Page 37 of Engaging the Deputy

“Which one of you is going to tell me what’s going on?” the deputy asked. “No one is going to find out what? How about you, Krystal? Why don’t you tell me why you’re panicking?”

She turned slowly, her face flushed, eyes bright with unshed tears, but from the set of her jaw, she wasn’t talking now.

“We can do this here or I can take you both down to the sheriff’s office.”

“On what charge?” Emery demanded.

“Assault, for starters.”

Neither spoke for a moment. Emery began to clean up the mess on the floor. Jaden looked at Krystal, who had recovered and now looked defiant.

Jaden pulled up a chair and sat down. “I overheard enough to know that you’re both involved in what happened out at Starling on Halloween. What I want to know is what the two of you are hiding. What was the plan that night? It was your idea to go out to Starling, Emery. Planning a murder?”

Krystal’s expression changed to one of alarm. “Emery?” He had finished wiping up the floor and dumped the broken cup into the trash, clearly stalling for time.

“You’ve got it all wrong,” he said and exchanged a look with Krystal before he righted the chair and sat down. “We were just going to play a prank. That’s all it was supposed to be. Just scare some people.”

So, Krystal had been in on it. Jaden turned to her. “How did you get to Starling without anyone noticing?”

When she didn’t answer, Emery did for her. “She hid in the back of my van. With all the junk back there, no one was the wiser.”

“Weren’t Dean and Jenny still down where you parked?” Jaden asked.

There was pride in her voice when Krystal finally joined in. “They were busy arguing, so they didn’t notice when I opened the back and climbed out.”

“What was the plan?” the deputy asked.

“She was dressed in all black, her hood up, and wearing a big, floppy dark hat,” Emery said. “Anyone who saw her would think they were seeing—”

“Elden Rusk,” Jaden said with a nod. “You said you wanted to scaresomepeople? Cody and Olivia?” He looked at Krystal, then shifted his gaze to Emery when neither spoke. “Rob and the girls you were with? What about Dean and Jenny?” When neither answered, he said, “Who was it you really wanted to scare?” He watched the two exchange another look. “Rob Perkins,” he guessed. “Why?”

Emery looked away for a moment, as if making up his mind, then said, “He owed me money. He promised to pay before he left town, but I didn’t believe him. I knew that once he was gone, I’d never see a penny of it. All his big talk about his condo and his new job out there in Seattle…” He shook his head. “I didn’t believe a word of it.”

“Why would he lie?”

“Because it wasn’t just me he owed money to,” Emery said. “He’d gotten involved with the wrong people.”

Jaden groaned inwardly, thinking this would have been nice to know from the get-go. “The wrong people? Drug people?”

Emery shrugged. “I just knew that he needed to get out of town. He said he wasn’t planning to leave until after Saturday. But I found out that he’d already packed his truck in his garage and was planning to take off Halloween night. That’s why he’d wanted to go out to Starling in my van. He hates my driving, so I knew something was up. I texted Krystal to check his house and garage.”

“I looked through a crack in the blinds into his bedroom,” she said. “The closets were empty, the bureau drawers dropped out on the bed and almost everything taken. I checked the garage, and just like Emery suspected, Rob was planning a quick getaway.”

“He was going to miss the going-away party I was throwing for him Saturday night,” Emery said bitterly. “Where he promised to pay me what he owed me with interest. Lying piece of—”

“So, the two of you decided to kill him,” Jaden said, making Emery start.

“No! Not that I didn’t want to, but…” He shook his head. “It’s just money, right? He saved my life once. Sure, I was pissed, but I couldn’t kill him. What would be the point? It wouldn’t get my money back.” He shrugged. “I just wanted him to think that Elden Rusk had come for him that night. My going-away present for the bastard.”

Did Jaden believe Emery was telling the truth, that he’d just wanted to scare Rob by resurrecting Elden Rusk? After all, it had been Emery’s idea to go out to Starling on Halloween night. Rob must have gone along with it because it would have been suspicious if he hadn’t.

The deputy looked to Krystal, who was still standing at the other end of the table, her back to the wall. What was in it for her? “What did he owe you, Krystal?”

She seemed surprised by the question but recovered quickly. “Do I look like I had money to give him?” Her laugh didn’t quite ring true.

“It wasn’t money he wanted from you,” Jaden said. “But he owed you something, didn’t he?”

She chewed on her lower lip, her eyes shiny as she looked away.

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