The Girl and the 7 Deadly Sins (Emma Griffin™ FBI Mystery Book 19) by A.J. Rivers

Author:A.J. Rivers [Rivers, A.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Emma Griffin FBI Mystery Series
Publisher: A.J. Rivers
Published: 2022-03-17T16:00:00+00:00

“Holy shit,” Peter whispers.

His eyes are wide and it seems he hasn’t blinked in the couple of minutes since I stopped talking.

Angelo is shaking his head, glancing every few seconds over at Louise, where she sits with her hands over her mouth. Tears have pooled in her eyes and her cheeks have gone red as she fights the emotions washing over her.

“We didn’t have anything to do with any of that,” Angelo finally says. “Nothing.”

“We didn’t know,” Louise says.

I shake my head, holding up my hands to stop them before they continue.

“You don’t need to worry. No one thinks you did. Everything from our investigation so far shows he did this very carefully and very separately away from the rest of his life. The Emperor was his alter ego. He went to great lengths to make sure those activities didn’t interfere with his daily life. None of you, none of any of the staff, are considered related in any way,” I reassure them.

“Thank God,” Peter says.

“I just can’t believe what I just heard,” Angelo says. “I knew he was horrible. But…it makes me sick to think about any of that actually happening.”

I’m glad I kept some of the details to myself, knowing they would be too much for them to take. They were difficult for me to stomach, and I barely had any interactions with the man. I only met him a few times. These were people who had worked with him for years. Though they weren’t friendly by any stretch of the imagination, the idea of being in close proximity on a regular basis with someone capable of doing the things he did is difficult to take.

“How could I not have known?” Louise wonders aloud. “I was there at his house every day. I saw him. I spoke with him. Maybe it wasn’t much, but…”

“Louise, I need you to hear this when I say it to you. There’s nothing you could have done about this. And there’s no reason you should have known. I know that’s hard to wrap your head around, and you think you should have somehow intuitively been able to tell there was something wrong about him. But I promise you, that is not the case.

“You don’t just automatically know these things about people because you are in the same space with them every day. People like him are masters at hiding what they do. Part of the joy and the fulfillment for him was to be able to go about his normal life, working, engaging with other people, earning admiration and respect from people, all the while carrying on with this other half of his existence no one knew about. He prided himself in being able to cover that up and never let it show.

“The fact that you couldn’t suspect anything like that was going on just shows that you don’t have the capacity for evil that he did. No one should be able to think that way. The kinds of things he did should never cross a person’s mind.

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