Page 12 of Every Deadly Suspicion

“He murdered my mommy and daddy.”

Hanna’s mouth went slack. She stared at Mandy. “You’re lying.”

“I don’t lie, Hanna. He murdered my mommy and daddy. That’s why I live with Grandma Betty and Grandpa Chuck.”

Hanna couldn’t believe it. The worst person in the world was Joe Keyes, and he had done this horrible thing to her best friend. Hanna dropped the dice, covered her face, and sobbed. It neverreally hit home until this moment, when she understood exactly what Joe was responsible for.

Mandy set a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t cry. I’m sorry I said anything. It’s not your fault.”

Hanna was inconsolable. Grandma Betty came into the room. “Here, what’s happened? Hanna, why are you crying?”

Betty knelt next to her, and Hanna let the woman gather her into her arms. Mandy told her why Hanna was crying.

“Oh, baby, none of this is your fault. You’re carrying such a burden. We’ve forgiven Joe in this house, and we pray for his redemption.”

Hanna stopped crying, breathing in shuddering breaths. She stayed snuggled next to Betty for several minutes before she felt she could talk. “What’s redemption?”

“It’s salvation, honey. It’s making someone’s soul right. We pray that Joe will find Jesus and ask for forgiveness for what he did.”

“Could Jesus forgive such a thing?”

“If Joe asks, Jesus will forgive.”

“Did Joe ask you? Is that why you forgave him?”

“No, I forgave him because Jesus forgave me. Forgiveness is something we all need, whether we know it or not.”

Hanna would never forget that weekend when she was six or the kindness of Mandy and her family. A Bible verse came to mind.“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice...”It was Betty’s favorite, and it had become Hanna’s. Paula’s bitterness had ended her life early—she dropped dead of a heart attack two years ago. To Hanna, her mother was Joe Keyes’s last victim. Hanna had to repeat the verse often to remind herself that she didn’t want to end up like her mom: another victim.

CHAPTER 6

THE BALLED-UP PIECEof paper hit Jared square in the forehead.

“Hodges! I was talking to you,” Bryce Fallow said.

“What?” He hadn’t been listening to the firehouse banter. He knew Scott Buckley’s fiancée was the topic, but that was it.

“What’s your vote? Is she the prettiest or the second prettiest?” Bryce was Jared’s training partner and ten years younger than Jared. At thirty-five, Jared was the oldest rookie at the station. After junior college, he’d wandered the country for ten years before coming home and settling down to a career.

“Uh.” Jared’s mind was on Hanna, not Valerie Fox. Hanna was pretty; she looked like her mother. Paula Keyes had been beautiful in a Las Vegas showgirl way, but there had been a hardness in her. Hanna had the beauty without the hardness. Compared to Hanna any other woman was the second prettiest. “I didn’t get that good a look at her.”

“Ah, you’re no help.” Bryce waved his hand dismissively and went back to talking to the other guys. They weren’t being salacious. The dangerous weather conditions put everyone on edge, and they were just passing the time.

California was in the throes of a wicked drought, for years nowwith no end in sight. The land around Dry Oaks fit the name: it was all tinder dry. One spark in this heat with the wind as strong as it was right now would start a conflagration. Something none of them wanted to see.

“You’re a thousand miles away, Hodges.” Paul Stokes pulled up a chair, swung it around backward and straddled it, facing Jared. “Did you know Scott Buckley?”

Jared shook his head. “Not personally, but I grew up here and the Buckleys are a fixture in Dry Oaks.”

“That’s true. They sure seem to attract tragedy.”

“Are you thinking about the murders?”

“Yeah, I just bought this.” Stokes held up a book Jared recognized immediately.Murders at Beecher’s Mine Cabinby Marcus Marshall. “I’ve been assigned to Dry Oaks for two years. It was time I read the book.”

“I can’t believe you bought that.” Jared rolled his eyes. He’d heard that Marcus had set books out to sell at the memorial service.

“I’ve heard so many stories about what happened back then. This isn’t a good source?”

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