Page 30 of Hell Hath No Fury

Emma closed her fingers around the doorknob and twisted, expecting it to be locked. It wasn’t. She eased the door open and entered.

Nell sat bent over on the edge of the tub fully clothed. A freestanding toilet paper dispenser lay on the floor, the source of the crash.

Emma closed the door with a soft click and took a seat on the closed toilet lid, facing her sister. “Kinda like old times.”

Nell’s shoulders rose and fell in a quick, silent laugh, but she didn’t lift her face.

“Remember? We’d hide in the bathroom, away from Mom and Dad, and share all our darkest secrets?”

“I remember,” Nell said. “The things we thought were dark secrets back then seem silly now.”

“You got bucked off your pony when you were… what? Five? Six?”

“I don’t know. Probably that. I was pretty little.”

“You were afraid if Mom found out, she’d sell the pony.”

“It wasn’t the pony’s fault.”

It was, as Emma recalled. He’d been an ornery, stubborn little snot, but Nell loved that animal. “Your whole right side was scraped raw.”

“You helped clean me up and put bandages on the worst of it.” Nell lifted her face for the first time since Emma had entered the room. “Mom never found out.”

Emma knew better. Their mother always knew what they’d been up to. The sight of Nell’s gaunt features, the dark circles under her pale eyes, drove thoughts of their mother away and crushed Emma’s heart.

Nell must’ve read her shock and dropped her chin to her chest. “I didn’t want you to have to clean me up again.”

Emma leaned toward her and took one frail hand in her own. “I’m so sorry about Zeke.”

Nell’s body seemed to collapse into itself. She curled forward, slid from the edge of the tub, and sank to her knees on the floor as a thin, keening wail escaped her throat. Emma never let go of her hand as she dropped to the floor with her, wrapping her free arm around Nell’s skeletal shoulders as she sobbed.

ChapterTen

“I’ve never sat back and let someone else in my kitchen,” Eric told Matthias as he perched at his island. “Then again, I’ve never been a suspect in a murder investigation before either.”

Matthias had insisted that Eric let him fix something to eat. “Did you do it?”

Eric gasped. “Of course not. Do you honestly think I did?”

“No.” Matthias whisked half a dozen eggs in a bowl with some milk and added shredded gouda. “But I had to ask.”

Eric slumped. “You are a cop, after all, but if you have enough doubt to have to ask, what chance do I have against the local police?”

Matthias glanced at him before pouring the egg mixture into a sizzling hot pan. “You need an alibi.”

“I was in Cleveland. With Nell.”

Nell wouldn’t be a reliable witness.

As if reading Matthias’s mind, Eric said, “No one would take that girl’s word for anything. Not in the condition she’s in.”

“Where did you stay? You have credit card receipts, right?”

Eric buried his head in his hands. “I don’t. The bank called me on Thursday about some fraudulent charges. They froze my account and are sending me a new card, but until then, I’m paying cash.”

“You only have one card?”

“No, but my other one is for my business. My accountant loses his mind when I use it for personal expenses.”