Page 68 of Only Girl Alive

“Do you want to have our conversation in the van or on one of the couches?” he asked.

“Van.” She wasn’t getting out of this discussion but she wanted out of the house.

After they sat down on the bench seat inside the van, Clyde listened to what had transpired before his phone call.

“You shouldn’t have stepped between us. She could have killed you.”

“I know. I wasn’t thinking straight. I didn’t want you to be the one to shoot her.”

He ran his hand over his bald head.

“You should have called us when you saw that the officers were gone.”

“Yes,” she nodded. “I should have.”

Clyde was the one having trouble processing right now. He wasn’t yelling. Eve might have felt better if he were angry. She would have been furious if their roles were reversed.

“How is your head?” he finally asked, taking her hand.

“I need ibuprofen.”

He released her and stood to access the first aid kit located in the cabinet above the bench seat. He dug around and handed her two pills, along with a bottled water from the cooler.

“You need food,” he said after she swallowed the pills.

“Are you going to lecture me now?” she asked.

“Would it do any good?”

“It might make you feel better.”

“It might. I’m worried about you.”

“I’m okay. Shook up, but okay. I’m worried about the Wall family.”

“Your stepbrother hasn’t called. Local law enforcement hasn’t shown up even with the 911 call for an ambulance. They’re in this up to their eyeballs. If anything has happened to the family, it’s too late to do anything about it now. I think we need to finish what absolutely needs to be done and clear out. Judge Remki can sort this mess when he’s back on the bench.”

Eve thought about it. Clyde was right. Judges and lawyers needed to review what happened here. She had a full recorded confession from Hannah.

Clyde’s phone buzzed and he looked at the screen then typed a quick reply.

“The forensic team that helped with the grid search just finished and they’re taking off. They didn’t find anything.”

“Thank you for getting here so quickly.”

“You scared the hell out of me. Don’t do it again.” He smiled for the first time.

“I’ll do my best.”

Thirty-One

“Chuck Wilson watches you at church,” Sheila told Eve while they swept the back porch. “Do you like him?” Sheila had just turned thirteen and Eve was eleven.

He wasn’t mean like Aaron and Eve thought he was cute, even though recognizing worldly beauty was a sin.

“He’s nice,” Eve told her sister. Chuck had never spoken to her but he did smile if he caught her eye. He didn’t push or kick her like Aaron.

“What do you think it’s like to be married?” Sheila asked.

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