No One Can Know: A Novel

At Daphne’s cottage, Daphne tells JJ she has been watching her and Emma. Daphne knows Emma did not kill Nathan. After Daphne helped Emma inside, however, she returned to the carriage house to check for the gun that killed their parents. She hid it under the floorboards the night of the murder, but the unlicensed gun, which belonged to Logan, was gone. JJ says that she visited Nathan the night before, intending to get the keys to the carriage house and move the gun, but she failed. She adds that the gun was not the only important thing hidden in the carriage house. There was also a flash drive. JJ apologizes for abandoning Emma and Daphne. Daphne says that JJ did nothing wrong; she was traumatized, like Daphne and Emma. Daphne says that their parents deserved to die, confiding that Irene deliberately triggered Daphne’s panic attacks to convince her that she was imagining her asthma.

Emma probes further into Nathan’s affair with Addison and finds through Nathan’s emails that, unlike Detective Mehta’s assertion, the affair never fully ended. Emma learns that Addison gave Nathan an ultimatum to convince the Palmers to sell their house so he could claim the money after divorcing Emma. Emma realizes that Nathan stayed with her not for her or the baby, but for her potential money. When Emma calls the last number Nathan used, Hadley answers. She remembers that Nathan always sided with Hadley against her and realizes he was probably passing Hadley information to make it seem like Emma was dangerous.

Two months before their parents’ murders, the Palmer sisters spend their last night together in the treehouse. Irene beat Emma’s knuckles, and Juliette tells her not to provoke Irene and just bide her time, like Juliette is doing. Daphne is nervous about her sisters leaving for college, abandoning her to their abusive parents. Daphne also senses that she looks different from her father, which poses a potential danger. She goes to the bathroom in the main house and finds a familiar man with her father. Both men’s boots are muddy and her father’s knuckles are raw. Daphne senses she has witnessed something unpleasant. Daphne also notes that the other man, Hadley, has the same blond hair and blue eyes as her.

In the present day, Emma heads over to Hadley’s house for answers. She recalls her family dined with the Hadleys every month when she was a child. Since then, Hadley divorced his first wife and remarried. He also has a dog now. Hadley tells Emma that, though he answered her call, the number she called belongs to Chief Ellis. Nathan had been in touch with Ellis, telling the chief he had evidence about the case. Hadley tells Emma that she has it all wrong; he did not want to prove she murdered her parents but to find out which of her sisters she was protecting. Hadley knows Emma lied about that night, and the only reason she would lie would be for her sisters. He tells Emma that JJ has a police record for weapons and drug possession. Emma assures him JJ did not murder either their parents or Nathan.

The night of the Palmer murders, Emma returns to Gabriel’s house. Emma tells Gabriel she plans to leave town, but does not have a plan for what to do next. Gabriel tells Emma to wait until she is 18 so her parents cannot force her to return. Emma reluctantly agrees and decides to return home. She drops the stolen money into Lorelei’s loose cash tin and decides to sleep a little before going back. It is close to five o’clock in the morning when she wakes.

In the present day, Emma, Gabriel, and Lorelei discuss whether Kenneth could have murdered Emma’s parents. Lorelei tells her that although Kenneth had a bad temper, he was not capable of murder. He always looked out for her and Gabriel, even returning to secretly slip her extra money 14 years ago. Emma realizes that this was the money she deposited in Lorelei’s savings tin; Kenneth never returned after his disappearance. Unwilling to disappoint Lorelei, Emma only tells Gabriel the truth. Gabriel and Emma share a tender moment, filled with unspoken feelings. However, Emma feels that kissing Gabriel would betray Nathan and steps out of the house.

JJ visits Logan’s bar and asks for help remembering the night of her parents’ murder. She recalls leaving Nina, walking home, and waking up at Logan’s house. He tells her that he and Nina drove up to the Palmer house to check on her. They found her disoriented on the road, barefoot and soaking wet, muttering about dead people. Logan brought her home to rest. JJ cannot remember much about what happened between home and Logan’s, but she does recall yellow wallpaper, a gun with a white grip, and a bloody handprint. Logan confides that, to protect JJ, he led the police to believe that Emma was responsible for the murders. When JJ asks where Logan’s gun is, he ends the conversation.

Three days after Nathan’s death, Emma returns to the Palmer House. She calls her sisters to come over and share all their secrets once and for all. When they arrive, Daphne tells her sisters the contents of the flash drive. Emma realizes that the man Daphne describes with a wine-colored birthmark was Kenneth. She fears that Randolph and his associate, whose face is obscured in the picture, killed Kenneth. JJ confides that she had no idea Emma would be out when she visited for the keys to the carriage house. When she failed to get them, she left. JJ does not reveal, however, that Nathan flirted with her, asking her to leave when she rejected his advances. When Emma asks why her sisters avoided her for 14 years, they tell her they received anonymous letters implying they would be in trouble if they got together. To protect everyone, they stayed away from each other. Daphne and JJ acknowledge Emma took the fall for them and did not kill their parents.

The night of the Palmer murders, after Daphne puts Irene “out of her misery,” she finds Juliette in the study, holding a gun with a white handle. Their father has been shot in the head, his brain matter on the floor. Daphne goes to the disoriented Juliette and takes the gun. She tells Juliette to wait and hides the gun and flash drive under the floorboards in the carriage house. When she returns, Juliette is gone. In shock, Daphne returns to the treehouse and falls asleep, her clothes covered in blood.

In the present day, JJ says she does not remember killing her parents, but the evidence suggests it was her. Emma asks how JJ got Logan’s gun, but JJ cannot recall. She knows the gun was Logan’s because they often used it for shooting practice. She thanks Emma for taking the fall for her and says Nathan did not deserve her. Emma hits JJ for disrespecting Nathan. She later apologizes, asking if her sacrifice helped JJ have a good life. JJ answers that it did; she is happy with Vic. Now, JJ says she will protect Emma and her baby. She will not let police blame Emma for Nathan’s murder. She will even tell the police the truth about their parents’ murders.

In the old treehouse, Emma tells Daphne she does not that Daphne spied on her. Daphne responds that she had to do what was necessary to protect her sisters. Daphne also feels Nathan did not deserve Emma. She believes that someone killed Nathan because they knew he had the flash drive. The killer is smart enough to know the security camera’s blind spots. Daphne and Emma wonder if the third man in the picture is the killer. Perhaps the man is Chief Ellis. JJ comes to tell them that Chris called with bad news.