Revenge

Chapter 8

The sun was bright and warming. It lit the sky like the 4th of July. Emma was under a tree in the park in her work clothes that were now wrinkled and dirty. It was a Wednesday and she was late for work. Beth is going to kill her. Her boss was going to fire her. She really tried to be the best employee she could though she really wasn't reliable. It was only a matter of time before she was fired anyway.    She dusted herself off and rushed home to freshen up. She will have to try to make it to work and explain.
      When she got home, she saw her parents watching TV and eating cold pizza. Emily sat on the couch not eating and not watching TV, but sitting there staring at her feet. When she saw Emma, she smiled and hugged her like she had not seen her in days. Emma didn't remember passing out in the park. Her body ached from sleeping on the hard ground against a tree. She had nightmares, but she couldn't remember what they were about. Her parents glared like she was a stranger breaking in.
     "Where were you all night? You look like hell." Her dad asked staring at the dirt on her uniform.
     "I camped out." She lied. Her dad wouldn't be able to tell she lied. He wouldn't really care either.
     She slipped into the shower and scrubbed every inch of her skin. When she was dressed and feeling refreshed, she tried cleaning the dirt off her uniform. It took her a good ten minutes before she felt like it was presentable.
     She slipped her uniform back on and got ready to go.

"Are you leaving again?" Emily asked as Emma searched for her wallet. Emma looked at her sister and smiled.

"You can join me. I have to go to work, but afterword's, we can go look at the cars pass by on the highway and pick our favorite cars." It was a game they played when Emily had to go to work with her. Emily liked to pick out her favorite style of vehicles and it always seemed to make her happy.

Emily forced a smile then looked away. Emma gently patted her sisters knee and forced her to look into her eyes. Something about the way Emily was acting worried Emma because she was acting like she was afraid to speak.

"Mom and dad are not happy with you. They got a call from the police station that they want you brought down for an investigation. Dad thinks you are the murderer."

That was news to Emma and made her a little afraid herself. She had just spoken with Officer Peggy and told her what she needed to know. What more could there be? Did Officer Peggy see that she was nervous?
     "You know I would never hurt anyone."
     Emily looked at her nodding. She believed her because she loved and trusted Emma. Little did Emily know, she feared she really was the murderer.
      She rushed to the station to speak with Officer Peggy. She was going to be fired anyway so she didn't worry about being extremely late. She wanted to make it look like she was innocent just in case she really did do it.

Officer Peggy was standing in the interrogation room this time with Chief Moore. He was a good looking man with a build to him and almost never smiled. When Emma walked in, he smiled and she could tell it was forced. The police had made it clear this case was a headache. Confusing. If they suspected her, things just became more of a headache. She sat down and looked at Officer Peggy wanting her to begin immediately.

"I interviewed you yesterday about the fires and your relations with the families. What we are understanding is that you did not like the families. You had history with them that's not really friendly. We notice that in each of these fires, your name is mentioned. You were at their homes a lot and you are the only one who truly hated them."

Emma took a deep breath. They know. They know. She wanted to tell them it was all her, but she did not want Emily to be home alone with her parents. Emily needed her and she was not about to abandon her. She just couldn't.

"I hated them, but I'm sure I am not the only one. They had tons of enemies. I know they did. Anyone friends with my dad were bad people. That doesn't make me a killer."