Emily exited her office and almost knocked on Emma’s door to ask for some legal advice on a case before she realized that Emma was seeing someone. ‘Oops’ She thought, ‘I need to be more careful.’ Instead she walked to the front of the building and decided to grab a quick lunch. “Marsha, I will be back in a few minutes, just going to grab a quick lunch. If Emma gets out before I’m back, have her call me, please. Also, would you like anything to eat?”
“Nope, I’m fine, thanks. I will have her call you.” Marsha said while Emily walked out the door. Emily absentmindedly noticed a car with two guys in it across the street and down a little bit. ‘Wonder what the deal is.’ She thought, ‘oh, well.’ She walked down the street toward the sandwich shop hoping that she had enough cash so she didn’t have to use a credit card.
Ryan watched Emily walk down the street away from them and nudged Josh, “Isn’t that the twin? What’s her name?”
“Yeah, that’s her. Emily Jane Adams. I wonder why she’s going out by herself.” They continued to watch her and they both started laughing, nervously when they noticed that she entered the sandwich shop that was down just three buildings. Ryan looked back at the building and realized that from this vantage point he could see a window that was open. He didn’t remember seeing that earlier. He pulled the binoculars out of the glove box and looked into it. He could see what he thought was the back of Emma’s head and she seemed to be in deep conversation with someone in the room.
“What do you see, Ryan?” Josh asked.
“Um…I think it’s the back of Emma’s head…She’s talking to someone in the room.”
“How did we miss someone going in?” Josh asked, obviously confused.
“I’m not sure. Maybe we both happened to be….” He let the sentence fade off.
“…Reading the files.” Josh finished for him. “Maybe it’s the guy…That Carson Thompson guy.”
“Maybe” Ryan mumbled more of to himself than to Josh.
Emma picked up the pen that was sitting atop her legal pad and proceeded to jot down notes here and there while this Mr. Thompson told all the details of her most recent case. This wife sure led a wild life; it wasn’t any wonder as to why he wanted a divorce. The only problem she could find was that, even though she thought she knew everyone from around here, she didn’t recognize the name; Charlotte Scarlet Thompson. She glanced over his shoulder and into Emily’s office but noticed she was gone, probably to lunch and hoped she grabbed something for her. Then, she realized Mr. Thompson had stopped speaking and she returned her attention to the present. “So, Mr. Thompson, why did you wait so long to get a divorce?”
“There were…circumstances that needed to be…resolved before we could move forward legally. And I don’t want her name associated with mine from now on and no connection whatsoever.” He explained hesitantly.
“If I am going to be your lawyer, I want to be sure you are giving me the truth.” She replied, looking him in the eyes.
“Just trust me.” He said in his coldest voice yet.
Emma forced a, hopefully natural looking smile onto her face and proceeded to lead him out of her office on down the hallway, where she watched him pick up her business card and exit the office.
“She’s standing up!” Ryan exclaimed excitedly, with a slight smile on his face. “We really need to make sure we watch the door to see if it’s him.” He glanced at Josh and saw that his eyes were glued to the door of the office. In less than four minutes, they saw the man they had been looking for walk out the door and start down the street after looking suspiciously around.
“What are we going to do now?” Josh inquired of Ryan.
“Honestly, I’m not sure... I mean, should we confront them right off the bat, or wait until we have some solid evidence?”
“Wait, I have an idea!” Josh practically shouted. “Here’s what we do…”
Emma walked quickly out of her office and down the hallway.
“Emma, Emily said to have you call her.” Martha said, pleasantly.
“Okay, will do.” Emma rapidly responded, while pulling out her cell phone. She pushed speed dial number two and stepped out of the chilly office and into the warm June sunshine. She listened to it ringing on the other line with her eyes closed and, feeling the sun light envelope and warm her all the way down to her toes, she smiled slightly. Emily picked up on the fifth ring and asked her what she wanted for lunch.
“Just my usual, turkey on wheat, no mustard would be great. Oh, I have a weird case to discuss with you when you get a minute.”
Josh and Ryan were grateful for the windows being rolled down and listened to the snippets of the phone call drift towards them.
“She’s definitely talking about the case.” Josh said hurriedly.
“Maybe not, maybe she’s talking about some other case.” Ryan defended her. Josh just rolled his eyes and listened as she ended the call and reluctantly left the warm sunshine and entered the building once again. “Let’s hope this crazy plan of yours works, Josh…”
Emily glanced at the clock; it was only 4:30. Maybe she could convince Emma that they should leave early… She crossed the hallway and knocked on the doorframe to Emma’s office. The door was wide open as was the window. Emma spun from facing the window and gave Emily a guilty look.
“Sorry,” Emma quickly said, “I guess I was just daydreaming again.”
“It’s okay, no biggie,” she replied, “Hey, I think we should head out of here early and go see if we can get our grocery shopping done in record time so we can go do something fun.”
