Page 32 of Hell Hath No Fury

“I know I should’ve waited for you to sign the paperwork.”

For a moment, Emma thought Nell had changed her mind about selling.

Instead, she added, “It would’ve been better if we’d signed at the same time. Less complicated.”

“Complicated? You mean you really do want to sell our family home?”

“It’s not our ‘family home’ anymore, Em. Itwas. In the past.”

“But when we last talked, you wanted us to move back here. Rebuild.”

“I was pregnant then.” Nell’s voice faltered.

Emma thought of several possible responses, but she kept them to herself, not wanting to drive Nell to tears again. After a few minutes of silence, Emma said, “I saw the cots in the barn. I assume that was you?”

“And Zeke.” Nell stared at the tissue she clenched in one hand. “I loved him. I mean really loved him. I had these dreams of the two of us building a little house. Maybe on the footprint of the one Dad built for Mom and us. But Zeke wasn’t very enthusiastic. Then he died.” Her voice caught, and she again fell quiet.

Emma waited, letting her sister regroup.

“Without Zeke,” Nell finally continued, “I have no reason to stay here.”

“What about me? You have me.”

Nell shifted to look at Emma. “You live in Erie now.”

“You could come back with me. I’ll help you get a place.”After rehab, but Emma didn’t speak that part out loud.

Nell shook her head vehemently. “I can’t go back there. Not after all that happened.”

“Where, then? I’ll go with you.”

Nell squirmed away from Emma and faced her. “I don’t know where. And I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Not a babysitter,” Emma said. “A sister. You haven’t let me be a sister to you for a long time.”

Before Nell had a chance to reply, the doorbell chimed, and she scrambled toward the back wall of the bathroom as if intending to climb out the small window.

“Stay here,” Emma told her, rising to her feet, stepping out of the room, and pulling the door closed.

As she stood by the railing looking down at the foyer, Eric crossed from the kitchen to the front door. He peered through the peep hole and flinched. Emma could guess who was on the stoop.

Eric opened the door. Emma was right.

“Eric Baker? I’m Trooper Joseph Fergusson with the Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Investigation Division. I need to have a word with you.”

* * *

Matthias stepped into the short hallway leading to the foyer and folded his arms across his chest.

Fergusson looked at him, his expression souring. Matthias watched as the trooper took in the rest of his surroundings. His gaze paused on the second floor. Matthias couldn’t see from where he stood, but he suspected Emma was up there, looking down over the railing. Nell? Probably not.

Fergusson came back to Matthias. “I saw your Jeep in the driveway. What’d you do? Rush right over here to get your stories straight?”

“I’d forgotten what an ass you can be.”

Fergusson chuckled. “Funny. I thought for sure I was more memorable than that.” To Eric, he said, “I would like to speak with youalone.”

Eric spun toward Matthias, his expression a mixture of terror and pleading.