Page 68 of Deeper Than the Dead

Even as they walked away, Eve kept looking back.

“What’re you looking at?” Vera demanded. She felt ready to drop ... like an elephant had been strapped to her back and she’d run ten miles.

“Nothing.” Eve hurried forward, as if she’d snapped out of whatever trance she’d fallen into.

Climbing onto the four-wheeler, Vera hoped her sister wasn’t suffering some crazy trauma like PTSD. Eve settled behind her, careful not to crowd Luna. Now, Vera was the one staring at the cave ... hesitating.

What had they done?

Her heart started to thunder again.

“Vee?”

Vera kicked aside the worry. Didn’t matter. All that mattered right now was not letting their daddy find out what happened.

It had to be their secret ... forever.

23

Thursday, July 25

Boyett Farm

Good Hollow Road, Fayetteville, 6:58 a.m.

Vera should have packed more clothes.

As she towel dried her hair, she stared at the last pair of clean jeans and the plain white tee that remained in her bag. Nothing she could do about it now. The worry was irrelevant, really. She wasn’t here to impress anyone with her wardrobe. Comfort was far more important, considering she intended to get into that cave today. Once the FBI was on site, it would be far more difficult.

She needed to see with her own eyes what had happened in that cave since the last time she had been in there. And before ... she realized ... before they had put Sheree in there.

She gathered the clothes she’d already worn to go in the wash.

Downstairs the scent of coffee filled the air. And something sweet. Vera followed the smell to the kitchen. Fresh cinnamon rolls sat on the table.

Eve looked up from her coffee. She had decided to stay with the family last night after all that had happened. “Luna was up baking at five thirty this morning.”

“She left already?”

“Jerome picked her up for breakfast with his family.” Eve lifted an eyebrow. “We’ll see how that goes. If you think life is miserable now, just let them hurt Luna’s feelings about all this. We may never have peace again.”

Vera gave a short laugh. “They should keep in mind that Luna will be the mother of their grandchildren. Making her miserable would not be a smart move.”

Eve nibbled at her cinnamon roll. “Good point. Oh yeah, and Luna postponed the memorial service. She felt it would be better to wait until this all settles down.”

Vera opted to not respond. Waiting for all this to settle might take far longer than her little sister realized. “I need to pop this into the laundry.” Vera showed Eve the bundle she carried, then headed across the room.

When she returned to the table, Eve passed a cup of steaming coffee to her. “You sleep okay?”

Vera grabbed the cup in both hands and enjoyed a long swallow. She moaned. “Thank you.” She studied her sister. “I did. How about you?”

“I don’t know.” Eve made a face. “I kept obsessing over what we talked about and how this could have happened.”

“Yeah. It was rambling around the edges of my thoughts every time I woke up.” The scent of Luna’s stress-relieving strategy tugged at her. “I need a cinnamon roll.”

For a time they picked at the pan of cinnamon rolls without talking.

Eventually Vera prompted, “What were you thinking? Last night, I mean.”

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