"Bennett, Cherie - Sunset Island 009 - Sunset Scandal" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bennett Cherie)

"It seems pretty funny, doesn't it?" Kurt said. "I was ragging on you for wanting to lend me tuition money, and I just let you loan me a ton of it to save my butt. What a hypocrite I am, huh?"
"Please, Kurt, forget it," Emma said, putting her hand lightly on Kurt's leg.
He took a sip of the coffee. "I just want to
repeat what I said to you before. They arrested me for a crime that I didn't commit."
Emma kept her gaze on Kurt's tired and drawn face. "I know. I believe you," she said. "But I just don't understand how this could have happened!"
Kurt got a sheepish look on his face. He ran his hand over the stubble of beard on his chin. "You remember during the party we took a walk on the beach and looked at that house next to the Lawrences'?"
"Yes," Emma replied.
"Well, after you left, I walked down the beach for a while. Then I came back to the house, and . . . and I did something stupid," Kurt admitted.
Oh God, he got someone else to break into the house, Emma thought. He didn't actually do it but he helped! But she kept her tone even when she spoke.
"What's that?" she asked.
"I had been thinkingЧobsessing, reallyЧ about how rich all the summer people on this island are. I wanted to see how these people liveЧI was sure their house was filled with all these amazing things. So I went back to
the house. It's like I couldn't help myself." Kurt paused, his eyes downcast. "Remember I told you that they use it so infrequently? Well, I didn't think they were coming up this weekend. But the sliding glass door was open," he continued in a low voice, "and I went in."
"Oh, Kurt!" Emma cried. "Your fingerprints must be all over everything!"
"That's what the cops said," Kurt replied. "But the point is, I didn't break in and I didn't take anything! I left everything just the way I found it!"
"Then someone else must have burglarized the house after you were in it," Emma concluded. "But someone saw you leaving the house. So no wonder the police arrested you."
Kurt nodded glumly. "I suppose they would consider it trespassing, anyway," he said.
"You need to tell Jane about this, you know," Emma told him.
"I know," Kurt said in an exhausted-sounding voice. "I should have already."
This is horrible, Emma thought frantically. Unless we find the person who actually committed the burglary, Kurt's in big trouble!
"Kurt?"
"Yes, Emma?"
Emma bit her lower lip before she spoke. "Are you sureЧabsolutely certainЧyou didn't take anything? I mean, on impulse or something?"
"Of course I'm sure!" Kurt exploded. "How could I face you otherwise?"
"Kurt, I'm not doubting you," Emma said. "It's just so unbelievable that all this is happening. But you know I believe in you." Emma took Kurt's hand in her own and caressed it gently.
Kurt was on the verge of tears. "How can this be happening to me?" he cried.
"I don't know," Emma responded, "but I'm with you all the way." She kissed him gently on the forehead.
Just then Jane Hewitt came out into the backyard with her briefcase. Kurt stood and thanked her again for helping him at the arraignment.
"Don't thank me yet," Jane said. "We've got to get started putting together a defense for you while the evidence is still fresh."
"What do I do?" Kurt asked.
"Exactly what I tell you to do," Jane
replied. "We'll start now, with you telling me everything you remember about last night." Jane took her yellow legal pad out of the briefcase and switched on a portable tape recorder.
Emma stood up. "I'll leave you two so you can work," she said.
"Why don't you go upstairs and get some sleep?" Kurt suggested. "You must be beat."
Emma smiled at him. He was so sweet, worrying about her despite everything he was going through. "I don't think I could," she told him honestly. "Besides, I promised Sam and Carrie that I'd meet them for lunch at the Play Cafe. I'm going to head over there nowЧunless you need me for something, Jane," she added.
"No, the kids are out back with Jeff," Jane said. "It's fine."
"Thanks, Jane, you're the best," Emma told her employer. "I won't stay too long."
When Emma arrived at the Play Cafe, Sam, Carrie, and Darcy were already sitting and laughing together at the girls' customary table.
"Hey, girlfriend," Sam called out when
she saw Emma. "Darcy was just telling us about the Masons' plans for next Halloween in their spook house. It sounds like a riot!"
But the smile had left Darcy's face. "Something terrible's happened," she said, her eyes alert.
"You're right," Emma said, sitting in the empty chair.
"What's wrong?" Carrie asked. "You look awful."
Emma took a sip from the glass of water on the table in front of her, and within ten minutes had spilled out the whole story of the party, Kurt's arrest, the arraignment, and Kurt's impassioned insistence that he had nothing to do with the crime. Her friends listened, astonished and horrified.
"The worst thing is," Emma finished, "that even though I believe him when he says he didn't do it, there's one small part of me that wonders if he was involved somehow." Emma looked down at her white-knuckled hands and tried to relax. "I hate myself for thinking that!"
Darcy, who'd been nibbling on a roll, spoke up. "Emma, you don't have anything to worry about. The only thing Kurt's stolen is your heart."
"How can you be so sure?" Sam challenged her. "Emma says his fingerprints were on everything."
"I just know," Darcy said matter-of-factly.
"What are you, psychic?" Sam asked.
"Not exactly," Darcy answered. "But sometimes IЧ"
"Oh, jeez," Sam interrupted her. "Look who's coming." She pointed to the door, where Lorell Courtland and Diana De Witt were breezing in, carrying their tennis racquets and dressed in designer tennis outfits.