Err on the Side of Violence: Terribly Acronymed Detective Club Series (Book 3)

Chapter Sixteen: Rachel, Sunday

Rachel stood and walked over to the living room, where Emma sat like a queen surrounded by her court of teens and preteens watching TV. She beckoned Emma over and said, "Sweetie, how are you doing?"

"Good," Emma said with a smile, her eyes still on the TV. "I have, like, three new friends."

"Great." She leaned in and whispered in Emma's ear, "Have you checked yourself down there? Do you need to change?"

Emma whispered back in her ear, "I did it while you were out. Lauren helped me."

Lauren hadn't told her. Rachel felt warm inside knowing her best friend and lover was also being a cool aunt to her foster child. "That was very nice of her."

Emma looked hard at her. Her eyes looked huge behind her thick glasses. "Rachel, is Logan still in jail?"

"I'm afraid so, sweetie, but we're doing everything we can to get him out. Do you think Logan would mind if we went through his things?"

Emma bit her lower lip. "I don't know. He doesn't like me looking at his stuff. I think he really wouldn't like you going through his stuff."

"I understand. What if, though, we go through his stuff and find out something about last night, and why he's in jail? Maybe we can use whatever we find to get him out. What do you think?"

Emma thought about it a moment and nodded. "Okay, but I think I should help you go through his stuff, because I know where it all goes."

Rachel felt her lip curl in a smile. "Emma, do you look at Logan's stuff when he's not around, and put it all back where he left it so he doesn't suspect anything?"

Emma looked sheepish. "You won't tell him, will you?"

"I promise," she said, crossing her heart.

"Can my friends come watch?" Emma asked.

"Well, it might be best if they just keep watching TV. Your room would get crowded in a hurry with all the grown-ups and children together. This assignment is just for you. You could be crucial in getting your brother out."

Emma swelled with pride at this notion. "Okay." She turned to Naomi and said, "I have to help the grown-ups for a bit, you stay here."

Naomi grunted in acceptance, her eyes never leaving the TV.

Emma followed Rachel to their room, and Lauren and the other adults followed them. When they'd first known they would be taking both kids, Rachel and Al had known they'd had to furnish the one room they had for them in a way that would allow both to feel in possession of half a room, complete with bed, dresser and shelves for their personal items. Emma's side was typical of a thirteen year old girl. Rachel hadn't known ahead of time how girly Emma would be, so she'd gone the safe route of parents who didn't know the sex of their baby ahead of time; she'd bought her a pale green comforter and plain white sheets to cover her bed. Emma had decorated the rest in accordance with her personality. Her dresser was topped with a framed photo of her mother and the little collectable toys Logan had bought her, lined up like soldiers on a battlefield. The toys appeared to face off against bottles of differently coloured nail polish, reflecting the battle, in Emma's mind, between childhood and adolescence, a major development of which had happened only yesterday. Posters decorated the walls on her side of the room, boy bands, mainly, none of whom Rachel knew. Her shelves contained a mix of graphic novels by Raina Telgemeier and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney, some of which Rachel had bought her, and some Al had borrowed for her from VPL on his employee library card, which gave him unlimited borrowing and no late fines. Emma liked graphic novels because the pictures held her attention long enough to read the words in them and, because the pictures themselves were worth a thousand words, fewer words were required, and she could read them relatively quickly, feeling just as accomplished for reading them as Rachel would have for reading War and Peace.