Emma Simmonds

Emma is a woman who struggles under the weight of a secret. Although her husband Paul thinks that she has some mental illness that causes her to become anxious and withdrawn, Emma acknowledges that the real cause of her problems are the sins in her past. She is deeply troubled when she reads a newspaper article about the body of a infant that was unearthed in the street where she used to live. She is eager to hear of new developments in the investigation and is waiting for the day when the police will show up at her door to take her away.

These statements cause the reader to think that Emma has committed some crime associated with the baby, even though all the other information in the case and the novel's text in no way points back to Emma. However, Emma's eventual confession to Kate Waters...