No One Can Know: A Novel

Fifteen years later, Emma is a freelance website designer and just learned she is pregnant. She is married to Nathan, deeply in debt, and estranged from Juliette and Daphne. When Nathan, who does not know about her parents’ murder, loses his job, he suggests that the only way for them to keep the pregnancy is to move into Emma’s empty childhood home in Arden Hills, Colorado. He suggests that they repair the house, convince Emma’s sisters to sell it, and buy their own house from the proceeds. Emma does not want to return to her old home, but goes along with Nathan because she wants to keep the pregnancy. Later that night, Emma reveals the truth about her parents’ murder to Nathan, explaining that the killer and murder weapon were never found, but Emma was the main suspect.

Emma texts her sisters that she is moving back to their old home. A grocery store cashier in Arden Hills behaves coldly when she spots Emma’s full name on her ID. A narrow bridge over a river leads to the Palmer house, a mansion on a two-acre estate. Nathan is annoyed that Emma does not have keys to the property’s carriage house. They enter the house and find that vandals graffitied “Murder House” and “Killer” in red paint on the walls. Emma walks around the house, recalling that she never confessed the truth to anyone despite endless questioning at the time of her parents’ murder. She made up a story to protect her sisters, one or both of whom she suspects was involved in her parents’ murder.

The day after her parents’ murders, police question 12-year-old Daphne. Officer Rick Hadley, her father’s best friend, asks her to recount the previous night’s events. Daphne tells him the story Emma made up: Daphne, Juliette, and Emma all slept in their treehouse that night. Daphne would have noticed if her sisters had exited the treehouse, since she was sleeping by the door. She woke up at five o’clock in the morning to go to the bathroom inside, found the bodies, and began to scream. Emma asked the sisters not to touch anything so as not to corrupt the scene, and after everyone calmed down, she called the police. Hadley tells Daphne that this is a good story, but it is not true.

In the present day, Daphne is 26 and an end-of-life-care provider. She is good at her work, viewing her clients and their families as objectively as possible. She also walks dogs as a side job. After Emma’s text, Daphne uses a fake account to go through Nathan’s social media profile, as she often does to keep watch over her sisters. Daphne attended Emma’s wedding a few years ago, much to Emma’s surprise. She disliked Nathan, thinking of him as weak. Emma deserves better but, Daphne notes, does not know how to form equitable relationships.

The wallpaper in Emma’s old room is faded. Her mother decorated the sisters’ rooms in identical wallpaper in different pastel hues, Juliette’s yellow, Emma’s pink, and Daphne’s green. As Emma and Nathan clean the house, its furniture rotting from disuse, Emma tells Nathan about her childhood. Juliette, the oldest, 18 when their parents died, was the perfect child, practicing the piano and obeying their strict parents. On the other hand, Emma, wanted to apply to art school and rebelled against their parents, frequently being punished for it. Daphne was strange and quiet. Because Emma was known as a rebel, it was easy to blame her for the murders, along with Gabriel Mahoney, her supposed boyfriend. The family lawyer, Christopher Best, eventually proved no direct evidence linked Emma with the deaths, protecting her from prosecution. Emma does not tell Nathan that the night of the murder, Juliette went out, and returned wearing someone else’s clothes. Daphne’s sleeves were soaked with blood, and she told Emma, “No one can know” (37).

At the time of the murders, Daphne knows people think she is peculiar and watchful, silently observing things. She does not have many friends. However, she adores her sisters. Emma, in particular, understands Daphne, who is obsessed with nature and poisons. The morning of their parents’ death, Gabriel joins Daphne and Emma at a park. Emma tells him that her mother will not let her be in peace “until one of us is dead” (41). Daphne panics, triggering an asthma attack. Emma rushes her home for her inhaler, but when they get home, their mother withholds the it, claiming the attack is psychosomatic. Irene asks Daphne to control herself.

In the present day, Emma and Nathan go to the grocery store to pick up cleaning supplies for the Herculean task of cleaning the house. Emma thinks they are better off selling it soon, but she has yet to suggest it to Daphne and Juliette. After their parents died, Emma assumed the sisters would band together, but Juliette left home the day after the funeral, and Emma and Daphne were split up and sent to foster families. When Emma aged out of the system, she wanted to be Daphne’s guardian, but Daphne refused, leaving Emma heartbroken.

Officer Hadley, Randolph’s best friend, breaks Emma’s reverie. Hadley asks Emma how she feels comfortable in the house where her parents bled to death. He says he will deliver justice for her father. When Nathan joins them, however, Hadley changes tack, pretending to be polite. Hadley tells Emma to say hello to Gabriel for him, and Emma snaps at him. Nathan chides her for being rude to the officer.

On the drive home, Nathan interrogates Emma about Gabriel. Emma does not like Nathan’s questions and suspicious glances. When they get home, they find Gabriel’s car in the driveway. Gabriel, who is involved with the maintenance company that tends the grounds, is checking on the property. He mentions that Juliette has the keys to the carriage house. Later, Nathan asks Emma if she and the handsome Gabriel really dated when she was a teenager. Emma protests that Gabriel, five years older than her, was never her boyfriend, despite the police’s attempts to plant that story. She is frustrated that Nathan doesn’t believe her.

At the time of the murders, Hadley questions Juliette after Daphne. Juliette sticks to Emma’s story but makes a mistake, telling Hadley that Emma, not Daphne, was sleeping by the door of the treehouse. She makes another mistake when she admits that Emma and their parents had been arguing about Gabriel Mahoney.

In the present day, Juliette goes by JJ. She lives with her girlfriend, Vic, and works for a bank. JJ receives Emma’s text and thinks about their past. Even though JJ was the oldest, Emma took charge of the situation at the murder scene. Emma never told the police that JJ went out that night and returned in unfamiliar clothes. Emma opened herself up to suspicion to protect her sisters, but her return to the house perplexes JJ, who fears it may ruin JJ’s stable life. JJ is hiding secrets.

Emma gets a call from Gabriel, who is upset that Emma lied to the police the night of the murder. She said she was with her sisters, but she was with him, and her lie left him with no alibi. After Emma left, the police continued to hound Gabriel. He asks Emma to stay away from him, as she always destroys his life. A teary Emma hangs up and makes love to Nathan in desperation.

Emma tells Nathan that after JJ’s birth, her parents wanted a boy. Emma and Daphne’s births were disappointing. Irene had a stillborn boy after Daphne and asked the girls to see their brother. Emma did not want to, but Randolph slapped her and forced her to look at the baby’s body. Everyone thinks Emma killed her parents because she did hate them. Nathan says that everyone hates their parents, but Emma feels he does not understand. They hear a noise downstairs and find that someone flung a flaming object through the window, catching the rug and curtains on fire. Against Emma’s insistence, Nathan calls the police.

Hadley and the chief of police, Craig Ellis, arrive at the Palmer House. Ellis is affable but downplays the incident as kids playing a prank and advises Nathan to put up security cameras. Emma counters that it is the police’s job to investigate crime. Hadley grows hostile, telling Nathan that Emma cannot be trusted. She was out with Gabriel the night of the murders, and a man’s footprints were found all over the house. After the officers leave, Nathan asks Emma if she lied to the police.

Twelve hours before her parents’ murders, Juliette practices the piano while Emma argues with Irene upstairs. Juliette resents Emma for being rebellious because it forces Juliette to be perfect to keep the peace. When Randolph comes out of the study, Juliette lets it slip that she knows he is having an affair. Randolph tells her to mind her own business. Juliette hears Irene tell Randolph that Emma must be stopped from seeing Gabriel Mahoney.