Free The Betrayal of Lies by Debra Burroughs Page A

in. “You guys enjoy the pecan pie.”
    The others gathered around her and took turns hugging her good-bye.
    “Can I talk to you for a sec?” Emily whispered into Maggie’s ear as she hugged her last.
    Maggie nodded. “I’ll be right back,” she said over her shoulder to the girls.
    Emily stopped by the front door. “I wish I didn’t have to ask you those questions about Elise earlier, but after you said you had seen her, I had no choice.”
    “I understand, although it was a tad uncomfortable.”
    “I’m going to have to mention it to Colin, you know, and he’ll probably have some questions for you as well.”
    “I understand, Em, but tell me, after all the years you’ve know me, you really think I could be involved?”
    Emily saw a flash of something in Maggie’s eyes. Was it anger, or tears?
    “It’s not about what I think, Maggie. There are questions that have to be answered.” Blood that needs to be accounted for . Emily brushed back one of Maggie’s blonde curls. “We’ll just go through the formalities and it’ll help us eliminate you as a suspect.”
    Maggie’s bright blue eyes turned dark and a small wrinkle formed between her brows. “I can’t believe you and Colin could ever consider me as a suspect,” she said between clenched teeth. Her eyes glistened with tears. “I would never harm Elise, or anyone else, for that matter.”
    Anger and hurt were clearly bubbling below the surface of her words.
    Emily wouldn’t have thought Maggie capable, but there were things pointing directly to her. Friend or not, it was her job to find the truth, and there was evidence that needed to be accounted for.
    “Tomorrow you can talk to Colin and explain what really happened. You’ll be in the clear and we can move on.”
    Maggie arched an eyebrow. “Can we, Em?”

Chapter 8
    Emily’s thoughts were a jumble as she drove to her little bungalow. She had never seen such pain in Maggie’s eyes, she had looked so betrayed. Emily hadn’t meant for that to happen. It wasn’t like she had wanted to question Maggie, but she and Colin had to follow the evidence wherever it took them, even if that was Maggie’s doorstep.
    Once she was home, Emily stripped down and climbed into bed. It had been a horribly exhausting day, both mentally and emotionally—on one hand desperately working to find her new friend and on the other hand suspecting one of her long-time best friends of being somehow responsible for the disappearance.
    Her eyes were tired, but her brain wouldn’t shut down. She thought of Colin and wondered how the search of Jake Mitchell’s apartment had gone. She hadn’t heard from Colin, which surprised her a little. Then again, he was used to her Thursday night dinners with the girls often going late.
    Her phone trilled on the nightstand. She saw it was Colin and snatched it up. “Hello, darling,” she said in a low, seductive voice, wishing he was there with her, aching for his strong arms to hold her.
    “Hey, Babe. You sound tired.”
    “Thanks, but I was trying to sound sexy.”
    “Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean…uh…”
    Emily smiled to herself. “It’s okay, I am tired. Exhausted actually.”
    He told her about the search of Jake’s apartment and that nothing of value had turned up. They took Jake’s laptop, which was on the search warrant, but until they could go through it, there wasn’t much to tell.
    “You should know, it kind of came up about Maggie being at the Murphy house. But I pretended not to know, and I didn’t say anything about the blood. Of course, neither did Maggie. But I asked her a few questions and told her that you’d have some for her too.”
    “I’ll give her a call tomorrow. Get a good night’s sleep, Babe, and we’ll talk in the morning.”
    ~*~
    By the time Emily made it in to Colin’s office, he had apparently already gotten Maggie to come in for questioning.
    “Colin’s got a sizzling blonde in his office, Emily,” Stella the receptionist