Loreen and Emma had reunited the day after Foster was caught. Emma’s gratitude was obvious, but Loreen didn’t want any credit for doing “what any decent human would do.” She said she’d finally gotten something right for the first time and she was the one who should be thankful.

After ten days, Diva and Webster still weren’t sure about Doris’s aggressive approach to pets, but Loreen was working with her on that.

“Jeffy’s better,” Doris chanted over and over when we came in the door. She did a little clapping, too, and I agreed his arrival was worth the applause.

When Doris held her arms out, ready for a run at her brother to offer one of her infamous hugs, Loreen stopped her by placing a gentle hand on Doris’s arm. “Remember how Jeffy hurt himself? You can’t squeeze him like you do me.”

“That’s right.” Doris hit her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Jeffy’s got a hole in him. I don’t know how you get a hole in you, but if it makes you walk like that, I don’t want one.”

Jeff and DeShay were moving through the foyer, and he smiled and held out his hand to Doris. “Help me over to Abby’s… is that a recliner?”

I nodded. “Thought you might be more comfortable there.”

Doris forgot about helping. She ran to the recliner, ready to show Jeff all the chair’s bells and whistles-the remote compartment, the massage options, the little table that you could flip up for your drinks or snacks. She’d been playing with the chair for a week and was quite the expert.

Jeff looked at Loreen. “I can’t thank you enough for taking care of her. She seems so comfortable with you, so happy.”

“She’s sweet. Like the kid I never had.”

“I really appreciate your help,” he said.

I raised my eyebrows and looked expectantly at him. “Loreen lost her job at Purity Maids, hint, hint.”

A bigger smile from Jeff. “Really? Would you consider staying on? I don’t know what your salary was, but-”

“But you’ll get more. Plenty more,” I finished.

Jeff shot me a look, but then he smiled again. He knew we’d work it out.

Epilogue

Kate and I joined Emma and her brothers and sister on a chilly November evening to watch what Crime Time had done with Emma’s story. How would Christine O’Meara fare? Would the slant Kravitz took make HPD look bad? I sure hoped not, considering I got him that copy of Stu’s tape. The confession and Foster’s guilty plea to all the murders probably had more to do with that than my request.

I finally met Scott, Emma’s oldest brother. He seemed reserved with Kate and me, unsure whether he liked all that had gone on and our role in it.

The new home was spectacular, and there had been other gifts besides the landscaping and the houseful of furniture. There were college scholarships for the kids, enough money for Emma to finish her master’s in business, an apartment for Scott at college. Reality Check and Erwin Mayo had kept their word and didn’t skimp. I had to admit, I might have been wrong about them. Perhaps they did want to help people, even though they came across as fake and self-centered.

The place smelled like the new carpet and the lemon-oiled built-in entertainment center. Shannon and Luke were sitting on the floor, busy with their laptops-more of Venture’s generosity. Kate and I sat on the sofa to wait out the twenty minutes until showtime. My TiVo was set to record back home. Loreen and Doris had gone to a recently released preholiday animated film. Doris did not need to see or hear what had happened to her brother.

Jeff had insisted on returning to work, to desk duty that he hated, but it was better than the recliner he’d grown tired of. He and DeShay had plenty of paperwork piling up.

Scott paced in the space connecting the living and dining areas, a longneck Bud Light in his hand. With his mother’s history of alcoholism, I wondered if Emma worried about him. He wasn’t even legal drinking age yet.

Emma came into the living room with chips and salsa, set them on the coffee table and sat in one of the new tub chairs. I’d already grabbed a Diet Coke from the kitchen, while Kate stuck with water.

“One of my half brothers called me today,” Emma said. “Raul. He and Xavier Junior want to meet me.”

“How do you feel about that?” Kate asked.

“I feel wonderful,” Emma said. “I’d love to see my new dining room table filled with brothers and sisters.”

A short, awkward silence followed. We knew that might not include one sister. Beth Foster and the daughter her husband had stolen seemed to have disappeared. Probably fleeing the media, if they had any sense. I may have unearthed the truth, but I’d fallen short. Emma wanted to meet the child she’d help bring into the world, but Amy’s place at the table might never be filled.

“You look rested, Emma,” I finally said, wanting to change the dark mood that had descended on the room.

“I am at peace, because of you and Kate. Thank you again so much,” she said.

We spent the time until the show started talking about Shannon’s good grades, Luke’s successes on the football field and Emma’s plan to return to school. Finally Scott, a few minutes before showtime, came and sat with us.

He looked at me and said, “I want to thank you, too. For helping my sister. You and Dr. Rose risked your lives. I’m sorry I didn’t come here and, like, be here for everyone. I didn’t think she was doing the right thing.”

“Takes a strong person to admit they were wrong, Scott,” Kate said. “I believe that’s even more proof what a fantastic job Emma did raising the three of you.”

“The show is starting,” Shannon said.

We all turned our attention to the TV.

Kravitz began the narrative on an airplane, said he was heading to Houston, Texas, to cover an amazing and complex story of deceit, murder and a family who wouldn’t give up until they learned the truth about a sister lost to them years ago.

Truth, I thought, smiling to myself. You did do the right thing, Paul.

I hadn’t been aware of the tension in my shoulders, but once he spoke those words, I sat back and enjoyed every minute of Crime Time. He presented the story concisely and with plenty of those cliffhanging questions before each commercial break. The demolished house and the tiny grave made it on the air; so did much abbreviated interviews with Kate, Emma, Aunt Caroline and me. Don White spoke for the police and was more charming than I imagined he could be, maybe because his partner was amazing everyone in rehab. When the clips of the hostage situation were shown, Kate bowed her head, but then footage of a shackled Harrison Foster being transferred to court for arraignment followed, and she watched intently. But her back was ramrod straight, her hands joined a little too tightly in her lap.

We learned new information as well. Harrison Foster wasn’t his real name, and he did have a secret past, as Kate and I had suspected. He was Howard Nolen, and the unsolved murders of his parents in a small Nebraska town were added to his terrible resume.

I glanced again at Kate when this was revealed. She was blinking back tears. I hated this, hated seeing her in so much pain. I’d heard her pacing in the night one too many times and guessed she had delayed moving into her new house because she didn’t want to be alone. Not yet. The wounds Foster had inflicted were perhaps too fresh, too raw.

When the show ended, Emma said, “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“They did a decent job.” I welcomed a chance to talk about their take rather than analyze Kate’s reaction in front of everyone. “Now you can talk to the Today show or Good Morning America. You said they’ve been calling.”

“Oh, no,” Emma said. “No more television for me.”

“I’ll do the talk-show rounds,” Luke offered.

“You will not,” Emma said. “None of you will. Haven’t you learned anything from my mistakes?”