Page 117 of Second Chance

Catching Emilio before he leaves to thank him for being the one to call the police. Again.

“No one even had to tell me to do it this time.” Emilio says with a half-smile. “You were right though.”

“Huh?”

“Seeing him didn’t help. He’s just a messed-up kid. So’s she, probably. It was never about Amy or our family.”

Tony claps him on the shoulder before he gets into his car and drives home to his empty house.

They offer to help clean up the restaurant, but in the end, besides the bullet hole in the drywall behind a decorative tapestry, it’s only one or two spilled dishes. Too little mess for how shaken Tony feels. They leave the biggest tip they can scrounge together between all twelve of them. Colette contributes a hundred dollar bill, poorly hiding how badly she’s shaking with her arms crossed tightly over her stomach.

Detective Taylor waits for them as they leave the restaurant.

A sinking feeling spreads through Tony’s stomach. He wishes it were from too much Indian food.

“I took Lily Peterson’s statement this morning. She confessed. We’re supposed to charge her with the murder tomorrow morning.” Taylor is, as always, clear and to the point.

Tony wishes he didn’t feel like it was his business. He wants to lie down, preferably somewhere no one can see or talk to him except Daniel and Worf.

“I’d rather not do that with loose ends,” Taylor continues. “To be honest, besides her confession, we don’t have much evidence. Her prints aren’t on the murder weapon, and Mr. Lawrence was kind enough to tell me about a website you were researching, but the threatening posts about Professor Lawrence couldn’t be traced to a single IP address.”

Tony looks over to Daniel, at his mouth set in a firm line. Though still exhausted and shaken, Daniel won’t back down on this. He committed to being responsible for Lily at the start, and if there is any chance he can do something to help her, he will.

“What do you need?” Tony asks.

“Ideally, I want to find out what actually happened.”

“This was my fault,” Colette says immediately, absolutely sure and absolutely wrong.

“No, it wasn’t,” Tony snaps.

“It was. Sean is my advisee. I tried to get in touch with him to let him know about Lily and that he ought to come forward and—and tell you about his involvement. I thought it would help.”

Daniel makes a move as if he’s about to interrupt, but Colette holds up her hand to stop him.

“I thought he was more reasonable and adult. Once again, I severely misjudged.”

“What exactly did you tell him?” Taylor asks.

“To get in touch with me or with you directly, in order to help himself now Lily has been caught.”

“Well.” Detective Taylor sighs. “As usual, I’d have preferred it if you had let me know. But in this case, Professor, it sounds like you offered a student reasonable advice. It’s not your fault. You didn’t know he would do this.”

“That’s the problem,” Colette mutters. “I never seem to know.”

“So what now?” Daniel asks.

“I need to talk to Lily. Preferably with someone she trusts. Someone like you, Professor Rosenbaum. Or your partner’s sister and Mr. Walia.”

“Gianna’s gone home,” Tony says.

Last time Tony saw her, she was in the back seat of Blake’s tiny car, one hand curled protectively around Lia’s car seat. They already asked so much of her that he can’t stomach the thought of calling her away from her daughter again. Not after tonight.

Detective Taylor nods decisively. “Then it’s you two.”

Meredith, who’s been waiting and watching the whole scene quietly, offers to drive Tony’s poor little car to Rhinebeck so he doesn’t have to get behind the wheel quite yet. He suspects it isn’t only to do him and Daniel a favor. Colette’s still shaking, though she’s turned down every offer of a hot drink and a warm blanket so far. Maybe the comfort of a near stranger in the privacy of her own apartment will be easier to accept.

Daniel and Tony follow the police cruiser to Kingston and the hospital in Daniel’s car.

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