Page 88 of Deeper Than the Dead

But the door had been unlocked ...

If there was another intruder.

A figure appeared in the doorway. Vera’s breath stuck deep in her lungs.

Eve.

Peanut butter sandwich in one hand, a Coke in the other, Eve stared at her. “You okay?”

Vera’s muscles went so lax she almost wilted to the floor. “Damn it, Eve. You’re supposed to keep the door locked.”

“Sorry.” She tore off a bite of her sandwich and started to chew.

It wasn’t until that moment that Vera realized she was starving. “I need one of those.”

Eve swallowed with effort. “Come on. I’ll make you one.”

Vera followed her sister to the kitchen. She quickly prepared a sandwich, placed it on a paper towel, and then rounded up a cold can of cola.

Once Vera had settled at the table and the meal was in front of her, she announced the latest news. “They’ve ID’d the male victim.”

She took a bite of her sandwich and instantly felt her body relaxing. Peanut butter sandwiches weren’t at the top of her favorite foods list, but it was food, and she was starving.

“Do we know him?” Eve sipped her cola.

Vera shook her head. “Never heard of him. Norton Gates from Huntsville. Teacher.”

Eve blinked. “How’d he die?”

Vera took another bite and chewed for a bit before answering. “Same as the others, head trauma. At least that’s the preliminary finding.”

“But you said he wasn’t like the others. Not posed or whatever.”

“He was more or less stuffed into a crevice. The way the killer disposed of the body spoke volumes about the emotional tie. He was angry with him. Disgusted.” Maybe because whoever killed him knew him to be a murderer. She needed Bent to seriously consider that possibility. And he would. She knew this.

Eve’s eyebrows reared up. “You got all that from the way he was buried?”

Vera shrugged. “Every action tells a story. You just have to take the time to read it closely enough.” She frowned. “Didn’t you say you were staying with Suri until your car was fixed?”

“I changed my mind.” She downed the last of her soft drink. “Things are getting too interesting around here. It’s like a streaming family drama. I can’t wait for the next episode.”

Vera studied her sandwich, felt abruptly overfull. Her sister was right in that this thing kept stacking up the episodes. Each time a phone rang, she tensed. Would this be another set of remains discovered on their property? Or some other element that made her family look guilty?

“Bent thinks the FBI will go for pinning Sheree’s death on someone in the family. I’m guessing Daddy.” The bread and peanut butter turned into a hard lump in Vera’s belly.

“If you set aside the fact that he’s our father,” Eve said, “and you put your analyst hat on, what do you think?”

Vera sipped her drink, hoped the sugar would brace her. “If I didn’t know what I know about Sheree, I would tend to agree—simply based on the facts we have so far. This is his property. The cave is not a place easily found. Sheree was his wife. She cheated.”

Eve finished off her sandwich. “Or maybe Daddy allowed someone else to put his kills there. To protect that person. You know, a favor for a friend.”

This was not a far-fetched scenario for sure. They had talked about how someone outside the family could have used the cave as a dumping place. What they hadn’t discussed, though Vera had considered it, was the possibility that their father or mother had been protecting that someone.

“But Walt Fraley says the only really close friends of Mama and Daddy were him and his wife and the Higdons. He said there were never any farmhands, no handymen. No one. And, honestly, I think he would know.”

“Maybe it was Sheree,” Eve offered. “Maybe she killed the competition.”

Vera made a face. “Can you see Sheree dragging a body into that cave?”

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