“Okay!” Emma responded enthusiastically while winking, “maybe we can even pick up some guys!”
“Let’s go!” Emily was very excited to get out of there early and get to go somewhere a little bit more lively. They quickly got their offices picked up and ready to go for the next day and walked briskly down the hallway to the door. “We’re heading out of here early, so you’re welcome to leave as well.”
“Okay,” Martha said, chuckling softly, “I will see you both tomorrow!”
As Emma and Emily pulled their car away from the curb, Josh nudged Ryan from his light slumber. “They’re moving.” He said quietly and Ryan started and then rubbed the sleep from his eyes. They turned their car on and followed them, but at a pace that would seem very natural and not like they were being followed. They passed the parking lot of the local grocery store, even though they saw the girls turn into it. They waited until the next entrance for the parking to turn into it. They parked and got out of the car to follow the girls into the store. They grabbed a cart, and filled it with things they hoped would make it look like a normal shopping trip. They walked up and down the aisle searching for the two girls and as they turned down the cereal aisle, they saw them. They slowed down and tried to look more natural, like they were just picking out what kind of cereal they wanted. Josh and Ryan each had their ears pricked, trying to pick up their conversation, and once they were close enough to hear they turned and pretended to be looking and the different kinds of pop-tarts.
“Are you sure that was what he said?” Emily asked.
“Positive. He was being way weird about everything! And I know he was just lying to me. I can’t figure out what he wants us to do for him. He said it was a divorce, but I don’t recognize the name at all…” Emma continued on, kind of rushed to get it out.
“Well, I don’t know what to say… Maybe we should just tell him we don’t have enough evidence for the case and refuse to work with him.”
“I don’t think that would be a very good idea, though, Em...” Emma said slowly, “I feel like maybe he wouldn’t let us just drop it…”
“I know what you mean. Let’s just be careful about the things we say to him.”
“Okay. Thanks for the advice.” Emma stated gratefully. “So, what kind of cereal should we get this time?”
Josh and Ryan looked at each other, wondering exactly what was going on between the girls and Mr. Thompson, but they both agreed that it was time to put their plan into action.
“Josh, maybe we should get this kind of cereal.” Ryan said, starting to walk down the aisle pushing the cart while keeping his eyes glued to Josh.
“No, I like this kind better,” Josh said, looking right back at Ryan while walking along side him. “Maybe we should flip a coin, or something.
“No, let’s just get this kind today and we can…” CRASH! Their cart had smacked right into the girls cart when the girls weren’t paying attention.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Ryan said, even though he had known exactly what was going to happen. “I feel really bad! Oh man, I can’t believe that just happened…”
“It’s totally fine, not your fault at all!” Emma said, quickly while Emily checked over the items in the cart weren’t damaged. “We should have been paying more attention, I guess we were just a little involved with our conversation.”
“Oh no, it’s totally my fault.” He insisted. “By the way, my name’s Ryan.” He held out his hand to shake hers and was surprised to find that she had quite a strong grip for being as small as she was.
“I’m Emma,” she said, “and this is Emily.” Emily also held out her hand and quickly shook his.
“I’m Josh.” Josh said, smiling kind of sheepishly and shook both the girls’ hands. “Nice to meet you both.”
“So, are you both from around here?” Emily asked, striking up a small conversation.
“No, we’re from Washington D.C.”
As Ryan and Josh left the grocery store, after talking to the girls for quite some time, and making a double date with them for the next evening, they loaded the food that they didn’t need into the back of their silver Ford Escape.
“Well, that went much better than I expected!” Josh said, “Plus, we now have a way to find out more about them. We can see if they really are involved in the murder or not!”
“I sure hope they aren’t, they seem like really nice girls…” Ryan responded quietly. “They shouldn’t be mixed up with guys like Thompson.”
“I know what you mean. Maybe they aren’t, though. Maybe it’s all just a misunderstanding…”
“Wow, I can’t believe we really just got asked out by two really hot guys!” Emily practically squealed. “Oh man, I’m so glad we got off work early, otherwise we never would have met them!”
“I’m glad we got off early, too.” Emma responded, giggling, “They really are pretty cute! But, let’s head home now, I just realized that I’m super tired…”
When they arrived home to their small house that the two of them shared, Emma immediately went and loaded the computer up. She quickly got onto the internet and searched for Charlotte Scarlet Thompson. Only a newspaper clipping came up that said she had been missing for about a week, from her home in a town not far from there, where she lived by herself. It said that she husband had left her three years previous, but they had never filed for divorce. “Emily!” She called, “come look at this…” Emily came running in and read the article quickly.
“Well that’s not normal…” she said hesitantly, “and it describes her as the exact opposite of what that man said…”
“Yeah, now I’m not sure what to think, Em.”
“Me, either…” Emily sighed.
Part 3 will come out next week! Hope you all check back and enjoy!
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