Page 59 of Every Deadly Suspicion

Hanna filled her cup with coffee and sat in the living room with her Bible, trying to do a devotion while she waited.

The hospice team arrived first. Grace was the nurse and Arthur was the aide. They explained that one person from the team would be at her house all the time, tending to Joe.

“He wants to be totally independent,” Grace said. “But he can’tbe. He gets short of breath easily, which will only get worse, and he is a fall risk, even with his walker.”

They were half of the four-person team. With them came medical supplies, a nebulizer, an oxygen tank, and a few other items. They took the items into the guest room and began to set up the area for Joe.

Hanna felt a little guilty at the relief she felt that there would be very little she would have to do for Joe. Other than provide the room for him.

Shortly after the hospice team arrived, Marcus showed up, film crew in tow. They set up on her front lawn. Just as she thought, someone spilled the beans. Hanna went out to talk to him. The last thing she wanted was a media circus. When she stepped outside, she saw her next-door neighbor out on the lawn watching. Her across-the-street neighbor was also watching from his porch.

“Marcus, why are you doing this? What do you hope to prove?”

“I’m not proving anything. I’m warning people. We have a serial killer running around the county slaughtering women, while you’re letting a really bad criminal out.”

“One thing has nothing to do with the other. Joe is not a threat to anyone.”

“I’m a newsman. I’m giving people the news.”

Hanna turned at the sound of a motor. The Department of Corrections van rolled slowly up the street. Her heart caught in her throat. This was the moment of truth. Marshall turned to his cameraman and directed him to set up and start filming. More neighbors came out of their houses to watch.

Hanna stood still, unable to do anything else. Giles got out of the passenger seat. She could hear the conversation.

“Please, guys,” he said to Marshall and the cameraman, “let us get him out and into the house.”

“I have questions for him,” Marshall said. “Will he answer my questions?”

“Now is not the time,” Giles said, hand on the van’s sliding-door handle.

“There is no better time than the present.” Marshall waved the cameraman closer.

Giles shook his head and opened the door.

Tom stepped out first. He reached back in the van and pulled out a wheelchair, set it on the sidewalk, and opened it up, then set the brake.

Hanna held her breath.

Tom leaned back inside, and he appeared to be having an argument with someone—Joe, she guessed. After a few minutes, Tom threw his hands up, then pulled a walker out of the van. Moving the wheelchair out of the way, he opened the walker on the sidewalk. A hand reached out of the van and Tom grasped it.

Hanna watched, transfixed, as an old man emerged from the van, slowly and very unsteadily. Joe was sixty and he looked eighty. She couldn’t help but think of the contrast between Joe and Everett. Everett was nearly eighty but he looked sixty.

Joe had a full head of steel-gray hair, an oxygen nasal cannula, and a small O2tank on his shoulder. With Tom supporting him on one side and Giles standing by on the other, Joe stepped out of the van and grabbed the walker. Once both hands were on it, he looked up.

Marshall started in with questions, and Joe turned toward him.

“What did you do with the bodies, Joe?”

Hanna barely heard. Her heart pounded in her chest, the thumping drowning out all other sound. Joe was so much smaller than she’d expected. The only picture of him that stayed in her head was the one she’d seen years ago in the library book. He’d beenso large, towering over her mother. Of course back then, Hanna had been a child. Everyone was bigger than she was. Though she’d seen his picture many times since that day, it was that first glimpse that had stayed with her.

The man gripping the walker was decrepit and unimposing. Certainly not fear inspiring.

“Come on, Joe, it’s long past time. Tell us where the bodies are buried.” Marcus would not give up.

Joe said nothing, but a smile played upon his lips. Giles spoke into his ear, and they started walking up the walk. Joe’s gait was slow and steady. He paused every few steps. He walked better than Hanna would have thought. At one point, he looked up and saw her. He paused, stood up straight, and held her gaze.

Hanna’s mouth went dry. Her heart had stopped its pounding, but she had no words. This man was a total stranger to her, but there was a connection. She felt it. Marshall stepped in between them, badgering Joe with more questions. To Hanna his tone grated.

“That’s enough, Marcus.” She strode forward. “He’s got nothing to say right now. Giles, let’s get him into the house.”

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