Emily killed Taj.
But why?
20
“Emily,” Kara says, putting her hands up shakily. “What are you doing? Why are you pointing that gun at us?”
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Emily says. “That’s not what I’m doing here. But you are going to walk, without hesitation. If you hesitate, I’ll have to do something I really don’t want to do, so please just do as I’m asking.”
Her voice is shaky, low, almost scared.
“What is going on?” I say, carefully. “Emily, what happened?”
Her eyes move to mine. “I figured out you two were onto me when I went back to my room and the door was unlocked, things weren’t as I left them. I knew you were getting close, when I found my phone on your patio, I started to get nervous. I asked Rick where you were, and he said he saw you two walking down here. This was my only chance. You’ve left me no choice.”
“Chance to do what?”
I’m very careful with my words, I know anything could tip her over the edge right now.
“To stop you two from talking, because I know you’re going to. I know you’re going to go to the police and ruin my entire life.”
“Just tell us what happened to Taj. Maybe we can help?” Kara suggests. “We know you’re not a bad person, just talk to us.”
She’s smart, she’s making it seem like we’re on her side when we both know that as soon as we get out of here, we’re going to dob Emily in. Of course we are, Taj was our friend and whatever happened, it resulted in the end of his life.
“It was an accident,” Emily says, her hands shaking, the gun making me nervous as it points right at me. “I went to talk to him that night. He had been pressuring me to make a choice about first chair, he said it would be favoritism if I picked Kara, because we’re all close and she’s a girl. He said he deserved it. We got into an argument, and I told him he wouldn’t blackmail me into giving him what he wanted. He told me...he told me he was going above my head to tell someone about this one night we had...it was a mistake...we were both drunk and...”
I shake my head, shocked by what I’m hearing. “You and Taj slept together?”
Damn.
“It was once, and it never happened again. But he was going to use it against me. I’m the conductor, I shouldn’t be doing those kinds of things, it would cost me my job. He went to walk out and I grabbed him, telling him I wasn’t going to let him tell lies about me, or cause me to lose everything I’ve worked for. He was drunk and he jerked his arm out of my grasp, really hard, and he lost his footing. He just fell backwards and hit that rock. It was over so fast...I thought he was just pretending...”
Oh god.
I feel bad for her, because it was an accident and now she has to live with that. But at the same time, she made a choice not to tell the police, to let his family believe it was an accident. She chose to cover it up and lie. That she could have changed.
“Why didn’t you tell the police?” Kara asks. “If it was an accident...”
“I’d still go to prison,” Emily yells, the gun waving a little too frantically for my liking. “I’d lose my job, I’d lose my career, I’d lose everything. I can’t let that happen. Which is why I can’t let you two girls call the police.”
Oh.
Well, that doesn’t sound good.
“You know they’re going to find out,” I say, my voice hesitant. “You can’t hide forever.”
“They think it was a self-inflicted accident, they won’t find out. I’m sorry, I’m doing what I have to do. I don’t want to hurt either of you, but we’re going to walk. Give me your phones.”
I hesitate, not wanting to hand over my phone.
She waves the gun. “Now, girls.”
I pull my phone out of my pocket and hand it to her, Kara does the same. She waves the gun again. “Now walk.”
“Where to?” Kara asks, glancing at me, her eyes a little worried.
“Far enough away that it’ll take them all night to find you. By then, I’ll be gone.”
She’s going to do a runner.
My heart thumps against my chest, but when she waves the gun and tells us to walk again, we do as she asks. We both turn and begin walking off the beaten path, into the thick woods behind us. Emily follows the entire time, until the sun begins to set and night falls. She doesn’t say anything. When Kara asks to stop and pee, she lets her. Kara gives me a look, one that says she wants to fight back, but it’s not worth the risk.