Page 90 of The Secrets We Hide
“I know I can be stubborn, but the reason Bill’s not my sole focus isn’t because Reggie and Brett keep pushing me in that direction.” Emmy sat down again. “Did Dad ever tell you about the cult of a case?”
Jude shook her head.
“You latch on to one theory, and you mold everything else around it. Everybody starts amplifying the theory instead of digging into the inconsistencies. Any alternate explanations are dismissed because you already know the truth. Everybody starts working toward that same truth until it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
“Happens all the time,” Jude said. “You think Brett’s cult of the case is Bill. What’s your cult?”
“All the crap I keep loading onto the horse has kept me from getting out of the gate. The Giglio list. Reggie. The drug squad. The UnSub. Worrying about Dad’s reputation. Bill’s alibi. I keep thinking I don’t have any clues to follow, but maybe Allison left me some at the house. Maybe she wrote that number on the back of the Wyeth print because she knew I’d find it. We’ve got two keys we haven’t matched to locks and a book on physics checked out by a woman who loved reading about elves making love to fairies.”
“Lean the horse,” Jude said. “What should we do now?”
“Let’s go to the library.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The walk from the station to the library was as familiar to Jude as anything else from her childhood. She and Henry had often made the trek together, skipping along Main Street, cutting through the alley. Sometimes they would throw rocks in the creek. Usually, they would sneak behind the hardware store to see if Myrna’s car was parked in the lot. More often, they would end up at the library because it was the only air-conditioned building in town.
Jude had no reason to think the place hadn’t changed in the last four decades, but the renovations still surprised her. Banks of computers. A gaming room for kids. Private study areas. Clusters of couches and beanbag chairs. Sunlight streamed through giant windows. The library of her time had been dark and cozy, stuck in a utilitarian 1940s footprint. This one was not only remarkably warm and modern, but open on a Sunday, which would’ve been blasphemous in Jude’s day.
Emmy lifted her chin in greeting to the gray-haired librarian behind the circulation desk as they crossed to the other side of the building. She’d brought the evidence bags with the keys andFeynman’s Tips on Physicsfrom the station.There didn’t seem to be a section dedicated to physics, just a catch-all shelf labelled Popular Science. Jude ran her finger along the edge and found a fine layer of dust. There only seemed to be one book missing.
Emmy checked the numbers on the spine of the Feynman book, then pointed to the empty slot. “This is where it was shelved.”
Jude slipped on her reading glasses. “Let’s see what we can see.”
Emmy started pulling down books to check if anything was hidden behind them. Jude searched the other Feynman titles, pages fluttering as she looked for a scrap of paper or another scribbled note.
Emmy said, “This is needle in a haystack-level insanity.”
Jude looked up from her book. “It took me twenty years to persuade Freddy Henley to give me the location of his last victim’s remains.”
“Brett’s grandchildren will be running for sheriff by then.” Emmy sighed. “Allison called me two months ago. I didn’t pick up.”
Jude could see the toll the admission had taken on her.
Emmy started tapping and swiping on her phone. “I sent the call to voicemail. Things had started to go really downhill with Mom. I called Allison back a few days later and she laughed it off, said everything was fine. I didn’t push her. I was just so damn tired. That’s the last time I talked to her. I think we agreed to get drinks a week later, but I never followed up.”
“Neither did she.”
“Yeah, well. Only one of us ended up murdered.”
Jude took off her glasses and held the phone to her ear.
“Hey, you. I’m sorry it’s so early. I’m hoping you’re asleep right now. I’m leaving this message so that I won’t back out. I want you to know I’ve got a plan. Don’t worry. I’m being careful. I just need a little help. That’s all. Just a little help. You were always so good at figuring things out. Your mama raised a smart girl. Call me back. Bye.”
Jude could hear an almost giddy sense of hope in Allison’s voice, which made the circumstances all the more tragic. She handed Emmy back the phone. “Abused women are told to get a plan in place before they leave.”
“She said she needed my help figuring something out. That doesn’t sound like leaving Bill. It sounds like she had something halfway planned, but she needed my help to get it over the line.”
“She had three hundred grand, plus the settlement money, and two fake IDs. What else would she need?”
“That’s the question.” Emmy returned her phone to her pocket. “A few years ago, Allison was looking for ways to connect withMandy. I told her how Mom used to leave puzzles for me around the house. Like, one time, I found a note under my pillow that said, ‘I ended up in prism, but it was a light sentence that gave me time to reflect.’”
Jude smiled at Myrna’s cleverness.
“Took me two days to figure it out—prism, light, reflection—rainbows. My winter gloves had rainbows on them. I found them in the hall closet. Mom had hidden a bag of M&Ms inside.”
“She used to do word puzzles for us, too. She loved language.”
