Finally, Emily Fisher feels she’s making progress. She’s going to get the real story of how High Council member Stephen Nash’s body was found, and maybe even some clues about the murder itself. But first she has to deal with her family. Oh, and her sister’s the one who found the body. And the other person implicated is the apparently helpful but often perplexing Alex Bancroft, the Prophesied One (maybe), and a suspect himself. Read what Emily finds out in “Confusing confessions,” chapter 17 of Prophecies and Penalties.

Prophecies and Penalties is my weekly serial tale about a data analyst for a detective agency reluctantly dragged back to her home town to investigate a murder at a religious commune where she grew up. A new chapter goes up every Friday morning. If you’re not already reading the story, you can start here.