Page 160 of Over Her Dead Body

She sits across from me and places her handbag beside the chair.

“I assume this is about Emma.”

“It is partly about Emma.”

She waits.

“Reid is turning himself in tonight.”

Celeste leans forward, then settles back.

She has spent years teaching people that composure is the same thing as control. She is very good at it.

“What is he giving them?”

“Enough to keep them occupied.”

She does not like the answer, but she understands it.

Reid will give them Whitaker, the painting, his disappearance, and enough of Lisbon to make Emma what she actually was: inconveniently present and largely uninformed. The house will have explanations to give its insurers, its clients, and eventually Emma.

Business prefers a version it can invoice.

“You fired her,” I say.

Celeste folds one leg over the other. “She exposed the house to a claim.”

“And by tomorrow, the man who created that claim will have explained how little she knew.”

“She still exercised poor judgment.”

“Yes. I have met Emma.”

Celeste looks at me.

I continue. “The termination will become difficult to defend. Let the house correct it.”

“You want me to bring her back.”

Celeste has never liked being told there are rooms she does not control.

“I want you to stop making decisions about her until I tell you otherwise.”

Celeste says nothing. Agreement is unnecessary.

“There is another matter,” I say. “The first time Emma saw Reid. At the Austin airport.”

She is quiet for a moment. Then whatever argument she was considering disappears.

“I knew.”

“How?”

“I knew Reid was flying out after visiting Gen. I also knew Emma missed her flight. Then she paid for Lisbon on the company card. I put two and two together.”

“And you told me none of this.”

“I handled it. And I did not want to get mixed up in your personal affairs.”