Chapter 20 Emery
In the kitchen with Annie, I move straight to the cupboard and start to make coffee. A solid night of sleep did me good, but I’m still ready to drop.
Leaning against the counter, Annie starts the process of unpackaging and turning on Luca’s new phone. “He seems to be doing well,” she says quietly.
“Remarkably so.” At the sink, I fill the carafe with water. “Vitals are stable. I haven’t asked about everything, but major body systems seem to be functioning. He’s already walking and you should see his bruises. Mostly gone.”
“It’s crazy,” she says, a hint of excitement in her voice. It’s not the appropriate time, but despite the lingering guilt, I’ve got the thrum of adrenaline, too, the sense that we’re on the edge of something that will change the world. “How’s everything else? Like, between you two?”
Pouring water into the machine, I add the coffee and set it to brew. “Weird, but we’ve had some good talks,” I say, and lean against the counter next to her. “I haven’t been a very good wife to him.”
“He loves you, Emery. It’s in there, I promise.”
“I’m not so sure—” I start, jumping when Annie smacks my hand from where I’m gnawing on my fingernails. “Rude.”
“Then knock it off,” she says. “Tell me what happened.”
Annie knows how much I’d started to struggle with lying to Luca, and how terrified I was of the repercussions if he found out.
Every lie started to feel like a stone I was carrying around in my pocket, waiting for the combined weight to eventually drown me.
Now it’s like each admission lets me breathe a little easier.
“I told him everything. Do you know how many times I’ve imagined doing that? ”
“That must have been a relief.”
I nod, unable to articulate how much.
“And? Was he upset?” she says, looking up from where Luca’s phone is powering on.
“I wouldn’t say upset. How could he be? It’s like secondhand information about two people he doesn’t even know. He tried to ease the tension with a joke, but I can tell it made him wary. Well, warier,” I add with a sigh. “He asked if I could find life balance outside of work.”
“What did you say?”
“That I want to. That I want to prioritize us.” I swallow, trying to suppress the question but feeling it rise inside me. “Speaking of work, how was everything? Did anyone question me taking time off?”
“I assume most people think you needed a cooling-off period so you don’t murder Vince.”
“They’re not wrong,” I say.
“He barely blinked at the staff meeting when Leonard announced you’d be gone. I would have expected him to break out in spontaneous song and dance.”
“A horrible image.”
She shrugs. “If anyone knows about our shenanigans on Friday, they aren’t talking.
At least where I can hear. I don’t want to jinx us but, in that respect, we might be in the clear.
” She slides Luca’s phone across the counter so I can enter his password.
I type it in, but she probably could have figured it out herself: 123456.
Luca is an open book. Wonder what that feels like.
“Fuck, that’s a relief,” I say. “Any hint what the board is thinking? Is Leonard facing any blowback for letting me do the studies? Have they assigned anyone to my projects?”
“Not a clue. Vince did come by my office after the meeting to ask how you were holding up.”
“What a saint,” I say with an eye roll. “I’m sure he hopes I’m having a mental breakdown so he can report that to the board, too. I mean, he’s right, but not for the reasons he thinks.”
“Which brings me to my other question: Did you see that I put your period vitamins in that fridge?”
I snort. “I did. Change your mind about Todd the Dumbass Vet Tech being near them?”
“Definitely not. But I’m not sure what to do with them yet. I’ll tell you one thing, I’m glad it’s out of the lab. You were right to be worried about Vince.”
I chew my thumbnail, letting the thought bubble to the surface. “This is insane, okay, but what if Luca’s accident wasn’t an accident?”
Annie studies me for a long beat. “Are you saying that Vince was somehow behind it? Why would he hurt Luca?”
“Or maybe he was trying to hurt me.” Annie’s jaw drops and I shake my head, waving this off. “I don’t know what I think exactly,” I say, untangling a knot of thoughts that tightens every time I pull. “It just feels sketchy.”
“Because Vince is sketchy.”
“I left before he did, though, right?” I ask. “He’d only just left my office when I realized I’d forgotten about dinner.”
“I think so?” Annie rubs at her temples. She looks as tired as I feel. “Wait,” she says, turning to face me. “You didn’t leave right away. You went to cryo to get the compound.”
“But would that have been enough time for him to get to my neighborhood before me? I’m sure I broke several speed records getting home.”
“Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but what if it was someone higher up? You said yourself we work for a company that’s not exactly on the up-and-up, and thanks to Vince, you pissed off a lot of people.”
“I guess it’s possible, but people like that care about money, not revenge.” I chew on my thumbnail again, and Annie is so preoccupied with her own anxiety she doesn’t even try to stop me. “Unless they wanted to send a message?” I ask.
“A message? Like what?”
“I have no idea.” I deflate against the counter. “I would make a terrible detective.”
Annie groans. “Can we change the subject, please? Watch some puppy videos or something?”
“Gladly. Luca has enough on his plate. I don’t want him to worry about any of this until we know there’s something to worry about. Agreed?”
“Absolutely.”
“Good,” I say, and then freeze, my entire stomach bottoming out. I swear to God it’s like one catastrophe after another. “Fuck. We have another problem.”
Annie’s already shaking her head. “Sorry, no. Unsubscribe. My brain can’t take any more and I’m almost out of Imodium. My stomach wasn’t built for this much stress.”
“In all the chaos I forgot to tell you that Betty was asking to see Luca.”
Annie’s brow furrows and she glances back toward the living room. Leaning in, she whispers, “Why?”
“She wants to talk to him about what she saw Friday night.”
“Emery,” Annie says. “What did she see?”
“You know, just me stabbing my husband and dragging his body into my car.”