maybe her car is there or something?”

“Okay.” I agreed because I had no idea what else to do.

Ten minutes later we pulled into the school’s parking lot and drove through it. After finding nothing, we pulled into a parking spot so we could come up with a game plan.

“I think you should call the police,” Hale finally said.

“No,” I answered, shaking my head. “I don’t think we need to do that.”

“You didn’t think she was going to kill your dog either. Did you?”

I looked away and sighed.

“Look, Reid,” he said. “I know you’d rather get her in somewhere voluntarily, but what if she hurts herself? How are you going to feel if something happens to her?”

I sighed again and his phone vibrated. He looked at me for a moment before answering.

“Hello?”

I could hear a man’s voice on the other end of the line, but I couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying.

“Okay,” Hale said. “Sure.”

There was more talking from the other end.

“Okay,” Hale said again. “I can probably be there in about thirty minutes.”

He hung up the phone and looked at me.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“SBI.”

The State Bureau of Investigation.

“What do they want?”

“They’ve got a suspect for the arson,” he answered. “They want me to come in and look at some video surveillance of someone who filled up a gas can about thirty minutes before the fire.”

“Do they know who it is?”

“I don’t know.”

We looked at each other for a moment.

“Do you want to come with me?” Hale asked. “Or do you want me to drop you off at the house, or what?”

I didn’t relish the idea of being stuck alone at the house with no car, so I told him I’d go along.

When we arrived, an investigator came out into the lobby to greet Hale. He shook his hand, said that it was good to see him again, and then Hale introduced him to me.

“Brafford Reid,” I said, shaking his hand.

He gave me a funny look—it passed right over his face as soon as I said my name.

“Nice to meet you,” he said. I nodded and then he asked, “Why don’t you come back here with us and see what we found?”

What they’d found was a grainy video from a gas station less than five minutes from Hale’s beach house. Exactly twenty-eight minutes before the first 911 call, a light-colored Honda Civic pulled up to a pump. The footage was black and white, but the car looked a whole lot like the Honda Civic Emily had fled in less than two hours earlier. Then a woman got out of the car and started filling up a plastic gas can.