My Great Escape Led Me to You (Emily Blair) novel Chapter 1278

A female police officer squinted, eyeing Rose Ward and catching a glimpse of fabric showing beneath her coat collar. It looked suspiciously like pajamas.

She narrowed her eyes, thinking, Who heads out without even changing out of their pajamas? Just how urgent was this?

Then she glanced down at the settlement paper her coworker was holding. The two bright red thumbprints were still wet, with damp spots that hadn’t even dried yet.

Clearly, this agreement had just been signed.

The officer gave a small nod. “We get it.”

They’d seen cases before where victims or their families took money from the accused in exchange for a letter of forgiveness. It wasn’t unusual.

What threw them off was that Isabella Austin’s family had made this offer to Rose Ward and her grandmother before, trying to pay them off to let Isabella go, but Rose and her grandma always refused. Every single time the Austins suggested it, Rose and her grandmother shot it down instantly, never even letting them finish or asking what the amount was.

So the officer figured maybe Isabella Austin’s family had finally offered a number too good to turn down. Maybe the money was enough to break even Rose and her grandma’s stubbornness.

She asked, “Did Isabella Austin’s family give you something that made you change your mind?”

That would make sense. The Austins were practically famous in the city.

But Rose paused, shook her head, and said, “No. We just suddenly changed our minds, so we wrote the agreement. Could you please process it quickly? My grandma and I really want to get back to sleep.”

Rose was just trying to play it safe. She hadn’t taken any money. If she lied and said she did, the police might look into it, catch her in the lie, and then who knows what else they’d find. If they discovered that Emily Blair had been kidnapped, and word got back to Benjamin Gomez, Emily could be in serious danger.

So Rose stuck to her story, thinking it was the safest bet.

As soon as they walked in, the police immediately noticed something strange that seemed to confirm their suspicions.

A male officer tapped his partner’s arm, nodding toward Rose’s cell phone.

The female officer looked closer and realized Rose was holding her phone at a weird angle, almost like she was trying to record something.

It was obvious. She was filming.

Who was she recording for? And why? Suddenly, everything started making a lot more sense.

The police were starting to get a clear picture of what was really going on.