Page 37 of Hell Hath No Fury

Nell came back to Eric. “Sonny’s dead? When?”

He, in turn, looked to Emma.

“Last night or early this morning,” she said. She gave her sister a shortened version of their discovery of the body at the construction site.

Nell pondered the news before saying, “They think Eric did it? That’s stupid. He wasn’t here. Besides, why would he?”

Exactly what Emma wanted to know. Eric evaded her eyes.

“I’ll tell you later,” Matthias said to her.

“What does that do to our sales agreement?” Nell asked Eric.

Emma placed both hands on the table. “There isn’t going to be a sale. Not of our farm. Definitely not to North Star Developing.”

“But I already signed the papers.”

“And I tore them up.”

This brought Nell’s and Eric’s full attention to her.

“You didn’t,” Nell said, her tone firm yet disbelieving.

“I did.” Emma knew there was no use in showing Nell the photos from what had once been the Powell family’s dairy. The thought made her wonder… what would become of that development—and North Star Developing—now that Sonny was dead?

Nell stood, nearly knocking over her chair. “How could you? You know I want to sell. There are too many bad memories here. I need to move on.” After a pause, she added, “I need the money.”

Emma studied her sister’s face and the desperation glistening in her eyes. “What do you need money for?”

She mumbled a reply before storming from the room. Eric leapt to his feet and followed her. “Nell, wait,” he called.

Emma sat stiff and stunned. She looked at Matthias.

“There’s a saying,” he told her, his voice low but gentle. “What do you call arecoveringaddict with money?”

Emma didn’t reply. She had a feeling she knew the punchline. She was right.

“An addict.”

* * *

Matthias hated the pain radiating from Emma. Her fragile sister, teetering on the edge of falling so far down that she might never recover. Her best friend was under suspicion of a murder none of them believed him capable of committing. Matthias might not have known Eric as well as Emma did, but he had a hard time picturing this guy as a killer. Hell, he couldn’t picture Eric squashing a spider.

Footsteps from the short hallway leading to the kitchen drew their attention. Eric reappeared and dropped into his chair at the table. “She’s locked herself in the guest room.”

Emma scrubbed her face before looking at Matthias. “Okay. Now what?”

Eric exhaled. “Now, I find a criminal attorney. Maybe one of my contract lawyers can refer me.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Matthias said. “From what I can tell, they don’t have any real evidence against you.”

“They can’t.” Eric’s voice squeaked. “I didn’t do it.”

“Someone told the police about your confrontation with Sonny at the Pub on Main,” Matthias said. “Who?”

“I don’t know.”

Matthias pushed his plate out of the way and leaned his forearms on the table. “Think. Who was there to see the incident?”